I love how when it came time around for college 'aid' it was almost always in the form of a loan. And the loans have mainly helped colleges raise the cost of tuition. Colleges know they can raise tuition to the loan amounts. Most students will never be able to walk away from, even in a bankruptcy.

In all, most people are worse off because of college 'aid' loans but I'm sure colleges are happy. Thanks government!

While Ca gives tuition breaks and grants to illegals, everyone else has to go into debt with loans that will never be paid back, and for what?? unemployment.

Great Country for American citizens

Maybe if more people realize they cant afford the degree they want the price will go down.

Since they lost an avenue of enslaving people through mortgages (or at least topped it out) they made student loans availble only from the .gov and made them invalid for BK in order to enslave a new generation.

Time to re-evaluate college and the money it costs. Trade schools are enough for a lot of careers and at a fraction of the cost. Now the gov't is doing student loans and will own you when you are out, hello the new friendly irs collection agency (they will double up to save costs). Just joking --- on the saving costs.

I am a California resident, have my B.A. and M.A. from state universities, and am very thankful for both the grants and loans that I received. However, I knew that I couldn't afford to have hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans, so I worked throughout undergrad and graduate school. I walked out with $15k in loans, which makes for an affordable payment. I couldn't have succeeded without the loans, but didn't go crazy. People need to start thinking about what their ultimate salary will be, and whether that will allow them to pay down their loans.

For all of the people who talk about "the government took over the loans": Have you actually received a Stafford loan? Because they've always been funded by the government, and that fact was made clear in all of the loan paperwork I signed. In the past, however, they were managed by private companies. What this meant in real terms was that if you took out one student loan per year for four years, but used a different bank to process the loan each time, you would be making four payments when you graduated, one to each bank. This was regardless of the fact that the money all came from the same place: the federal government. I have multiple friends who had this problem. I am so thrilled that my cousins and younger friends who are starting college don't have to worry about being scammed by the banks who just wanted the management fee from your loan, and cared nothing about how hard it would make your life after college.

 Just exactly what the Gov't does best - Intrude into the Markets to influence Demand. Post 1.0 had it right. This has only allowed these Institutions to raise Tuition (And Costs such as Salaries) by inducing a false sense of ability to pay on the part of Students.

And then, to top it off, they instituted bankruptcy Reform to prevent anyone from escaping this sham. Just another massive shift of money from individuals to these well organized entities.

Meanwhile, student performance continues its downward trend while costs continue their upward trend. Pretty much sums up the results of the past thirty years.

People should stop going to over-priced no-name colleges and universities for degrees that don't pay enough to offset the fact that they cost 2-4 times as much as public universities. That isn't hard math to do. Also, having 3 kids when you know you're going to be $250,000 in debt is a pretty obvious poor choice.

Why did this couple have three children BEFORE paying back their college debt? Sounds like they made at least one bad choice and now are crying foul. That's not anyone's fault but their own. Sometimes we just have to take responsibility for our own choices in life.

Part of the problem isn't inability to afford the degree when starting. The problem is that the cost of the degree doubles or triples in the time required for advanced degrees. Add a 9.8% interest rate and the $50K degree costs $150K when done. So the Universities and banks just got rich off the taxpayers.

WHY the HELL would anyone need $250K in loans for college? Everyone is saying to blame someone else. How about teaching students early in life about fiscal responsibility?!?!?! Then maybe they will make better choices! I have student loans I am paying off, but I didn't go crazy (about $20K) and I worked almost all of my years at college to prevent it. But I also recognized how much I would probably make in my chosen career and allowed myself to have that little bit of debt.

Idiot people are getting degrees for subjects with jobs that pay terribly and going into a TON of debt to do it. I know one student I studied abroad with (which should only be for those who can do it without going into a ton of debt!) and she already had $100K plus of loans mid-way through her private college career. And she had plans for an Undergrade! WTF. State schools can be just as good. No need to get super fancy.

Stop blaming government/banks/etc. and start taking responsibility!

This.

The total cost of my education including 16 hours of tuition per semester for four years, and books came to $2,500.00 and change.

I spend nearly all of my life either attending school or employed by one.

