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Grieving parents taking on student loan debt

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LegendKiller said:
The states having control of the purse strings also keeps tuition down.
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Sure as hell can't tell it. A few years back, Clemson was $20K ish counting books/room/food. dafuq?

Speaking of books, there should be some class action lawsuit for their costs.

I've got a 13 year old. In 5 years, they'll be $30K+. Damned if I want to send him to the sub-standard uni of S.C. (Where his Mama went to school.) but I may have to.
 
Man, she took enough of these pills to get freaking liver failure from acetaminophen overuse and she was in nursing school? And she couldn't figure out how to do a CWE? Or just start coping dope? How low is the bar set to get into nursing school these days? That's the most disturbing part of the story; somebody this dumb might have been responsible for somebody else's health at some point in the future. I'd say society dodged a bullet on this one.
 
highland145 said:
Sure as hell can't tell it. A few years back, Clemson was $20K ish counting books/room/food. dafuq?

Speaking of books, there should be some class action lawsuit for their costs.

I've got a 13 year old. In 5 years, they'll be $30K+. Damned if I want to send him to the sub-standard uni of S.C. (Where his Mama went to school.) but I may have to.
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2014 budget
http://media.clemson.edu/cfo/budgets/2014_Budget_Document.pdf

"State Appropriations $99,453 11.0%"

2009 budget

http://www.clemson.edu/budget-2009/budget/faqs.html

"State appropriations (26%)"

Note that in 2007-2008 Clemson's total budget was $665mm. In 2014 that budget had increased to $907mm. During that period state appropriations went from $164mm to $99mm.



SC now only has an 11% say into the Clemson budget whereas before they had a 26%+ say. Who gets the say in Clemson's ballooning budget? Do you think Uncle Sam (us), get to say why Clemson has decided to increase its budget by over 36% in 5 years? No, we are the dumb money plowing into their ballooning budget.

An even better question - are students getting a 36% better education?

By what metric does Clemson have inflation of 36% in 5 years, or 6%+ annual?
 
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LegendKiller said:
2014 budget
http://media.clemson.edu/cfo/budgets/2014_Budget_Document.pdf

"State Appropriations $99,453 11.0%"

2009 budget

http://www.clemson.edu/budget-2009/budget/faqs.html

"State appropriations (26%)"

Note that in 2007-2008 Clemson's total budget was $665mm. In 2014 that budget had increased to $907mm. During that period state appropriations went from $164mm to $99mm.



SC now only has an 11% say into the Clemson budget whereas before they had a 26%+ say. Who gets the say in Clemson's ballooning budget? Do you think Uncle Sam (us), get to say why Clemson has decided to increase its budget by over 36% in 5 years? No, we are the dumb money plowing into their ballooning budget.

An even better question - are students getting a 36% better education?

By what metric does Clemson have inflation of 36% in 5 years, or 6%+ annual?
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Well that's quite depressing.
 
PricklyPete said:
F'ing ridiculous. I have a feeling the education at Clemson has increased very little since I graduated in 2001...yet the cost has ballooned.

Don't send your sin to USC...that would be a travesty!!
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I used to tell him he could go wherever he wanted but my $$ was going to Clemson.😛 Now, I'm telling him to learn a trade but I don't think it's sinking in.

His Mother is a rabid chicken fan. I'm about tired of hearing about the 5 losses.
 
$100k in student loan debt for nursing? My wife went to a Technical College for 5 semesters to get her Associate's and it cost us $22k, of which $6k was us taking the maximum loan amount to supplement our income.

8 years ago I graduated from a Tech College with an Associate's in IT for $14k.

College is an investment and the parents that co-signed on these outrageous loans are getting what's coming to them when they should have counseled their kids on how to properly choose a school and career.
 
child of wonder said:
College is an investment and the parents that co-signed on these outrageous loans are getting what's coming to them when they should have counseled their kids on how to properly choose a school and career.
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When I was growing up, my parents were very clear about college:

1) I was going.
2) If I wanted their help, I couldn't pick a "fluff" major (their words). Engineering was an example of an acceptable major; liberal arts majors were completely unacceptable to them.

They correctly viewed college as an investment in your future and you should go for something that 1) has a good ROI and 2) something you liked. It had to satisfy both requirements to them, not just one. 🙂

People will say that college is for an "education" and not job training, and I counter that such logic is still true for the wealthy, who have the time and money to waste on degrees which have very little return on investment. For the rest of us who grew up in the middle class, we had to choose wisely and pick something we could make a good living from. Would I have loved to study History in college? Absolutely! But, a degree like that just isn't worth the investment and I can generally study the history topics that interest me in my own time for little or no additional cost.
 
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child of wonder said:
College is an investment and the parents that co-signed on these outrageous loans are getting what's coming to them when they should have counseled their kids on how to properly choose a school and career.
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Their daughter was a drug addict. That their daughter was showing an interest in a career was probably a big thing for them. Choice of school/loan amount is ridiculous but it isn't as if she was studying art history.

What's coming to them should be bankruptcy not indentured servitude to pay off these loans. There is zero good reason for these loans to be exempt from bankruptcy discharge.

IMO there should never be a privately held loan of any kind that is not able to be discharged. That the federal loans are the same way isn't something I am a huge fan of but it may be the only way to avoid the graduate and dump scheme.
 
