Financially hobbled for life- elite masters degree that don’t pay off

[Anonymous]

I would say the same thing about a Masters in Journalism.

[Anonymous]

She'd be an idiot to not delete this but then again maybe she wants to be as infamous as the Kardashians for the wrong things

[Anonymous]

I think it's pretty funny, actually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's pretty funny, actually.

That she got a job based on TikTok dance moves that someone with a BA+MA in the field and six-figures of debt couldn't?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I went to one of these programs at a different Ivy and have several family members who did the same. None of us are trust fund wealthy but our parents were well off enough to just pay our tuition without us taking out loans. Most of my peers were the same.

I agree that the people who took out loans for these programs only have themselves to blame.[b] Perhaps there should be more scholarships or need based aid but not loan forgiveness!

Of course you do. Degrees are for the idle rich; not for thee!

If it's a useless vanity degree, then yes, that's accurate. Part of the problem is that people who are perpetual students are asking for advice from professors who have never worked outside higher ed. That is how someone I know ended up with a PHD in Organizational Leadership. Her actual work experience in leading organizations is zero.

+1 There are a lot of things that the idle rich can do that us normal people can't.

Caveat Emptor.

The student is the buyer who should be aware.

I also blame parents for not teaching their children BEFORE they go to college about finances and the cost of living, how borrowing and compounded interest works. We've been drilling this into our kids since the were 12.

I'm so tired of

The brain is not fully formed until 25.

Honestly, an 18 year old will never understand money the same way a 30 year old does.

This is coming from someone who graduated with ONLY $2,000 in debt. I paid it off with in 2 months of graduating.

$2,000 feels a lot different as a 25 year old than when I was 18.

I'm tiried of people constantly making excuses for the choices that they make.

I'm the ^PP. I was 18, too, you know, when I made the decision to go to a cheaper state school and major in something marketable. Actually, no, I was 17 when I made this decision.

My sibling was also just barely 18 when sibling decided to join the military to get a GI bill to help pay for college.

So you are saying that those who made the smarter decisions should pay for those who made dumb decisions because they were too immature?

OK, how about this. Everyone goes to community college after HS unless they can pay for a 4 yr themselves, no loans. Loans are for graduate degrees only when you are at least 25 since that magical number means your brain is fully formed to make smarter financial decisions, and so the rest of society doesn't have to suffer your foolish choice.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:If you are smart enough to get into an elite grad program, you should have the intelligence to recognize the financial impact over the long term.

one would think so, but being financially savvy is not the same as being academically smart.

I know someone who has multiple degrees from great schools, but this person's finances are a mess. This person can't manage money.

And no , the debt should not be forgiven. You are an adult; you made a decision. No else should pay for your bad decision.

I wonder how people who take that stand view bankruptcy in other contexts.

I don't like the bankruptices laws in this country, but I do think bankruptcies due to medical reasons is legitimate, and actually, it's one of the main reasons why people become bankrupt.

And this is another reason why we need medicare for all.

But, there are different bankruptcy status - one where you can restructure your loan, and the other where you can't but then they can take all your assets and garnish your future wages.

Student loan should not be forgiven completely. Even if you can never pay it back, they should be paying something.

What happens if the loan is forgiven, and then 20 years later, this person hits the lottery? Shouldn't they pay it back? If the loan is not forgiven, but just restructured, that loan could be paid off.

I truly don't understand sentiments like yours.

People like you know that a substantial of people will never be able to pay it off. Is the solution for them to be debt slaves for the rest of their lives? Are they supposed to die with it?

Please let me know your thoughts on this! I really would like to know.

My thought is that people should take responsibility for their choices. Yes, that may mean they die with debt. You realize that many people die with debt, right? Credit card, house, car.. student loans.

If you want to forgive their loan, be my guest. They can start a gofundme.

But, I'd like to know your thought on the bolded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Forgiven debt is considered taxable income by the IRS. If these people were suddenly forgiven their student loan debt, they couldn't even afford to pay the taxes for it and they would immediately acquire more debt again, which would just continue accruing. Loan forgiveness is not a panacea, nor will it prevent this from happening in the future.

exactly!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Forgiven debt is considered taxable income by the IRS. If these people were suddenly forgiven their student loan debt, they couldn't even afford to pay the taxes for it and they would immediately acquire more debt again, which would just continue accruing. Loan forgiveness is not a panacea, nor will it prevent this from happening in the future.

exactly!

Not to mention the fact that if everyone in the year 2021 is forgiven debt, what about graduates in 2022 or 2023? Or 2035?

