25 years old and deep in debt

[Eddie Teach]

Would interest rates really go below 6.8% for graduate level student loans if the whole industry was privatized? That's the argument I hear all the time from my GOPtard classmates/attendings. I was looking into Wells Fargo and they don't seem to offer anything below 7%.

I started school again last June and got a loan at 3.4%, though it looked like if I had started in July they'd have only been available at 6.8%. 

[Admiral Yi]

Would interest rates really go below 6.8% for graduate level student loans if the whole industry was privatized? That's the argument I hear all the time from my GOPtard classmates/attendings. I was looking into Wells Fargo and they don't seem to offer anything below 7%.

That's deeply retarded.  The government's involvement sets a floor on student loan interest rates, not a ceiling.  There's nothing stopping Wells Fargo from beating the government's rate if they wanted to,.

Which makes me wonder why they don't; mortgages are going for 3ish right now, and student loans are 100% guaranteed.

[Fate]

Would interest rates really go below 6.8% for graduate level student loans if the whole industry was privatized? That's the argument I hear all the time from my GOPtard classmates/attendings. I was looking into Wells Fargo and they don't seem to offer anything below 7%.

I started school again last June and got a loan at 3.4%, though it looked like if I had started in July they'd have only been available at 6.8%. 

Graduate loans are all still 6.8%. Only undergraduates get the 3.4% rate.

I was reading the history of those loan programs. Apparently rates were as low as 2-3% in the 90s and early 2000s. After I'm done with 7 years of residency deferments my 160k will have turned into 266k. Fuckers. 

[Barrister]

Would interest rates really go below 6.8% for graduate level student loans if the whole industry was privatized? That's the argument I hear all the time from my GOPtard classmates/attendings. I was looking into Wells Fargo and they don't seem to offer anything below 7%.

I started school again last June and got a loan at 3.4%, though it looked like if I had started in July they'd have only been available at 6.8%. 

Graduate loans are all still 6.8%. Only undergraduates get the 3.4% rate.

I was reading the history of those loan programs. Apparently rates were as low as 2-3% in the 90s and early 2000s. After I'm done with 7 years of residency deferments my 160k will have turned into 266k. Fuckers. 

The thing is Fate, you're in the one degree program where assuming that kind of debt still makes perfect rational economic sense.

[Fate]

I wonder though. I'm only having to take out 40 a year because the state of Texas subsidizes the fuck out of higher education. On the East Coast you have schools where you have to take out 80 a year in loans. 320k after 4 years... which balloons to 531k after a 7 year residency. And the administration asks why there's a shortage of primary care physicians. 

[Barrister]

I wonder though. I'm only having to take out 40 a year because the state of Texas subsidizes the fuck out of higher education. On the East Coast you have schools where you have to take out 80 a year in loans. 320k after 4 years... which balloons to 531k after a 7 year residency. And the administration asks why there's a shortage of primary care physicians. 

And ask yourself - would you rather have said "fuck it", skipped higher education, and worked on oil rigs in North Dakota?

I don't know what the Ideos of the world would say, but for you the answer should be obvious.

[alfred russel]

I wonder though. I'm only having to take out 40 a year because the state of Texas subsidizes the fuck out of higher education. On the East Coast you have schools where you have to take out 80 a year in loans. 320k after 4 years... which balloons to 531k after a 7 year residency. And the administration asks why there's a shortage of primary care physicians. 

Doctors in residency get paid...that debt doesn't need to balloon...also do primary care doctors really have 7 years of residency?

Also, isn't your debt total of $320k quite a bit more than what would be typical?

[Eddie Teach]

How much do Caribbean med schools charge?

[Darth Wagtaros]

If you want to make student loans dischargable then the only fair way to do that is if you do so then you lose your degree.

Then they will become Fighter/Mages.

The army could use some of those for the fighting up around the ruins of Yulash.

