Student Loan Debt will surpass $1 TRILLION in 2011; 500% Increase since 2000

  On 4/13/2011 at 4:54 AM, yikes said:

in this economy only an ivy undergrad degree barely means anything any more

stop quoting your dad. it really depends on the field....

there should be a law against this.

and i SHOULD be a dashing and famous millionaire. but i'm not

bout to head out of grad school with about 20k of debt...though im most likely going to move back in with my parents for the few months between the PHD program, and just work my ass off, hopefully get the majority of the loans paid off before the 6 month grace period expires.

200,000 USD yo

i was lucky enough to have a scholarship along with parents that'd planned ahead.

soon, though, my sister is probably going to med school. there goes my inheritance !

oh well. whatever.

A FUFILLION DOLLARS

  On 4/13/2011 at 8:11 AM, Offisides said:

A FUFILLION DOLLARS

i raise 20p

  On 4/13/2011 at 4:47 AM, ZiggomaticV17 said:

So is their goal to get every dumb fuck in college so they can start spending money and get every fucking person in debt so they can haz their slaves back?

 

Or do I have it all wrong?

  On 4/13/2011 at 4:49 AM, hahathhat said:

speaking of "them" as a cohesive group is not a good thought path. you'll turn into ET or troon.

 

the truth is that shady jerks figure out ways to game the system and profit at the expense of others. same as always.

The net result is the same though. Debt burdened wage slaves.

  On 4/13/2011 at 8:33 AM, delet... said:

  On 4/13/2011 at 4:49 AM, hahathhat said:

speaking of "them" as a cohesive group is not a good thought path. you'll turn into ET or troon.

 

the truth is that shady jerks figure out ways to game the system and profit at the expense of others. same as always.

 

The net result is the same though. Debt burdened wage slaves.

not really. one belief path is an "us-against-them" mentality, while the other is an acknowledgment of human nature.

So is everything in America somekind of scheme that allows a select few people to amass a huge wealth by just playing the system? Why isn't there more of an outrage about this shit there? What is wrong with you yanks?

  On 4/13/2011 at 11:57 AM, azatoth said:

So is everything in America somekind of scheme that allows a select few people to amass a huge wealth by just playing the system? Why isn't there more of an outrage about this shit there? What is wrong with you yanks?

good question

let me get back to you on that

  On 4/13/2011 at 11:57 AM, azatoth said:

Why isn't there more of an outrage about this shit there? What is wrong with you yanks?

i'd imagine it's rooted in the "american dream" ideal that anyone who is wealthy has clearly worked hard for it and deserves it, and that anyone who works hard enough can achieve similar success.

  On 4/13/2011 at 12:38 PM, Iain C said:

  On 4/13/2011 at 11:57 AM, azatoth said:

Why isn't there more of an outrage about this shit there? What is wrong with you yanks?

 

i'd imagine it's rooted in the "american dream" ideal that anyone who is wealthy has clearly worked hard for it and deserves it, and that anyone who works hard enough can achieve similar success.

i don't remember who said it but some author made the very apt point that america doesn't have people who are poor and exploited, just temporarily embarrassed millionaires.

edit: it was john steinbeck:

"socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires"

  On 4/13/2011 at 4:57 AM, hahathhat said:

  On 4/13/2011 at 4:54 AM, yikes said:

in this economy only an ivy undergrad degree barely means anything any more

 

stop quoting your dad. it really depends on the field....

my undergrad was really crappy and it really didnt hurt me at all. karmakramer's second post is true, i was able to make it through undergrad with no loans by picking a mediocre (but still OK) university which was super cheap, and work part-time to pay it all off with no loans. i worked hard and did well, and got into a decent grad school, and since engineering grad school is free, i had no debt. through networking (which is hard work) i was able to land 2 postdocs at some of the best institutions for postdocs, and now i've landed a kick-ass job, all with no debt.

although my wife, who is in the same field, has a few $10k in debt.

  On 4/13/2011 at 4:21 AM, hahathhat said:

at least with grade inflation, there's little chance of failing out any more.

lol

  On 4/13/2011 at 4:38 PM, zazen said:

  On 4/13/2011 at 4:21 AM, hahathhat said:

at least with grade inflation, there's little chance of failing out any more.

lol

yeah, it is funny, and i think judging by my undergrad grades, i may have gotten into grad school because of inflation.

but since ive been here, ive been told by almost every prof that im an exceptional student and could potentially be a great professor, i have very, very close to a 4.0, and i did it by busting my ass and being passionate about it, getting involved.

that said, even though Im tooting my horn a bit, the bulk of the other grad students in my field do. not. give. a. shit....and because of grade inflation they get by with minimal effort, whereas i have to work my ass off for a slightly better grade.

and this isn't just teacher's pet jealousy or overachieving, its the stark realization that one day, I realized, I will be competing against these people. And some of them have horrible work ethic, but are masterminds at psych-diplomacy, using very well formatted and elaborate excuses..and they are also incredibly apathetic.

for those that aren't "yanks" on this board, part of the reason a Masters degree has been attractive to large portions of the population is because many states offer a default bonus if you are a teacher.

