http://finance.yahoo.com/college-education/article/109701/placing-the-blame-as-students-are-buried-in-debt?mod=edu-collegeprep

Like many middle-class families, Cortney Munna and her mother began the college selection process with a grim determination. They would do whatever they could to get Cortney into the best possible college, and they maintained a blind faith that the investment would be worth it.

Today, however, Ms. Munna, a 26-year-old graduate of New York University, has nearly $100,000 in student loan debt from her four years in college, and affording the full monthly payments would be a struggle. For much of the time since her 2005 graduation, she's been enrolled in night school, which allows her to defer loan payments.

There is much more to the article but I am tired of hearing about how people massed debt and now can't pay and wants the blame to lie elsewhere. Its not anyone's fault but your own that you didn't know what you were getting into when you took out any kind of loan!!!

People that complain about their student loans are total idiots and I agree with you.

Xavier isn't as expensive as an NYU, but I will leave here with around the $100,000 mark in loans to pay. I knew before I started that college meant my dream of ever owning a house before the age of 40 pretty much went out the window. Yet there are people who think that you can go to a private school, get in crazy debt, and then expect the lifestyle of someone who went to a public university. The way I see it, if you aren't smart enough to realize you have to sacrifice things to pay off the loans, you didn't deserve to get in the university to begin with because you are a moron.

I think it's more of a grey area than you think...did she do this to herself? Yea. But good luck trying to get a well-paying job without a college degree...didn't state what she majored in at NYU (prolly some bs like music or something...i dunno) unless I missed it, but I don't necessarily blame her for wanting a quality education. The current system is set up in a way that in order to succeed, you need to take a risk. Some people succeed, and others fail (ms munna seems to be on the short-end). Them's da breaks. It sucks, but I don't blame her for going to school. I do blame her for bitching about not being able to pay. So I sorta agree with you...if that makes sense.

Vet school
4 years
$180k
$50k job when you graduate if you are lucky.

LJ;375942 wrote:Vet school
4 years
$180k
$50k job when you graduate if you are lucky.

That looks like an ad for why animals should not be taken care of. I thought vets made better money than that?

CinciX12;375945 wrote:That looks like an ad for why animals should not be taken care of. I thought vets made better money than that?

When you own your own practice you do. Usually when people say "well my vet drives a.... and lives in a...." it's usually because they have a husband who has a decent job and that double income is there to stay because the vet likes what they do and will keep doing it into their 70's

The problem is that school is becoming less and less affordable, but without school it is even harder to find a decent paying job anymore.

Potential college students need to really look into what job market is abundant and then find a way to pay for school to get into that career field. Sorry, but the times of going to college and getting any kind of degree and then landing a job are over. You have to be specialized and not only that, you have to be one of the best.

I've read elsewhere that the subject of the article majored in religious studies and women/gender studies. This is why student loans should (1) be dischargeable in bankruptcy and (2) be more difficult to get. It's the cheap student loans floating around that are putting people into these holes.

This moron is in $97k of debt for a religion and woman studies degree. The author also is dumb, trying to lay blame on citibank (not their fault she got a $40k loan). The school should have told her she is a moron? No. The only place to lay blame is on her and her mother, both of which should have had half a brain to realize they couldn't afford it, especially with the dumb degree she paid that much money for. Our society needs less finger pointing and more personal responsibility. She could have easily went to a cheaper state school.

I am not blaming her at all for going to school, heck no. I am blaming her for wanting the blame to lie else where for her debt. There is never, doesn't matter how good/bad the economy is, that once you get through college you will get a good paying job, never that guarantee only that your chances become better to land one.

fan_from_texas;375954 wrote:I've read elsewhere that the subject of the article majored in religious studies and women/gender studies. This is why student loans should (1) be dischargeable in bankruptcy and (2) be more difficult to get. It's the cheap student loans floating around that are putting people into these holes.

Lol my day is officially complete. Religious studies and women/gender studies.

fan_from_texas;375954 wrote:I've read elsewhere that the subject of the article majored in religious studies and women/gender studies. This is why student loans should (1) be dischargeable in bankruptcy and (2) be more difficult to get. It's the cheap student loans floating around that are putting people into these holes.

Precisely why I posted my first post. What kind of a job did she think she was going to get? Why do schools even offer these as majors? I can see having a few classes as electives, but to offer an entire program further proves that colleges and universities are just looking to make money off the suckers.

