Really?

The taxpayers should be on the hook AGAIN?

No one forced these people to take such big loans. There are alternatives such as attending 2 years of a community college, on-line schooling, establishing residency in a state with low rates for state universities, trade schools etc. that don't require one to rack up this kind of debt. You don't get to go to whatever expensive-as-hell college your little heart desired and than expect everyone else to pay for it. That's an absolute entitlement mentality and many of us out here are completely fed up with that BS. No one forced these people to take such huge loans, the only ones responsible for paying them back are the people who signed for them.

The poor job market is only a third of the problem. Another third is a flood of education loans available to kids with no idea of the realities of the real world and who have no or little virtue of sensibility, along with parents who feel too guilty to be honest with them about their poor choices and just want them out of the house. The last third of the problem is the flood of loan cash available has only served to drive up tuition costs to levels 4-5 times the rate of inflation, while raising professor salaries to ridiculous levels, to offer teaching of liberal ideals that only serve to exacerbate the problem upon graduation.

I'm sorry but most will get no sympathy or understanding from me if that's what they're looking for.

STexan - you are absolutely right. I forgot to add that to my comment - the fact that poor government policy (gee, big surprise there) in the form of making ridiculous amounts of easy money available to borrow for college absolutely helped drive college costs through the roof. And now the taxpayers once again should be expected to clean up the government's mess?

Give me a da*mn break already.

These are almost predatory practices these colleges do. They hook you in by saying "oh yeah, don't worry about the debt you'll have, you'll get a great job when you get done." Well we all know there are no guarantees, but these kids and naive adults want to believe and the lenders KNOW that. Yes, we all know they should have known better, but the colleges need the money these loans and grants provide so they keep their mouths shut!! I don't think they are any better than the paycheck loans down the street. They sucker these kids in by telling them lies and then they are on their own after graduation.

I think that the other issue that needs to be addressed here is that students need to major in something that is going to lead them to employment after college...how can you expect to start to be marketable with a Women's Studies Major?...or a Philosophy Major?; just for examples...there are many others I can mention as well. College students need to explore area of the career market that are still going to be viable for years to come.

What!

Incur $60K in college loan debt so you can work for free? She didn't get much of an education.

"Stupid is as stupid does" F. Gump

Juanita, there's a comment I can wholeheartedly agree with! I wanted to be a music major. I got into the Indiana University School of Music (#2 only to Juliard). My ever practical father asked what I planned to DO with said degree in vocal performance. "BROADWAY BABY!" "Uh huh," said he. Well, with my 4.0 HS GPA, I was able to double major in Journalism (exhausting at the time) and gee, what did I do? I went to NYC and worked at (I know, gasp!) NBC NEWS! I still sing for fun. Father Knew Best, DARNIT!

Oh, and I worked off that college debt reasonably quickly. I worked two jobs until I got a "real" producing gig in television... it takes awhile!

i paid off my loans topless dance'n...people paid me to put my shirt back on...those were some good people at those churches...

@grilledcheesesandwich

I went to a state university, worked 1.5 full time jobs while going to school full time. I also did student work that was a program to help decrease my tuition because it helped the local schools. I still had to take a loan for nearly 30k to pay for my education. if it were with today's prices that same loan over a 4 year period at the same school I would be over 40k in debt by graduation. i completed everything in 4 years, now a days you need to be more htan a full time student to complete a 4 year degree in 4 years. I spent over the last 13 years, 4 years unemployed and 2 years under employed. (I was a business major with a minor in computers) and I currently work a nice job as an IT support guru. I am paying my loan but its difficult as the cost of living near my job is costly, but not as costly as living further away and paying more on commuting costs.

Kids getting out of school now are getting into a workforce right now that is relatively stagnant and nothing like what they had going into college. No-one knows what is going to be needed in 4+ years, they only know what is available now. They take a gamble, some gamble right, some don't.

I feel bad for these kids because they are preyed apon by creditcard companies on top of the normal student loan debt as well. Are the kids to blame? Partially, but the majority of the blame isn't theirs, its on big business that run the prices of school so high? Don't believe me? Lets show some numbers from me going back to school to get my network security certificate.

