Feds book $41.3billion in student loan profits (aka college is only for the rich)

[Meresgi]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...rofit/3696009/

The federal government made enough money on student loans over the last year that, if it wanted, it could provide maximum-level Pell Grants of $5,645 to 7.3 million college students.

The $41.3 billion profit for the 2013 fiscal year is down $3.6 billion from the previous year but it's a higher profit level than all but two companies in the world: Exxon Mobil cleared $44.9 billion in 2012, and Apple cleared $41.7 billion.

[Meresgi]

Just analyzed a bill going around that would allow all students to consolidate student loan debt under the federal government, but the interest rates it proposes would be 3-5% higher than the current average.

A step in the right direction, but not nearly enough I think. Especially when it's a higher interest rate. The interest is what's eating up a lot of people. My proposed 25yr payment was having me pay 50k in interest on a 50k loan amount. Honestly there should be no interest on federal loans (private loans are another matter) when it comes to college education.

[Cantih]

Just analyzed a bill going around that would allow all students to consolidate student loan debt under the federal government, but the interest rates it proposes would be 3-5% higher than the current average.

What about being able to actually discharge it eventually, instead of it being perma-debt?

[Meresgi]

What about being able to actually discharge it eventually, instead of it being perma-debt?

You can if you go through a few different procedures and make the standards. 10yrs in public service (aka shit pay) and its wiped after 120 payments (still gotta pay on it during that), or 25 yrs while doing income based payment, but you have to deal with payments for 25 fucking years (at least you can stop making payments when you near retirement I guess???)

Honestly the cost of education AND the fucking for profit colleges that are paper mills (Art Institute, Uni of Phoenix, Devry, ITT Tech, etc) need to be wrangled in and looked at really hard (they wont since most have banks who back them/run them).

Those colleges just siphon Pell Grants and Stafford Loans off of students who don't know better (99% of people at college age) and were never taught what to look out for (99% of people at college age). They use predatory methods, give you a shitty education and leave you with thousands in loan debt with nothing to show for it.

[Salodin]

A step in the right direction, but not nearly enough I think. Especially when it's a higher interest rate. The interest is what's eating up a lot of people. My proposed 25yr payment was having me pay 50k in interest on a 50k loan amount. Honestly there should be no interest on federal loans (private loans are another matter) when it comes to college education.

Of course there should be interest. We can use that money elsewhere to service the public but because we have people going "invest in me!" we give them the money with the expectation that we get something out of it. Students get an education and quality of life they would have a harder time getting, and the feds get a more educated public which will hopefully lead to less people needing the services they would have otherwise funded; and they have a little extra money to pay it forward and offer more in the future.

I concede that the profit margin is a bit high for the state of our economy, for instance your case of 100‰ interest with minimum payments I'm assuming. But the idea makes sense if everyone does what they're supposed to do.

[Meresgi]

Of course there should be interest. We can use that money elsewhere to service the public but because we have people going "invest in me!" we give them the money with the expectation that we get something out of it. Students get an education and quality of life they would have a harder time getting, and the feds get a more educated public which will hopefully lead to less people needing the services they would have otherwise funded; and they have a little extra money to pay it forward and offer more in the future.

I concede that the profit margin is a bit high for the state of our economy, for instance your case of 100‰ interest with minimum payments I'm assuming. But the idea makes sense if everyone does what they're supposed to do.

Because of the system, colleges know they can just up the tuition rate each year w/o any backlash, because the government will cover it with loans. So the cost of education is skyrocketing, and the public may be really educated, but how many are actually doing anything with that other then working for Gamestop and Starbucks? Some of this blame is on the students, because they go to college for worthless degrees, but a lot is on the system itself. Why are colleges allowed to offer bullshit fucking degrees in worthlessness? (Lets get a bachelors in paranormal film!).