Of course they are out to make money!!


I guess what really blows my mind is here is someone that did this to herself, but we have people in our country that don't have that opportunity but yet this chick gets the sob story??? That is what kills me about the media!

good thing i bum off my parents for tuition

Meanwhile, universities like N.Y.U. enrolled students without asking many questions about whether they could afford a $50,000 annual tuition bill.

is it really the school's job to do the math for the parents?

How many people are like her? According to the College Board's Trends in Student Aid study, 10 percent of people who graduated in 2007-8 with student loans had borrowed $40,000 or more. The median debt for bachelor's degree recipients who borrowed while attending private, nonprofit colleges was $22,380.

No one forces borrowers to take out these loans, and Ms. Munna and her mother, Cathryn, have spent the years since her graduation trying to understand where they went wrong.

*RAISES HAND* oh oh oh oh i know where they went wrong!!!! she went to a school that cost her $100,000 for a degree that wont pay.

It is the student and families fault ultimately. But I would say the education system is a bit to blame. I know I'll be fine as I have been able to obtain scholarships for both undergrad and law school. But I remember constantly hearing from guidance counselors, teachers and advisers that going to college money should not factor into the equation and in college you should study what you love. That's nice advice in an ideal world where money grows on trees. But it's not practical for everyone.

Its not practical and people need to realize there is still a business side to the college education world!!

Just reading the article, the woman profiled doesn't seem particulary sympathetic, but this is going to be an issue that could possibly lead to another crisis down the road. It is getting less and less attainable for younger people to even begin a semblance of a middle-class life without taking on enormous amounts of debt.

The last few years' economy have stunk for everyone, but at least there are mitigating market forces for older, more established indiviudals and families. Bernanke's interest rate policies have allowed for mortgage refinancings at rates that would be ludicrous just 4 years ago (which we took advantage of), if you're in the market for an automobile you have manufacturers and dealers practically throwing bargains at you (we just paid a very modest downpayment this weekend on a CX-9 and still got 5 years 0% - its free money for 5 years), we've noticed more bargains at the grocery store and even our utilities have fallen a bit. It doesn't make up for income loss and stock market losses from the height, but it still helps.

That said, these mitigating factors aren't as useful for young people and students. They don't own houses, aren't buying cars, and probably couldn't if they wanted to due to lack of credit history and tightened lending standards. They are screwed on that end, and doubly screwed because one of the few industries that has been immune to the current market realities is higher education and its costs. The tuitions keep rising, but the returns on investment haven't risen, and most certainly have lowered. I don't know whether bankruptcy protection is the solution, but there has to be some sort of check on the escalation of costs and the debts that will have to be borne by someone.

Manhattan Buckeye;376101 wrote:It is getting less and less attainable for younger people to even begin a semblance of a middle-class life without taking on enormous amounts of debt.

See, i dont buy that. she took out $80,000 more than the average student. to me she was/is trying to be upper class with only middle class assets.

^ that is the way I see it Glory

Did you miss my statement that this particular woman profiled wasn't sympathetic?

I think my point still stands, virtually everyone I know under 30 is in much more debt and has much worse job prospects than I did a decade earlier. This article was about an extreme case, but it is a national problem.

Glory Days;376145 wrote:See, i dont buy that. she took out $80,000 more than the average student. to me she was/is trying to be upper class with only middle class assets.

I'm from a middle class family and did the same thing. The only difference is I can and will get easily hired with my degree. Its only stupid if you major in what she did.

Manhattan Buckeye;376149 wrote:Did you miss my statement that this particular woman profiled wasn't sympathetic?

I think my point still stands, virtually everyone I know under 30 is in much more debt and has much worse job prospects than I did a decade earlier. This article was about an extreme case, but it is a national problem.

i'll agree the job prospects are worse, but i dont think the debt is worse. but that could be because of the job market and people not being able to pay off the debt as soon as before.

We need more government subsidies and tax credits for tuition and what not. That has done a good job so far of keeping tuition prices under control.

Glory Days;376168 wrote:i'll agree the job prospects are worse, but i dont think the debt is worse. but that could be because of the job market and people not being able to pay off the debt as soon as before.

Why do you not think debt is worse? Tuitions and other costs have outpaced inflation for the last decade and probably many years beyond that.