[garbon]

I wonder though. I'm only having to take out 40 a year because the state of Texas subsidizes the fuck out of higher education. On the East Coast you have schools where you have to take out 80 a year in loans. 320k after 4 years... which balloons to 531k after a 7 year residency. And the administration asks why there's a shortage of primary care physicians. 

And ask yourself - would you rather have said "fuck it", skipped higher education, and worked on oil rigs in North Dakota?

I don't know what the Ideos of the world would say, but for you the answer should be obvious.

Because that is the only other option?

[Ed Anger]

If you want to make student loans dischargable then the only fair way to do that is if you do so then you lose your degree.

Then they will become Fighter/Mages.

The army could use some of those for the fighting up around the ruins of Yulash.

It's sad that I know that is from the Forgotten Realms.

[Darth Wagtaros]

I wonder though. I'm only having to take out 40 a year because the state of Texas subsidizes the fuck out of higher education. On the East Coast you have schools where you have to take out 80 a year in loans. 320k after 4 years... which balloons to 531k after a 7 year residency. And the administration asks why there's a shortage of primary care physicians. 

And ask yourself - would you rather have said "fuck it", skipped higher education, and worked on oil rigs in North Dakota?

I don't know what the Ideos of the world would say, but for you the answer should be obvious.

Because that is the only other option?

Oil riggers can make big money. 

A better question would be: doyou need to spend 4/5 years and a ton of money to get a job in the first place?  Even secretaries seem to need a bachelors these days, and I'm not sure why that is. 

[PDH]

A better question would be: doyou need to spend 4/5 years and a ton of money to get a job in the first place?  Even secretaries seem to need a bachelors these days, and I'm not sure why that is.

Duh, it is so people like me can still part-time teach worthless high school grads about subjects they have no interest in - it is called "13th Grade."

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

OK, but, like I told Beeb, you're an Old.

Of course what you paid is peanuts in comparison to the average new grad, let alone the average matriculant, in 2012.

That said, I wish they'd get more representative people to feature in these stories.  Someone with $50k or $60k in debt and washing dishes is a little more median, but highlights the same problem.  I think news idiots prefer the sensationalism and comment-generating features of top quintile debt.  It's all the same problem--but unfortunately you get this, no offense, frankly stupid reaction from 40 year olds who went to college in 1990.  I DIDN'T PAY THAT MY GOD WHAT A RIDICULOUS HUMAN BEING.  Try applying high single and often two figure percentage increases per year for over a decade, mathemagician, see what happens to your obviously more responsibly borrowed tuition.

The tuition at my university has gone up 115% since I graduated, and 185% since I started.  Today's undergrad tuition is $199.54 per hour, all general fees included, for a total of $2993.10 for a full load semester.  When I went, my Bright Futures scholarship paid the entire tuition plus a $300 book allowance.  The scholarship is now $100 per credit hour with no allowance, meaning a full semester would cost me $1500 + books today.  My books were on the order of $500 per semester[1].  So, $1850 per semester out of pocket plus other expenses, which weren't much because I lived at home.  $15,790[2] for a full degree, of which all will be covered by other funds.  Room and board is on the order of $5500 per semester, including meal plan.  That is not much more expensive than when I went, about in line with inflation.  The numbers we have:

Per semester:
Tution: $3000
Books $ 650
Room and board: $5500
Total: $9150

When I started at FIU, living on campus, in 1998 I had almost $10,000 in scholarship and grant money per semester.  My impression from articles like this is that is still a reasonable amount for someone with my academic standing and need basis.  Therefore now, as then, I could go to FIU or FAU effectively for free; even if I decided to acquire debt, it would be manageable.  Thus, without a distorted view of reality, I have no sympathy for morons who accumulate $60k+ in debt to go to prestige schools.  Particularly since I passed on a prestige school myself because I didn't want to have to make up the $12/year shortfall.

[1] Prices have not changed much, as I know from buying and looking at books recently.
[2] Electrical engineering requires 128 hours.

[Eddie Teach]

[1] Prices have not changed much, as I know from buying and looking at books recently.

People could just pirate them anyway.