Financial Friday

[linda22003]

We're on the cusp of real autumn in the DC area. It will be sunny and mid seventies today, then not even into the sixties over the weekend. Great soup making weather!

TOTD: The Wall Street Journal has a piece this morning on rising student loan defaults. Luckily, my husband and I had parents who believed in paying the freight for our educations at private universities, so we have no experience with this. Have you ever had a student loan? Are they hard to pay off? Do they stick around so long "you think they're a pet", as Dave Ramsey says?

[djones520]

TOTD: I don't have any, but my wife does. We have been able to put them into indefinite deferment right now, but eventually we'll have to get them paid off. I'm sure we'd find a way if we had to, but it wouldn't be very easy at this moment.

[Nubs]

I do not have one but I know of those that do.

I have a lawyer in my classes that has racked up so much in student loans, he plans on taking at least one class a semester for the rest of his life so he can defer payments on the loans.

I believe the interest rate is around 9% with 4% of that interest rate going to ObamaCare.

Student loans are not dischargeable in bankruptcy court. Therefore there is no risk premium so the interest rate seems a tad high

[Starbuck]

I had a friend whose wife was going to college. Nursing. Student loans. They were just sending her money.
Saw him a few months back.

"How's your wife doing? About through with college?"

"Don't make me think about it."

"Why? What happened?"

"She flunked out. So, now we have to pay for all her student loans and she has no degree."

Fair is fair. And sometimes foolish is just that.:o

[noonwitch]

It's cold and rainy. I'll have to turn the furnace on tonight. If it keeps up, there are going to be some cold nights at Comerica Park next week.


TOTD: My dad paid my tuition for college. It was a lot more affordable in the early 80s. My younger sister, who was unfortunate enough to still be in college when my parents got divorced, is still paying off her loans, and she's 44.

[JB]

Undergraduate student loans are probably the easist type of loan to have.

The interest rate is low and they give you about a hundred years to pay it off. At least they used to anyway.

[SaintLouieWoman]

I was lucky that through a combination of my folks paying, jobs at the university and scholarships I ended up with no student loans. I believed in doing that for the kids, so neither of my sons had those loans, either. Of course they helped by going to community colleges for the first 2 years, so it wasn't bad paying for the private schools the last 2.

[Hawkgirl]

Nope, don't have any...my family believes it's the parent's responsibility to pay for tuition. I did have a part time job that helped pay for some of my bills like my car payment.
I've started saving money for my daughter as well.

[NJCardFan]

I took one loan out and paid it off. Wasn't much. $2500. However, I find it mind boggling that there are people who believe that these loans should be forgiven. Um, no. You borrow money, you pay it back. There is no right to an education past the tax payer funded public education that nets you a high school diploma. After that, it's on you. And no one says you have to go to a mega 4 year university. Go to a community college first. Education is just as good. And it's quite affordable. However, if you CHOOSE to borrow money to further your education, you pay it back. It's that simple. Because why should you borrow money to go to UCLA and welch on the loans while others worked their asses off and paid for their education? Should they be reimbursed? Also, where does it end? Should defaulted mortgages be forgiven? This insanity has to stop. Be fucking responsible for once.

[lacarnut]

I do not understand why these students do not get a part time job. Plus a job before graduation looks good on a resume.

I had a classmate who was maaried worked 70 to 80 hours a week,paid rent, his tution, living expenses, had zero loans or financial and was debt free when he graduated. Lazy people that whine about student loans, Isay tough shit.