High school is set up to tell every student that if they don't go to college, they will be blowing fat guys in an alley for a few bucks to fund their heroin habit and selling organs to get the newest cardboard box model. Ask most parents and they too believe that the only way to get anywhere is through a college degree, so they feed that to their kids too. Now ask most people who have a degree if they feel the 20-90k debt is worth it and see what they say. If you're degree isn't in Engineering/Math/Science type field, that isn't super broad..then its a crap shoot once you get out of college. You go in seeing that "This job will grow 50% in the next 4 years!" and 1/2 through your degree the economy takes a shit and that job growth took a nose dive into the negatives.

Do we need a system like Norway or Canada? Probably not, but we do need one where most of our population obtains some form of education at a low cost, and dont graduate strapped with debt for the rest of their natural life. As more and more people are defaulting on federal loans, i'm curious how long it cant stand to go like it is.

[Lucavi]

Either go to college and owe the Govt. money if you make poor choices, or go into the military and work for the govt. Govt. gets theirs one way or another (and not that I disagree with it in the slightest. Hell, I work FOR the govt.).

Its almost ironic, but people need to become more educated on getting educated, because the government isn't going to be doing you any more favors than it already does, which is happily writing the checks for you to pick up your associates in Basketweaving and the Loom.

If you're going to go to college, do so with a purpose, not simply because your high school teacher told you that you'd succeed no matter what so long as you go to college.

[ronin sparthos]

I think the most important thing I'd tell any HS student is pick a school that isn't going to ball 'n chain you to loans even if it means passing up on that dream college / experience for a 2nd, 3rd or even 4th tier choice. As great as it is to attend a place like NYU, Columbia or The New School if you can't afford it then just walk. The way many HS guidance counselors frame it to you, loans don't matter because you can pay for it later. And by pay for it later they mean pull your hair out with an entry-level job paying shit as loan repayments eat into your checks. And then if you try to defer repayment just bend over because you're gonna be fucked for years to come.

Fuck all that, pick a school that's giving you a good financial package and save your money for graduate level pursuits if you decide to undertake them. If your grades are shit suck it up and go to community college then after two years try for a decent senior-level institution. Jobs don't give a fuck about where your Bachelor's comes from so long as it isn't one of those notorious diploma mills and the jobs that do care usually recruit right out of select schools or have certain people lined up.

This simple advice is common sense (now) but at 17-18 you'll wish someone had told you. At 17-18 all you're concerned about is winning the arms race where you get to wear the 'best' school colors senior year before shipping off to your new life in debt.

[hey]

Why are colleges allowed to offer bullshit fucking degrees in worthlessness? (Lets get a bachelors in paranormal film!).

Because schools are for education, not job training. If that's what you want, college isn't the right place.

[Salodin]

Because schools are for education, not job training. If that's what you want, college isn't the right place.

This right here.

[Kyreth]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...rofit/3696009/

Cue Congress wanting to raid the loan fund for pork projects, just like Social Security.

Seriously, if they're making bank, imagine what banks who do college loans are making off them.

[Meresgi]

Because schools are for education, not job training. If that's what you want, college isn't the right place.

Degrees = job training. That's the way most people look at it. They see a degree at a college and think "Well there must be a field for that, otherwise why offer it?"

Where do they go for job training if college isn't the right place for it? Not saying you're wrong, but this is how the view is for most people. Also not sure why you would even say that, since yes the gen ed shit for all degrees is just worthless "education" but the core classes are usually a form of training/education for a SPECIFIC job field. While not training you precisely for (x) job, their job is to train you to be able to function well enough that the employer only needs a small amount of investment to get you up to speed.

[hey]

Degrees = job training. That's the way most people look at it.

Yes, i know. They are greatly mistaken though.

worthless "education"

the core classes are usually a form of training/education for a SPECIFIC job field.

Not a job field. Just a field. Some fields, such as philosophy have no associated jobs. That doesn't make these fields worthless. Far from it. Naturally people will tend to focus one one particular area that they are interested in, because it's impossible to learn everything, and even if it wasn't, no one would want to.