So lets say, the beginning salary for a high school teacher is 30k. With a masters (in just about any field), is an automatic 6-7k addition to the beginning salary...so its definitely worth it financially....the only problem is you get grad students that view the program as an endpoint, therefore they just do what they need to to get that degree, ultimately re-emphasizing university's primary goal as a degree mill.

really depressing and infuriating. often times i ask myself why i would possibly want to be piss poor until im 50+, work my ass off to ridiculous heights, and then get in touch with a friend from high school who was making 50k plus salary right out of the gate.

College=higher education?

hardly ever. its what you are willing to make of it, and unfortunately whatever you make of it doesn't usually translate into making a living.

I should have caught on re: this issue at law school when it became apparent that I was one of 3 people there without rich daddies.

After racking up an insane amount of debt I landed a high-paying job out of the gate and was laid off 6 months later because there was no work to give me... and one month later they brought in a kid with shitty grades, no work ethic, and a rich daddy.

Fuck America.

its more like "Fuck civilization", as its downfall is always prone to nepotism and all the other bad isms

but i feel ya...the phd part is getting really nerveracking, though ive firmly decided, if i dont get a waiver or an assistantship offer, im done with the PhD...time to find another route to go.

anyone else considering a phd....there is NO reason you should pay close to 100k or more for a degree which probably wont find you a job for a few years...look for free (relatively) offers or don't do it at all. thats the honest truth.

Yeah, if I'd have known what would happen with debt/interest on debt/layoffs/the economy I definitely wouldn't have gone to law school. I actually just wanted to do some good public interest stuff with a JD, but fuck. I had to take a Big Law Corporate job just to be able to make payments on the loans, and when that crashed... ugh.

Meanwhile all the high school cohorts who got middling grades in state schools and didn't go to grad school own their own houses now.

  On 4/13/2011 at 8:39 AM, hahathhat said:

  On 4/13/2011 at 8:33 AM, delet... said:

  On 4/13/2011 at 4:49 AM, hahathhat said:

speaking of "them" as a cohesive group is not a good thought path. you'll turn into ET or troon.

 

the truth is that shady jerks figure out ways to game the system and profit at the expense of others. same as always.

 

The net result is the same though. Debt burdened wage slaves.

 

not really. one belief path is an "us-against-them" mentality, while the other is an acknowledgment of human nature.

But it is us against them. heh. How do you think anything changed for workers.

  On 4/14/2011 at 7:19 AM, delet... said:

  On 4/13/2011 at 8:39 AM, hahathhat said:

  On 4/13/2011 at 8:33 AM, delet... said:

  On 4/13/2011 at 4:49 AM, hahathhat said:

speaking of "them" as a cohesive group is not a good thought path. you'll turn into ET or troon.

 

the truth is that shady jerks figure out ways to game the system and profit at the expense of others. same as always.

 

The net result is the same though. Debt burdened wage slaves.

 

not really. one belief path is an "us-against-them" mentality, while the other is an acknowledgment of human nature.

 

But it is us against them. heh. How do you think anything changed for workers.

plaudits for again drawing us back a frame of reference !

i guess i just meant, there is no james bond meeting of evil minds; scheming in a dark room behind the guise of a bland front business. just greedy people consistently hacking away at what's proven to be a pretty damn resilient system (the constitution).

  On 4/14/2011 at 10:40 AM, hahathhat said:

plaudits for again drawing us back a frame of reference !

 

i guess i just meant, there is no james bond meeting of evil minds; scheming in a dark room behind the guise of a bland front business. just greedy people consistently hacking away at what's proven to be a pretty damn resilient system (the constitution).

- Didn't the founding fathers argue that the constitution needed to be constantly defended. As they were quite aware of it's fragility.

- There are plenty of scheming minds coalescing into organised agenda pushing groups, who's will is then disseminated through front businesses, have you ever heard of the koch brothers funding the tea party or C street congressmen, or innumerable other big business, rich person organisations set up to push clear agendas that use proxys to do thy bidding. What do you think most of congress is. heh.

The people behind this are doing it because of an alignment of personally held self interest, sure, there's self interest there. And they realise that the most effective way to promote whatever cause is through a group effort fronted by a marketable spokesperson. And they really do need that white shell as a concealer, just as a salami factory wouldn't use images of pig carcases getting hit with high pressure water jets, to sell a line of meat paste.

Ahh too tired to go on, sorry. You sucked me in, heh. Or i sucked myself in, whichever you prefer. Not sure about your sense of humour yet.

should be under 20k now, but yeah it'll be a while before that's paid off