# Student Loans



## malphigus (Jan 15, 2014)

Sorry for being OOT here but I'm curious about these student loans, are they just money you need to give in order to attend college or something else or both? I don't hear about this in my country.


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## Scrabbletray (Apr 27, 2014)

malphigus said:


> Sorry for being OOT here but I'm curious about these student loans, are they just money you need to give in order to attend college or something else or both? I don't hear about this in my country.


College costs a lot of money these days (at least in the USA) and so a lot of people have to borrow some of the money they need in order to pay for tuition. Most decent colleges will provide financial aid to people of low income, but they still expect that you will take on a reasonable amount of loans so basically everyone in the US except people with well off parents who pay for everything end up with student loans. Part of the problem is that the loans are subsidized by the government so lending companies don't do the sort of checks that they otherwise would do in order to make sure the people getting the loans could ever be able to pay them back because they know the taxpayers will be stuck with the bill if the individual defaults..


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## malphigus (Jan 15, 2014)

a1b2c3d4 said:


> College costs a lot of money these days (at least in the USA) and so a lot of people have to borrow some of the money they need in order to pay for tuition. Most decent colleges will provide financial aid to people of low income, but they still expect that you will take on a reasonable amount of loans so basically everyone in the US except people with well off parents who pay for everything end up with student loans. Part of the problem is that the loans are subsidized by the government so lending companies don't do the sort of checks that they otherwise would do in order to make sure the people getting the loans could ever be able to pay them back because they know the taxpayers will be stuck with the bill if the individual defaults..


Ah, is it really that bad..?

But I guess it's better there than here. If you don't have money you can't start education at all!


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## Scrabbletray (Apr 27, 2014)

malphigus said:


> Ah, is it really that bad..?
> 
> But I guess it's better there than here. If you don't have money you can't start education at all!


I think that student loans are a good concept because obviously your degree is worth a lot of money and so it's a financially sound investment to go into debt in order to get it. The problem comes in when people accumulate absurd amounts of debt or take debt on degrees that are worthless. In state tuition for most public universities is very reasonable and they usually provide a very solid level of education.


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## malphigus (Jan 15, 2014)

a1b2c3d4 said:


> I think that student loans are a good concept because obviously your degree is worth a lot of money and so it's a financially sound investment to go into debt in order to get it. The problem comes in when people accumulate absurd amounts of debt or take debt on degrees that are worthless. In state tuition for most public universities is very reasonable and they usually provide a very solid level of education.


Yeah, these days a bachelor's degree mean nothing.

Absurd? How absurd? Is it above 100 grand or so?


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## Scrabbletray (Apr 27, 2014)

malphigus said:


> Yeah, these days a bachelor's degree mean nothing.
> 
> Absurd? How absurd? Is it above 100 grand or so?


By "absurd" I would say more than $20,000 although that was when I was in school so maybe it's up to $30,000 now. If you go to a state school and work during the summer then I don't really see why any person would ever need to take out more than that. Sure that might result in a pretty Spartan existence for 4 years, but it will be worth it in the end. 

Also, the statement that, "a bachelor's degree mean nothing" could not be more wrong. The income gap between people with bachelors degrees and those without them is larger than it has ever been. A degree is worth more now than it has ever been worth. People who say otherwise are just going by some flawed conventional logic of the times. The only thing that has really been diminished is the value of certain degrees that have no job market associated with them. Even that isn't a sign that a bachelors degree is worthless, it's just a sign that the world economy is changing and the US economy isn't doing all that well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/27/upshot/is-college-worth-it-clearly-new-data-say.html?_r=0


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## malphigus (Jan 15, 2014)

a1b2c3d4 said:


> By "absurd" I would say more than $20,000 although that was when I was in school so maybe it's up to $30,000 now. If you go to a state school and work during the summer then I don't really see why any person would ever need to take out more than that. Sure that might result in a pretty Spartan existence for 4 years, but it will be worth it in the end.
> 
> Also, the statement that, "a bachelor's degree mean nothing" could not be more wrong. The income gap between people with bachelors degrees and those without them is larger than it has ever been. A degree is worth more now than it has ever been worth. People who say otherwise are just going by some flawed conventional logic of the times. The only thing that has really been diminished is the value of certain degrees that have no job market associated with them. Even that isn't a sign that a bachelors degree is worthless, it's just a sign that the world economy is changing and the US economy isn't doing all that well.
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/27/upshot/is-college-worth-it-clearly-new-data-say.html?_r=0


*shiver* That's a lot of money... Let's hope everyone will be employed after all that!

Really? Well, it's nice to see someone who said otherwise- everyone around me has been saying it doesn't worth anything, but I'm glad they're wrong :kitteh: What kind of degree that doesn't have a job market association with it? Isn't the main purpose of a degree is to get you a job?

That might be true for America, but maybe something worldwide scale?


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## Fleetfoot (May 9, 2011)

malphigus said:


> *shiver* That's a lot of money... Let's hope everyone will be employed after all that!
> 
> Really? Well, it's nice to see someone who said otherwise- everyone around me has been saying it doesn't worth anything, but I'm glad they're wrong :kitteh: What kind of degree that doesn't have a job market association with it? Isn't the main purpose of a degree is to get you a job?
> 
> That might be true for America, but maybe something worldwide scale?


Mostly degrees that require higher degrees for jobs or they're just not relatable to the demand of the job market. Prime examples I usually see are English or literature degrees, psychology degrees require at least a master's or Ph.D. for those pursuing a career out of it for the most part, fine arts, anything focused with liberal arts degrees really. Employers see that certain degrees like that don't teach a skill set they're looking for. 

I'd agree with you, I see the main purpose of a degree is to get a job, but most people don't see past that, and a lot of secondary education schools here brainwash kids saying "You can do whatever you want, just as long as you go to a good college and get any degree, you'll get a nice job afterwards". At least that was the bullshit I was fed going through high school.


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## York (May 19, 2014)

My advice is that if you have to choose between a #5 ranked school and take a loan of $30,000 and a #35 ranked school and have no loans at all, the #35 school is really worth considering.


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## Scrabbletray (Apr 27, 2014)

Tawanda said:


> I'd agree with you, I see the main purpose of a degree is to get a job, but most people don't see past that, and a lot of secondary education schools here brainwash kids saying "You can do whatever you want, just as long as you go to a good college and get any degree, you'll get a nice job afterwards". At least that was the bullshit I was fed going through high school.


It's amazing to me how many people talk about receiving bad advice from their high school about college. I never felt like I was misled about what the pros and cons are. It sounds like there are just a lot of bad college counselors out there. But, it should also be noted that what they are saying is only half wrong. A college degree is no longer a guarantee at a good job, but these days NOT having a college degree is pretty much a guarantee at having a terrible job. The advantage of going to college is still there it's just that most of it is due to the fact that wages for unskilled labor have been getting less and less because of competition from the world economy.



York said:


> My advice is that if you have to choose between a #5 ranked school and take a loan of $30,000 and a #35 ranked school and have no loans at all, the #35 school is really worth considering.


I think that in either of these situations you're going to be in a really good position in life. Graduates from the top ranked school make considerably more than those from an average college, so even if you are taking out a fair amount of debt you're probably still in a good position. The trouble is when people somehow manage to get $40,000 in debt to go to a #100 ranked college.


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