Student Loan Fugitives
know1
Posts: 6,794
http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/23/pf/college/student_loan_fugitives/index.htm?eref=rss_topstories
It's pretty pathetic to flee the country to avoid paying your debts. That's stealing, in my book.
Plus, it's incredibly irresponsible to rack up $70K in student load debts, anyway. If you've got to borrow that much, then you're going to the wrong university, in my opinion.
This one's even better: "Chris (who doesn't want his last name used) graduated with about $160,000 in student loan debt with a master's degree in music". Are you kidding me?
It's pretty pathetic to flee the country to avoid paying your debts. That's stealing, in my book.
Plus, it's incredibly irresponsible to rack up $70K in student load debts, anyway. If you've got to borrow that much, then you're going to the wrong university, in my opinion.
This one's even better: "Chris (who doesn't want his last name used) graduated with about $160,000 in student loan debt with a master's degree in music". Are you kidding me?
The only people we should try to get even with...
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
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It's even more pathetic to live in a country where you have to go into default on your student loans because of medical expenses. Plus, it looks like he didn't take out $70,000 worth of loans but that the amount is significantly increasing because of interest.
Or you can look at it from the opposite - that perhaps they could have afforded their medical expenses if they weren't so far in debt for school. It's mostly about choices. There are plenty of people who make it through school without racking up that kind of debt.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
Well, I'm sure they chose to incur heavy medical expenses.
how can anyone not see that??? People obviously chose to have really high medical bills... so simple ... :rolleyes:
http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=272825
No - they chose to leave themselves unprotected by having ridiculously high education bills.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
You come across as such a self-righteous, uninformed elitest it makes me sick. I stay off this forum recently because of you and your annoying crap.
Let's say... for example you live in NY state and want a decent education. Here are the numbers....
http://www.suny.edu/Student/paying_tuition.cfm
So... to live on campus...as many have to in order to attend a decent school that has the major they would like to study... or because they do not have reliable transportation to a school that is anywhere near to where they live etc... well to live ON CAMPUS... their estimated annual costs are over 18,00/year. Multiply times four years = over 70,000. This is a state institution... and pretty much the most inexpensive way to receive a four year education in the state of New York. Additionally... this person has not yet even attended graduate school... which is quite necessary in many fields today. Not to mention that even if they commuted to school... their four year education would still run $50,000.
And if they didn't go to school... they would be a lazy fuck without any motivation to better themselves wouldn't they be? And they would deserve the shit jobs that they may end up working... SO I guess if you don't come from money...in the US... you should just forget about attending school and stay where you were meant to be. Poor, uneducated and serving the rich. CHOOSE to do that so you can pay your medical bills when you are working some shit job that has minimal health coverage... because that is all most people end up with if they do not have an education... So yes... do that instead of CHOOSING to pay for your education. Then you can have medical bills and no education! Ahhh... The choices.
And btw... yes... they could work while going to school and reduce the costs... the debt... many have to go into to obtain their education. They could work the kinds of jobs that MOST students work... minimum wage ones. And what about those that have situations that don't allow them to work enough hours to make anything that = anything (MOST.) Like those with IQ's of 107 that struggle their asses off to better themsleves and get their degree and have to study an exorbitant amount.
Ahhh... Fuck em. If you started out poor stay that way. Don't try to get ahead. And while we're at it... Let the rich have all the tax cuts given to them under the Bush plan and keep the poor fucks where they are.
And watch this country fall even further.......
Enjoy your Sunday.
I incurred student debt and paid it. I incurred over 80,000 attending NEW YORK STATE schools... under graduate and graduate. I paid it back when I inherited $. I would have never just skated on my bills... unless I had NO CHOICE.
That appears to be what has happened to many of these people. Many have NO CHOICE. Oh yeah. That's right. It was their choice. When they had high hopes of bettering themsleves and their families and CHOSE to go to school. They should have started a career at McDonalds just in case one day they are diagnosed with cancer, in a car wreck or have a child born with cystic fibrosis.
THINK AHEAD, PEOPLE!!!! Plan for your future!!! Silly, silly people going to college. :rolleyes:
http://www.suny.edu/Student/paying_tuition.cfm
There are students graduating from the school my husband teaches at with debt like that. I think the kids are insane. Playing the harp at weddings, giving music lessons... and paying off a debt the size of a mortgage!
(I really shouldn't laugh.
Sorry you feel that way.
For the record, I worked my way through college with very little help from my parents - about $1K per year.
I worked full-time while taking a full load of classes, worked more than full-time in the summers, lived in a single room with a shared kitchen and bathroom (shared with the roaches mostly), ate ramen noodles and didn't party at all. I drove a $500 car that I paid for completely on my own - insurance, gas, maintenance, etc.
I still ended up borrowing about $3000 for school and so I know what pain that was to pay off right after college working 12-hour night shifts on an assembly line in a factory. I'm also helping my wife pay off the $20K in debt she incurred.
I say all that to say this - I have experience with these types of things.
Not everyone can inherit money to pay off these very crippling loans. Perhaps if you hadn't, you might have a different experience.
They are a big mistake!!
But skipping the country to not pay them back is stealing and it raises the cost of school and rates for others.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
Maybe the university wouldn't sleep at night if it decided to just not give you your degree, either.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
Some people don't have the luxury (yes, I said luxury) of working your way through school, so loans are the only way to finance education.
