Marko Tsourkan
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- Feb 28, 2011
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Imagine taking $200,000 in loans and having to repay that in 10 years with interest??? That's like buying a house and paying it off in 10 years, but at a much higher interest rate!
The only good thing about being older is that a college degree cost the same as four good knives.
That's insane. I graduated from an AAU University, which I attended for 5 1/2 years, with only 25k in debt. Granted that was 12 years ago, but I pretty much took out the max every semmester. But a 17.9% variable interest rate? My student loans have been locked in at 4.62% for ten years. Yikes.
Unfortunately many soon to be doctors and dentists do that.
Several things about the article really put a knot in my tail. The kid had an opportunity to get dad to pay for a degree--but he didn't love it, and dropped out his sophomore year. Translation: Waaaah! School is HARD!!!!! He signed up with a place that offered immediate gratification--"only 12 months of study and a 3 month externship". He took out large loans "and they LIED to me!" Did he read the freaking paperwork? Or did he just blindly sign where he was told? He got his first job--in his field, and above minimum wage--but it didn't pay what he thinks someone with his exalted skills and education deserves. Guess he hasn't heard of paying your dues. And just how much did he think he'd earn? Sallie Mae offered a little relief--but it wasn't good enough. He can't pay "his rent"---not "his part of the rent". Must be nice to have an apartment with no roomates. Oh, and don't even try to pay your debts--just wait, and Congress will allow you to declare bankruptcy and all the rest of us will have to pay for it.
My sister has 4 kids. She and her husband bust their butts at work, live in a small old house, drive an old car, take public transportation. The kids went to public school and state colleges on scholarship. The kids have always had jobs, bagging groceries, whatever they could do to earn some extra money, and worked hard to get good grades. Now the oldest has a PhD and is a pharmacist, the next is at Princeton working on his PhD in engineering with a full scholarship and stipend, the 3rd is starting at Cal Tech this year for his PhD in engineering with full scholarship and stipend, and the last is finishing up his master's degree in social work this year. None of the kids have loans--they've done it all by hard work, going to public schools, and ferreting out any scholarship they could get. But you won't read any articles about them. And they'll get screwed since they've earned what they got when other kids get their loans forgiven.
Several things about the article really put a knot in my tail. The kid had an opportunity to get dad to pay for a degree--but he didn't love it, and dropped out his sophomore year. Translation: Waaaah! School is HARD!!!!! He signed up with a place that offered immediate gratification--"only 12 months of study and a 3 month externship". He took out large loans "and they LIED to me!" Did he read the freaking paperwork? Or did he just blindly sign where he was told? He got his first job--in his field, and above minimum wage--but it didn't pay what he thinks someone with his exalted skills and education deserves. Guess he hasn't heard of paying your dues. And just how much did he think he'd earn? Sallie Mae offered a little relief--but it wasn't good enough. He can't pay "his rent"---not "his part of the rent". Must be nice to have an apartment with no roomates. Oh, and don't even try to pay your debts--just wait, and Congress will allow you to declare bankruptcy and all the rest of us will have to pay for it.
My sister has 4 kids. She and her husband bust their butts at work, live in a small old house, drive an old car, take public transportation. The kids went to public school and state colleges on scholarship. The kids have always had jobs, bagging groceries, whatever they could do to earn some extra money, and worked hard to get good grades. Now the oldest has a PhD and is a pharmacist, the next is at Princeton working on his PhD in engineering with a full scholarship and stipend, the 3rd is starting at Cal Tech this year for his PhD in engineering with full scholarship and stipend, and the last is finishing up his master's degree in social work this year. None of the kids have loans--they've done it all by hard work, going to public schools, and ferreting out any scholarship they could get. But you won't read any articles about them. And they'll get screwed since they've earned what they got when other kids get their loans forgiven.
All that said, if these companies are giving loans to people who obviously can't pay them, the loan company should eat the losses.
I agree with Andrew H that a lot of this loan stuff overplayed. And private schools that are often showcased for their super high tuitions/fees also heavily discount their tuition depending upon the student's financial aid situation and academic merit. Students seldom pay the 'sticker price' and discount rates are often in the 40% range.
With that said, I read once that that legally there was no way to make a person pay back a student loan because to garnish a person's wages was within the definition of indentured servitude, which is illegal in the US. This is why punishment was (and is) often indirect: bad credit, confiscating tax refunds, can't get new loans etc. Nowadays, however, they allow garnishment of wages (usually 10%) and if you google "indentured student," you will get many hits.
Just saying.
k.
The guy should have to struggle if he decided to drop out, pay a Scrooge McDuck amount of cash to go to sauce college, then only work one part time job. Thats called acting like a dumbass.
But struggling to make ends meet because you are crippled in a freak accident and CAN'T work? Thats called "undue hardship".
The article forgot to mention how him starting culinary school piqued his interest in high end kitchen knives and soon his addiction for boutique cutlery caused him to stop paying his bills and loans.
The only good thing about being older is that a college degree cost the same as four good knives. The bad thing is watching my daughter rack up 50K/year. At least she will be a doctor when she is done. I already get valuable advice from her: she looked at an MRI and said "Dad, you are f%cked" I love my daughter!
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