Those doggone student loans again...

[Slater]

I don't know. At some point somethings gotta give. That interest is a real killer:

"After Ron and Marcia Rizzardi got married in 1992, they thought consolidating their student loans was the best financial option for them.

But now, thanks to sky-high interest rates, the Arkansas-based couple owes $130,000 in student debt even though they've made $140,000 in payments over the past 25 years. They've paid off their original loan amount of $54,000 nearly three times over.

"The loans have always stayed one step ahead of us," Marcia told Insider. "It has affected every aspect of our lives."


https://www.yahoo.com/news/meet-marr...100000540.html

[gaijin]

Usury.

[Gabriel556]

I have to wonder what their credit was like. I also wonder what sort of tangible assets they have now (maybe none). Maybe I am naive but I don’t remember insane interest rates back then. And who’s idea were loan terms? Yes, 25 years ago, $54k was a good amount of money, about 2 nice American cars, maybe a Cadillac and a Caprice. But still, if they are still paying after 25 years and still owe a mortgage worth, they stretched it out crazy far, and clearly went for a LOW payment.

I didn’t take student loans, i scrimped and saved, got scholarships and worked my ass off through school to graduate owing $4k at the end. That was it. Maybe if they start making a progressive collateral program and wrecking a few lives fewer people will go to college for useless degrees and be taken advantage of.

[Diamondback]

Maybe if people focused more on practical degrees with an employment outlook rather than vanity ones like [insert Snowflakery Du Jour here] Studies or Underwater Basketweaving...

Then again, I shouldn't throw stones, there ain't exactly a lot of market demand for military-history majors outside the uniformed services.

[Slater]

From the article:

"After leaving the US Air Force in the early 1990s, Ron, now an engineer, went to school to obtain a degree in aviation. To supplement his part-time work as a certified flight instructor, Marcia took out student loans to obtain a master's degree in education - she's still employed in the field. But a few years later, after their two daughters were born, Ron experienced two layoffs and Marcia suffered an injury that put her out of work, causing them to defer their student-loan payments.

But deferring those payments didn't quite give them the relief they hoped for because interest continued to accumulate in the meantime. That's what has "always kept them out of reach" of even making a dent in their principal balance, Ron said.

Their debt load also held them back from saving up for their daughters' education, requiring the couple to take out parent PLUS loans - the most expensive type of loan, which covers the cost of attendance at a college and is not based on income. Those loans have added another $100,000 to their overall debt load. Their daughters also took out student loans themselves while getting their degrees at state universities.

Now, Ron doesn't see himself retiring until he's at least 75 years old, and once the pandemic freeze on student-loan payments lift in February, the couple is looking at $1,600 monthly payments for the foreseeable future."

[Diamondback]

Just to clarify, my comment was not targeted at the Rizzardis' case study but at the predatory practices of Big Academia and Sallie Mae in general. My Associates (and almost a second before changing majors just in time to get hit with a new Term Limits law) was entirely cash-out-of-pocket with Resident Tuition being my only break. (Well, other than a few students who'd already completed courses I was signing up for and I making deals where I bought their textbooks for more than they'd get at buyback but less than I'd pay used at the bookstore...)

[DG23]

Their debt load also held them back from saving up for their daughters' education, requiring the couple to take out parent PLUS loans - the most expensive type of loan, which covers the cost of attendance at a college and is not based on income.

They had a crap ton of debt so they... Borrowed MORE money for their kids 'education'.

Freakin idiots.

One would think they would have learned their lesson about student loans (with their own student loan debt) but these idiots doubled down!

[tgizzard]

They had a crap ton of debt so they... Borrowed MORE money for their kids 'education'.

Freakin idiots.

One would think they would have learned their lesson about student loans (with their own student loan debt) but these idiots doubled down!

Well you can’t fix stupid.


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[BoringGuy45]

They must have gone with an adjustable rate. If you go with a fixed rate that won’t be a problem. I only had a 6% interest rate on mine and I paid off my undergrad loans just making the minimum monthly payments.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

They had a crap ton of debt so they... Borrowed MORE money for their kids 'education'.

Freakin idiots.

One would think they would have learned their lesson about student loans (with their own student loan debt) but these idiots doubled down!

Something doesn't add up. $100,000 in loans for in state schools? Not saying it can't be done, but if you don't have the income to pay off the old loans, you should have low enough income to get financial aid. If the were taking our loans to pay for room& board- go to a closer state school and live at home. Or start out two years at a Community College.

At least they got real degrees- but the flight stuff makes me nervous. Seems like a great way to spend money- and if it doesn't work out you got nothing to show, and if it does, regional airlines pay crap.

We are going to forgive those loans. It is hard to point to the people 'hurt' by that- outside of taxpayers, and we are taking it in the shorts all around lately. That it goes to the DEms new core constituency- college educated elitists that are useless. This will be the greatest transfer of money to the useless and upper-middle class ever.