Why is working during university considered a luxury? If you want something that bad you should be willing to work for it and make sacrifices. Personally I got a job when I was 16 and started saving for university. On top of that I pretty much decided to live at home even though I got into a bunch of universities all over the place because I knew there was no way I could afford them (plus for the most part no one cares where you did your undergrad). I continued to work through most of school even though I was in a very difficult program. I think the fact that I had to work and pay for things myself and make sacrifices has made me value my education more than someone who just had it given to them or racked up a bunch of loans to pay for it.
Dude... i worked my way through college too. So do many people. Did you look at the numbers I presented? Did you see how the most inexpensive bachelors degree you can now get in NY state is 50,000 if you commute or 70,000 if you live on campus? JUST for an UNDERGRAD degree?
And even if you choose the 50,00 option... housing for four years in the cheapest of cheap rooms is what? $6000/year x 4 years is another 25,000 and you haven't eaten yet... You're back up to 70-75K for a four year education. What college student is in a position to handle that on their own? If they could... they may decide to skip college because they REALLY have their shit together!!!!
I'll crunch #'s later... but you still fail to see that if you go into it with no $ straight out of HS...or even 10K straight out of high school ...attending (which needs to include eating and living expenses) EVEN THE CHEAPEST OF SCHOOLS runs a minimum of about 70k to attend and recieve your 4 year degree.
So maybe that guy didn't attend the WRONG school. By this logic that you have presented...he shouldn't have attended ANY school.
(As let's face it...his actual loans were probably less than 70,000... that was what they are now with all the interest, fines etc..., yes?)
I started working at 15 (had to get a special work permit) not to save up for college, but to help with my family's living expenses. I earned a full scholarship to college, which required me to take more than a full-time load of classes. I went to the cheapest, local state school. I had zero help fom my parents (who would have loved to have helped me but weren't able to on teachers' salaries with twins in college). I lived next to crack houses in the ghetto (so I could walk to school instead of having to pay for parking) and had many, many roommates. I drove a TOTALED Pinto station wagon that was older than I was. I worked no less than 3 jobs at a time. And I STILL ended up having to take out about $15,000 in loans just for my undergrad degree.
I'm not having trouble paying off my loans right now, with a low interest rate and no family to support. But God forbid I ever have any exorbitant medical expenses.
The fact is that huge medical bills can cause you to default on your student loans regardless of how small the loans are. Even if you don't have student loans, medical bills cause many, many people to be unable to pay their other expenses.
Of course anyone who takes out a loan should try to minimize their costs. But you can't say that no one should ever take out a student loan, and you can't really judge whether total strangers really needed to take out as much as they did. (Not to mention the fact that we don't have any idea how small this guy's loan really was before the interest built up.)
Many, many people must take out student loans to get a college education. And there are plenty of programs that don't allow you to work while you're in school.
Take doctors, for instance. You can't work while you're in medical school. You get paid for residency, but it's very little. In the meantime, you're not only incurring living expenses and medical school bills, but also having to pay tens of thousands of dollars for board exams, travel to interviews, medical licenses, etc., etc. I know very few doctors who have less than $200,000 in student loan debt. I know one doctor who is even still having to take out student loans to complete a fellowship. If her kid comes down with some serious illness, she probably won't be able to pay her student loans either. Should she just never have gone to medical school?
Ya know, what kills me (as I think GTFLYGIRL has already pointed out) is that the folks who are judging the people who default on their student loans are so frequently the same folks who say those who don't make enough money to cover health insurance should have just gotten off their asses and gone to college. On top of that, they fault people for default due to medical expenses and yet refuse to allow for a healthcare system that doesn't cause this kind of thing to happen all the time.
:rolleyes:
Fucking hypocrites.
Going to college and getting loans is not the problem. The problem is people taking out too MANY loans. Maybe they are attending a university that is more expensive than it needs to be? Maybe they are choosing a major that wouldn't justify the expense? Maybe no one helped them with the decision to take on so much debt?
Let's not miss the true problem here! No one says "Don't go to college!" or "Don't better yourself!" or "Don't take out student loans!"
Huge loans for a doctor who will earn a big salary isn't a problem, but it IS wrong to rack up a huge debt for some other types of degrees. It'll just be a big weight to carry around.
There are alternatives to large loans. For example, going to a state school instead of a private one. Living at home for a year or two while going to school. Working as you go.
No one says don't go to school. Just make a decent plan!!
Prepare to be blasted for incorporating common sense into your posts!
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
Yes.
Isn't a fundemental basis of loaning money having a loanee able to repay the loan?
That makes perfect sense.
yeah that does make sense.
besides, art and music degrees are mostly worthless anyway. In my industry they are barely even acknowledged.
and yeah you are an idiot if you take out a hundred thousand dollars in loans for a music degree, but so are the loaners.
Makes sense to me. I mean the bank wouldn't (or at least shouldn't) loan you $50K for a Toyota Corolla, but they might for a Corvette!
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
As far as people people not being able to help from racking up that kind of debt. There are many ways to keep from borrowing so much and every dime you borrow is a choice. I worked full time during college, taking a full load as a double major. It was not a luxury but it can be done. To cut down on cost, I also went to community college for 2 years and paid about 1/3 of what I would have at a university. I understand there are some grad programs that do not allow you to work, but I also think you have to decide whether those programs will pay off enough in the long run to pay off your debt.
What I don't understand is why people are incurring such high interest off these loans. Maybe things have changed but when I graduated I consolidated my loans and got a VERY low rate. I forgot what the example someone gave for how much of the balance was interest but that seemed really high. I think my interest rate is around 2.4%.