Nope. Personal choice - the American way. You accrue it, you pay it off.

[Anonymous]

I think all of this shows we need more financial literacy classes in high school. For those going to college and not. And more education about loans before they are taken.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think all of this shows we need more financial literacy classes in high school. For those going to college and not. And more education about loans before they are taken.

I agree. I had no debt as first generation and we did not even know you could get loans! In hindsight, I am so happy we were that clueless. Students need to understand the economy, jobs, and their amount of comfort with risk. I am sure one or two MFA become the next JK Rowling. Someone will make it big but just someONE; that is enough to keep it glittery!

I worked and went to a state school ( not even THE state school.) Certainly much cheaper 25 yrs ago. However, what I will say is that I was lucky enough to be born with some intellectual capacity and with a father who believed in HARD work. That is what I tell my dc: it’s not the smartest or fanciest who gets ahead or gets what they want. It is often the hardest worker! That is what helped me get a seat at the table with the Ivy grads.

We can pay for state or private. One went state and the other was offered private. On their own they said “ no” that is crazy $$. That one is hard worker and quite unique. Again luck of birth but we have talked about life choices for years. Everything on the table….college, trade, life in general. More families need to do this and be okay if dc choose a path that is not typical or ivy or dmv- like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are smart enough to get into an elite grad program, you should have the intelligence to recognize the financial impact over the long term.

Being academic doesn’t mean someone is also intelligent about money and investment. Most highly gifted ppl aren’t concerned with the dollars and cents of everyday life.

OH WELL.. Don't ask me to pay for your inability to figure out common sense logic or basic math.

Maybe everyone should take basic math and figure out how to calculate what something costs before they buy it.


We work our asses off without college degrees and i'll be damned if my tax dollars will go to someone to pay off their college debt.

[Anonymous]

I agree about not just forgiving debt that was a choice, like going to a certain college. On the other hand, I also agree that folks that young truly don't understand the impact of taking on that much debt and the compounding effect. They've never had to support themselves at that level and assume they'll be able to pay it off much sooner than they're actually able to. Particularly when the school they trust encourages them to do it. I certainly understand much more about debt and compound interest than I did then, even with parental guidance.

I wouldn't support using tax dollars to pay off their principal in total. But I would support forgiving the interest and them just paying the principal that was loaned, considering the mess the government and the colleges have made of all this over the last few decades, and not making a quick adjustment to their mistake when they saw it happening. Just forgiving the interest alone should make the debt much more manageable and quick to pay off.

[Anonymous]

^^ And the government needs to change the educational lending policies NOW so that they and the colleges don't keep creating more of this mess.

[Anonymous]

I have a professional degree (law) that didn’t pay off. I have been paying it for 15 years and will be working on it for another 15 at least. And I borrowed the bare minimum (lived in a tiny apartment with roommates for $550/mo, no vacations or lifestyle choices funded by loans, etc.). But I struggled to find a job that paid well enough for me to pay down my loan any faster. I continued to live with roommates for years and left that only to move in with the person I wound up marrying. I still live frugally— we share a 12 year old Nissan, we don’t eat out much, we take inexpensive vacations, etc. I always feel conscious of my debt. I’m currently trying to save for my child’s education while paying for my own. It’s hard. We have no family money.

I absolutely think I deserve some kind of forgiveness. Not for the whole amount, but just some kind of assistance. I feel swindled by my grad school. I wish I’d understood back then that a huge factor in getting a job out of law school (unless you attend a top 5 school or graduate at the top of your class, which I didn’t) is having industry contacts or at least having some more intimate knowledge of the industry. I didn’t get it at all, was super naive, and career services was honestly hostile when I didn’t land a big firm job via on-campus interviewing.

It’s gross to me that I will spend most of my adult life in debt because I was too dumb at 22 to understand all this. I don’t expect tax payers to pay it, but I wish my alma mater bore some responsibility. They benefitted a lot from my naïveté.

[Anonymous]

But for every story about people not being able to pay off debt- there’s stories like my dhs. His family didn’t give him any money (didn’t believe in it- I think they could have helped). He took out 15k a year and by the time he graduated it was 80k. He made 80k in his first job. We got married at 24 and I helped pay off his loans too. We paid them all off by 26 and we also saved for a down payment during this time. Definitely lived like church mice. Dh has his dream job and they paid for his masters. I have a few friends with this same amount of debt and they’re still wallowing in it a decade after graduation. Some haven’t paid it down at all. They have 50k cars though, but somehow rant about student loans.