Does anyone else owe a TON in student loans?

[Anonymous]

I owe $120 with a worthless International Relations MA. My only hope is that if a I die before I finish paying them, they die with me.

[Anonymous]

it's really disgusting how much school, especially law school, costs these days.

that said, being a SAHM with a degree you still owe on, letting your husband pay it off while you don't use it? gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[quote]I don't hate people who have student loans, but I do think they should repay them. That's a very, very large sum of money and I didn't need to take a loan out in that amount to go to school. I got a degree and went to a school I could afford. I also make a good salary and have not relied on the American taxpayer to foot my college tuition.

x100.

And merely working for the feds doesn't quite cut it. Being the sole doctor on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the poorest county in the US? sure. Ditto for being the only public defender somewhere in the Mississippi Delta who helps indigent folks who are in jail, for years on end.

But, forgiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans per person because that guy is a GS-14 lawyer telecommuting from Herndon for the HHS? Working 8:45 to 4:30? Really?!

Who can I call about this.

What about teachers that teach in low income schools with high risk students? Or nurses that work in similar environments?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DH and I owe $300k+ combined. Both lawyers, plus a worthless but expensive masters degree thrown in for good measure (his). And, I am a SAHM. And, we have three kids and will probably have another. And, I hated being a lawyer and will never use my degree again. And, we are currently paying only interest because that's all we can afford (this will change after DH makes partner next year). And, my DH didn't graduate until 2006, BUT he was already 30 instead of 25. So we are way behind the curve on saving for retirement. I have to laugh when I see all those posts about people saving 20% of their income and putting $1000/mo in 529s for their kids. That is just so far outside the realm of possibility for us that it's like a whole other universe.

I try not to worry about it too much. Yes, we made mistakes in our lives. Yes, we will be paying for them for a LONG time. Yes, we will not be able to give our kids the material things, expensive vacations, and full ride educations that other people can. But, we decided not to stop living and enjoying our lives because of our prior mistakes, e.g. we decided to have a family even though by the standards of many people on this board, we "couldn't afford it", and we decided it was worth it to us for our kids to have a parent at home. Eventually the loans will be paid off. We are still very blessed in so many ways. (We do have plenty of life insurance, though, in part because of the student loans, and we are thinking about LTD for my DH as well). If something bad happened to us such that we had to default on our loans, we have wonderful families who would be there for us.

Both of us took out these loans when we were young, and for various reasons neither of us had received a particularly good education in financial matters and didn't really know what we were getting into. And then we got married, compounding the mistake (in a financial sense). Everyone I have ever encountered who mentions law school to me, I try to talk them out of it and really emphasize how the debt is a drag on your future income. At 22, I just had NO idea what real living expenses even were (my parents paid mine during college), much less the cost of raising children.

How is it possible that your husband as a 2006 grad is making partner next year????

[Anonymous]

I owe about 65K. I'm currently job hunting and our plan is to live off DH's salary until my loans are paid off - this before saving for a house/retirement/college for DCs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it's really disgusting how much school, especially law school, costs these days.

that said, being a SAHM with a degree you still owe on, letting your husband pay it off while you don't use it? gross.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it's really disgusting how much school, especially law school, costs these days.

that said, being a SAHM with a degree you still owe on, letting your husband pay it off while you don't use it? gross.

+1

Are you serious? Why would you possibly care what she and her husband decide to do financially? They're his kids too that she's staying home to take care of. You're insane.

[Anonymous]

law schools lie and cheat and their tuition goes up simply because of the crazy US News ranking criteria. any scam you can get to not pay those bastards back is a good idea ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: How is it possible that your husband as a 2006 grad is making partner next year????

I was thinking the same thing. My DH just made partner and graduated five years earlier. For his firm, he made it quite quickly and at a young age. Maybe she means a non-equity partner. I know some firms call what is essentially a counsel a "partner."

That being said, I am sorry for anyone owing that much money. DH owed $80K from law school and we paid it off aggressively (thousands extra every month) and it still took years. But, I don't quite see how people go $200,000 dollars into debt for law school. DH didn't have any help from his parents and went to a top three law school (so it was expensive). In law school, he did live like a churchmouse and because he put every penny that he made during his two summers towards tuition and living expenses he didn't have to take such big loans. I know that not everyone has the admittedly low standards for comfort and cleanliness that my DH has, but law schools should have some kind of education for new students about how not to go so far into debt in just three years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[quote]I don't hate people who have student loans, but I do think they should repay them. That's a very, very large sum of money and I didn't need to take a loan out in that amount to go to school. I got a degree and went to a school I could afford. I also make a good salary and have not relied on the American taxpayer to foot my college tuition.

x100.

And merely working for the feds doesn't quite cut it. Being the sole doctor on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the poorest county in the US? sure. Ditto for being the only public defender somewhere in the Mississippi Delta who helps indigent folks who are in jail, for years on end.

But, forgiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans per person because that guy is a GS-14 lawyer telecommuting from Herndon for the HHS? Working 8:45 to 4:30? Really?!

Who can I call about this.

I'm a left-leaning Democrat and agree 100%.

Sheesh.

Agree with this 100% too- it is terrible and should be stopped. My children will be bearing that debt burden instead!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: How is it possible that your husband as a 2006 grad is making partner next year????

I was thinking the same thing. My DH just made partner and graduated five years earlier. For his firm, he made it quite quickly and at a young age. Maybe she means a non-equity partner. I know some firms call what is essentially a counsel a "partner."

That being said, I am sorry for anyone owing that much money. DH owed $80K from law school and we paid it off aggressively (thousands extra every month) and it still took years. But, I don't quite see how people go $200,000 dollars into debt for law school. DH didn't have any help from his parents and went to a top three law school (so it was expensive). In law school, he did live like a churchmouse and because he put every penny that he made during his two summers towards tuition and living expenses he didn't have to take such big loans. I know that not everyone has the admittedly low standards for comfort and cleanliness that my DH has, but law schools should have some kind of education for new students about how not to go so far into debt in just three years.

Law school tuition and living expenses have gone up significantly since your husband went to school. No idea where your husband went, but if he didn't go to school in NY or DC or another large expensive city, his living expenses would also be tens of thousands less than those of people who went in those cities.

[Anonymous]

I currently have $29k federal loans, from law school (2007 grad), so I know it could be a lot worse. But I certainly don't like having it hanging over my head.. even though the minimum payment is not too scary.

What really scares me is how awful it is for the economy, so many young people starting out with such huge loans. It is kind of irrelevant what you think about the OP's $400k situation, if you think she made a bad choice or something --- that doesn't change the fact that the EXPLOSION of student loan debt is having a terrible effect on the US.

People are delaying having children, or having less children (just one for us), due to the expense. People are buying less house, or no house at all. And yet, our generation (and our few children) are expected to bear ALL of the costs of supporting the elderly, and all of the aging boomers' entitlements, guaranteed pensions, etc.

There is just no way it can work.

[Anonymous]

DH and I had about $250K in student loans: undergrad, med school, MBA and a MS. We both worked out tails off, lived leanly and paid them off before we bought a house and had kids. There would be NO way we could have bought a house and afford 3 daycare tuitions for our kids.

[Anonymous]

No loans here! We got PhDs in science and... THEY paid US to go to school! yyhhheeehhheee yiippeeeee it's true it's true

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I owe about 65K. I'm currently job hunting and our plan is to live off DH's salary until my loans are paid off - this before saving for a house/retirement/college for DCs.

Where can I find a sucker to do the same fo me?