Schools raised their tuition and 'fees' almost every year until they tapped out the 'PELL' grants that were supposed to enable 'un-aided' students to attend college.

My daughter took two summer classes at a college for a neat little bill of over $6,000.00.

Once more, college will only be for the rich.

Anytime government is involved in 'aid' there will be a business or college willing to take all the government can bear!

What do people expect? Lawmakers are communists. They send our jobs to communistic countries. Europe hates us. The American people do not require enough from their government. No one in Europe pays for higher education. For us to lead the world, we must have a superior education system. For this to happen, it must be privatized. If we cannot create jobs in the US, then it will fail. In consideration of taxes, transportation, housing, retirement, and transportation, US minimum wage should be about $25 US. It is not, and it never will be. It is looking like the US is over. I say ratify NAFTA and forget the world. We have no obligation to the other 192 countries. If our government cannot provide an equitable balance between corporate manipulation and governance, I say Viva La Revolution!

I'm sure nobody held a gun to their head when they decided to take out $250K worth of student loans after having 3 kids. Wow, what bad decision making!! But...it's really pretty simple, you got the college education, now you pay the bill. ....and, don't expect taxpayers who have managed their time and money better than you to baill you out!

College is not an entitlement and not everyone will benefit from a degree. There are lots of college degreed burger flippers and 7-11 clerks out there who should have pursued a non-college vocational program so they could have gained skills that actually would have qualified them for a decent job. Unfortunately, they're stuck at 7-11 until they do! A degree in a "non-academic" major(international studies, black studies, women studies,....ad nauseum) is easy to obtain and pretty painless in terms of effort....getting a job with those credentials is almost impossible!!

Education is an investment....and, a student had better analyze his/her investment of time and money to determine if the degree they are pursuing has a decent payoff somewhere down the road. It must be a very conscious decision, for it well may be the largest single purchasing decision(aside from a house) that a person will ever make! Don't go into such a huge decision lightly!

Over the life of a 30 year loan, a $300 per month decrease would equal over $100K in savings. Search the web for "123 Mortgage Refinance" website they helped me find 3.118% rate easily. Strongly recommend them for anyone.

Education shouldn't be considered an investment, it should be a basic human right. If the US is going to remain competitive we owe it to ourselves to demand that our tax dollars are spent educating the people, not bailing out banks who continue to prey on Americans.

I think it's sad that many will look at this couple and think they shouldn't have had kids because they couldn't afford them AND an education. What does that say about our society when we have to make these kinds of trade-offs? Generations in the past did not have to face these kinds of decisions. Previous generations wanted a better quality of life for their families so they believed in the importance of a college education. Unfortunately, the cost of a college education is now so high that it is actually reducing the chances of many in their quest to improve their quality of life.

Human rights! Here is the key!

More and more people in the US have to realize that education, health care, and retirement plans are HUMAN RIGHTS in all of rest of the civilized world. And we are not aside of this world anymore – everything has gone global.

WE, THE PEOPLE, are the ones who should ask from the government and the politicians, and IF WE DO, they will give it to us.

Please, stop compare yourself with others people destinies. How could you recommend young people to get degree first and then have kids? What about have career firs? Yes, then have kids after 30 and no wonder why the US is the first with DOWN SINDROM.

Dear fellow Americans, please, stop turning the good capitalism into cannibalism. Stop the greed and selfishness taking over this beautiful country.

OK, maybe I have a problem with math (OK, I do) but I need some help with this. I don't know how this couple got $250K in debt but I would hazard a guess they decided to be in school at the same time while having kids OR they have some form of health care degree OR they both went to grad school.

I'm still working on the math. My oldest child is finishing her Masters in Special Ed. My son just started his freshman yr in college. What I'm trying to understand is how everyone seems to graduate with these ridiculous sums of student loan debt? There is no hard and fast rule that says just because they say you're eligible for it you have to take it. They go to school in Virginia, which is probably about avg in costs, to a public school, and the cost for tuition, room, and board is approx. $18K per yr. Multiply that by 4yrs equals approx $72K. That's the cost if there is no financial aid, no student loans; just what it would cost if I simply stroked checks.