While not training you precisely for (x) job, their job is to train you to be able to function well enough that the employer only needs a small amount of investment to get you up to speed.

No, that is not their job. They may do that reasonably well, but the goal is simply to teach you. The knowledge you gain may be useful for getting a job, but ultimately, the point of schools is to learn for the sake of learning. Which is something that will benefit you not just for a job, but everything you do in life.

[Serra]

If you're going to go to college, do so with a purpose, not simply because your high school teacher told you that you'd succeed no matter what so long as you go to college.

This is actually one of the biggest problems, imo, with higher education. So many students think that college is just the natural next step after high school, and then go there without any plan (and to a lesser extent, it happens after undergrad as those people who haven't found their calling go to some type of graduate school). As terrible as this is to say, college is not for everyone. There is no reason to go just for the sake of going.

Degrees = job training. That's the way most people look at it. They see a degree at a college and think "Well there must be a field for that, otherwise why offer it?"

Where do they go for job training if college isn't the right place for it? Not saying you're wrong, but this is how the view is for most people. Also not sure why you would even say that, since yes the gen ed shit for all degrees is just worthless "education" but the core classes are usually a form of training/education for a SPECIFIC job field. While not training you precisely for (x) job, their job is to train you to be able to function well enough that the employer only needs a small amount of investment to get you up to speed.

Trade schools, apprenticeships, etc. Wasn't it like 2009 or 2010 when Obama said he wanted people to commit to one year of education after high school and everyone freaked out and thought he meant everyone needed to go to college?

[zoobernut]

Degrees = job training. That's the way most people look at it. They see a degree at a college and think "Well there must be a field for that, otherwise why offer it?"

Where do they go for job training if college isn't the right place for it? Not saying you're wrong, but this is how the view is for most people. Also not sure why you would even say that, since yes the gen ed shit for all degrees is just worthless "education" but the core classes are usually a form of training/education for a SPECIFIC job field. While not training you precisely for (x) job, their job is to train you to be able to function well enough that the employer only needs a small amount of investment to get you up to speed.

This has been a relatively recent development. For a very long time higher education beyond highschool was education for the sake of learning. If you wanted training for a specific job you did apprenticeships, internships, trade schools etc.

[Kyreth]

This has been a relatively recent development. For a very long time higher education beyond highschool was education for the sake of learning. If you wanted training for a specific job you did apprenticeships, internships, trade schools etc.

Moreover, it's been in part the drive to send people to college, any kind of college, that's helped lead to people going into the workforce with useless skills for the simple purpose of making a living.

Colleges teach knowledge. They don't teach "job". That's vocational education, not a college education- and in part it's helped lead to an increasingly useless pool of workers for all kinds of important fields that have to be trained pretty much from scratch to begin with.

My history courses didn't do jack for me learning how to sell Mike Tyson Christmas presents back in the day, and it did even less now for keeping people from going in confused circles in the DMV transit systems.

[ringthree]

Either go to college and owe the Govt. money if you make poor choices, or go into the military and work for the govt. Govt. gets theirs one way or another (and not that I disagree with it in the slightest. Hell, I work FOR the govt.).

Its almost ironic, but people need to become more educated on getting educated, because the government isn't going to be doing you any more favors than it already does, which is happily writing the checks for you to pick up your associates in Basketweaving and the Loom.

If you're going to go to college, do so with a purpose, not simply because your high school teacher told you that you'd succeed no matter what so long as you go to college.

I don't know where you live, but you aren't doing shit except flipping burgers or landscaping without a Bachelors where I am from.

[shepardG]

why does it cost so god damn much to be smart, that's dumb.

[Kyreth]

why does it cost so god damn much to be smart, that's dumb.

Being educated is, despite what one might think, still a luxury.

[zoobernut]

Being educated shouldn't necessarily be a luxury however it shouldn't be viewed as a necessity to get a good job and have a good career in life. Using higher education as a means to an end devalues the education.