If the parents co-signed for the loans, then I'm sorry, but they should have to pay. If the bank(s) want to allow the loans to be forgiven, great but otherwise, they signed a contract and it's their obligation to pay.

Haven't read enough to see if this type of loan can't be forgiven by bankruptcy though.
 
CountZero said:
Their daughter was a drug addict. That their daughter was showing an interest in a career was probably a big thing for them. Choice of school/loan amount is ridiculous but it isn't as if she was studying art history.

What's coming to them should be bankruptcy not indentured servitude to pay off these loans. There is zero good reason for these loans to be exempt from bankruptcy discharge.

IMO there should never be a privately held loan of any kind that is not able to be discharged. That the federal loans are the same way isn't something I am a huge fan of but it may be the only way to avoid the graduate and dump scheme.
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I agree. these loans should be discharged in bankruptcy. same with federal ones.

But then yeah you have the issue of people that will graduate and dump them. not sure how else to stop that besides not allowing them to be discharged.

the whole student loan situation needs to be revamped. I don't think that the Feds should be out to make such a huge profit from the loans or schools.
 
Engineer said:
That's because most of the better paying jobs that once put people into solid, middle class ground are now MIA. We reap what we sow.
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At least the blue collar ones, and increasingly the associated white collar college jobs too. It's easy to say we'll outsource production and keep engineering, but soon engineering grows out of touch with practical production and engineering is not only cheaper outsourced, but better.
 
Engineer said:
If the parents co-signed for the loans, then I'm sorry, but they should have to pay. If the bank(s) want to allow the loans to be forgiven, great but otherwise, they signed a contract and it's their obligation to pay.

Haven't read enough to see if this type of loan can't be forgiven by bankruptcy though.
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The industry lobbied for a complete ban on dischargability. Why? Because it equalled more profits for them.
 
waggy said:
I agree. these loans should be discharged in bankruptcy. same with federal ones.

But then yeah you have the issue of people that will graduate and dump them. not sure how else to stop that besides not allowing them to be discharged.

the whole student loan situation needs to be revamped. I don't think that the Feds should be out to make such a huge profit from the loans or schools.
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Just like any other bankruptcy hearing but you just incorporate future earnings re: loans.

The gov't isn't making a huge profit. They aren't even going to break even in this fiasco.
 
highland145 said:
Well that's quite depressing.
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This is what happens when the government is half-in-half-out. You either get them all in or all out, that or you fix the no-underwriting situation.

WSJ just had an article today about the amount of GI Bill money going to for-profit schools. It's massive, ridiculously massive. Shit schools, shit degrees. The default rate for most for-profits is 2-3x private non-profit and public.

For profits only exist because grants and unlimited cheap loans.
 
LegendKiller said:
This is what happens when the government is half-in-half-out. You either get them all in or all out, that or you fix the no-underwriting situation.

WSJ just had an article today about the amount of GI Bill money going to for-profit schools. It's massive, ridiculously massive. Shit schools, shit degrees. The default rate for most for-profits is 2-3x private non-profit and public.

For profits only exist because grants and unlimited cheap loans.
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Just a few months ago Obama wanted to to cut off funding to for-profit schools. There was such an outcry from these schools. Supposedly 98% of their earnings come from grants and loans.

Anybody that still attends these schools has a few screws loose. With the internet so prevalent now, how can you not know that for-profit schools are terrible. A 10 minute search online will give you the information and tools you need to make the correct decision. Everybody should stay clear of these awful schools.
 
Korea74 said:
Anybody that still attends these schools has a few screws loose. With the internet so prevalent now, how can you not know that for-profit schools are terrible. A 10 minute search online will give you the information and tools you need to make the correct decision. Everybody should stay clear of these awful schools.
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"Common sense" is anything but common. The people that will fall for these are people that just don't know. You might know what to look for or know to ask friends, etc, but the people that don't have that background or the appropriate community to talk with are ripe for falling for this stuff. They come from backgrounds where they might be the first to attempt to get a college degree in their family. These schools target people in low-income areas with the promises of getting an education without having to worry about the cost (since they'll just milk the government for financial aid that the student will have to pay back later). These for-profit schools are taking advantage of people.
 
If you make these loans dischargeable in bankruptcy it will become much harder to get them and fewer people will get educated so they can make that additional one million dollars over their lifetime.
 
Brainonska511 said:
"Common sense" is anything but common. The people that will fall for these are people that just don't know. You might know what to look for or know to ask friends, etc, but the people that don't have that background or the appropriate community to talk with are ripe for falling for this stuff. They come from backgrounds where they might be the first to attempt to get a college degree in their family. These schools target people in low-income areas with the promises of getting an education without having to worry about the cost (since they'll just milk the government for financial aid that the student will have to pay back later). These for-profit schools are taking advantage of people.
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That's true. Most of the students that attend these for-profit schools are from low income neighborhoods and they are normally young. They don't have the guidance that would steer them clear from these schools.

With that said I still can't imagine anyone not doing their research on these schools. Even a low income student in America has internet access these days. Maybe I'm wrong. I simply typed in "Are for-profit schools a rip off" and got a ton of pages loaded with links.
 
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