Books from the bookstore in which these kids are told they can only get books from (more imply it but teachers are told to tell the kids they have to) Our bookstore charged $238.45 for a new book for my programming class. That book, of which I didn't buy from the book store, we ended up using 8 of the 21 chapters in it. I bought my book on amazon for half the price, new. I still feel it was a waste as the only thing I got out of the book was the questions in the back of each chapter we went to that tested us on what we learned in that chapter. I already know scripting pretty well so I knew the answers to most of the questions without ever having to read the book. So you keep fooling yourself that you wont get large amounts of debts going to a state school, you will. Just not as large as going to an ivy league.

the student loan program , made billions for the banks; here is how it works, the banks loan the money at interest 7-11%, the government guarantees 90%, the banks take the guarantee and deposit it with the federal reserve , and frees up the guarantee amount , for their loan portfolio, mostly home mortgages, which they lend-ed to anyone that was breathing, they then took the mortgages, bundled them, insured them (AIG MOSTLY), and took the cash earned to make new home loans and pay salary's sometimes in the 100 million range. The worlds biggest Ponzi scheme ever though up.

This is complete BS. Nobody put a gun to the heads of these "students" to commit to these loans, now they whine about their financial obligations.

Here comes Obama with still another entitlement paid for with money that doesn't exist. The national debt is already beyond this country's ability to pay off and the continual slide in the value of our currency will relegate the dollar to the status of monopoly money.

All of this is because an incompetent Marxist president has discovered the only chance he has of getting re-elected is through bribery.

Im in that same boat! It has taken me over 11 years of struggling to get my college loan down to $3500. Couldnt get any help from the college. But every other antwan, dick or Joe had no problem going for free.........

Why would she have so much debt if she wanted to be a nun? You have to go to college to become a nun?? I'm misunderstanding something, but then again, I didn't read the entire article... it's not about the woman who had to put off her "Dream" because of debt... It's about the student loan debt and it being too high...

I don't think it's right for people to complain about how much college costs. College is not mandatory, it's purely choice. You don't have to go to that Ivy College that costs 5 times as much as Community College. You don't have to move out of state so you can get away from your parents to go to college. Those are CHOICES.

Albeit, if you don't go to college, your gonna be working at McDonalds for the rest of your life... Even still, I know a college graduate who STILL works at McDonalds... So, here are your choices, Go to College - accrue HUGE amounts of debt to better your education, so you MIGHT land that dream job/high salary everyone wants... OR, Work at Mcdonalds.

Given those choices... is it really a choice anymore? Hmmm.....

You made a good call Daisy! My wife is a classical pianist trained in a Russian conservatory. She has no problems getting gigs and teaches at a university and has private students, but when she has young students that talk about majoring in music she tells them the facts that for every Yo Yo Ma there are 10,000 out of work musicians.

I aggree with you! I worked a full and a part time job and went to community college full time to pay for school. I applied for Pell Grants and recieved a couple of those to cover books. But ultimately I only took classes that I could pay for. (And I did have to drop classes a couple of times bc I couldn't pay for them.) I refused to take out loans for school. I didn't know if I would be able to pay them back. I didn't finish bc we had a baby and I quit work to stay home and take care of her. Had I taken out loans, I would not have been able to make that choice.

I also aggree that the govt has set these kids up for failure. Not just current, but past ones. Right now though, with unemployment being high, the president has been encouraging people to go back to school... take out loans and get a degree. Now why would I do that?! There's no guaruntee you will get a job after taking out those loans. And even if you do, with the cost of living rising and the wages dropping, it's not likely you will ever be able to repay that loan. Just another way to make the avg person rely on the govt if you ask me....

there are plenty of ways she or any student can pay off student loans---some have been mentioned, state school, community college,etc....people say well go to a state school but some state schools are harder to get into then the private colleges, in that case the community colleges come first then transfer into the state school.

On paying for your loans, you can do things join the peace corp for a couple of years for loan forgiveness, or be a teacher or a doctor in a out of the way place (hills of Tennessee the wilds of Alaska, etc) or how about the old fashion way serve your country for 4 years, not only job experience but loan take care of

We do not need another bail out that would be the worse thing for this country if anything freeze the loan rate at a certain % point but that is as far as you should go

For those of you who are chastising these students, you need to wake up! We have people today that have masters degrees working at Home Depot because f the lousy job market.

As I seen in one post, the banks are making out like bandits right along with the schools. If the Federal Government is taking all the risk, why aren't we the tax payers benefiting? Student loans should become a part of the government, not the banks. If the loan defaults, the government pays, so what risk is it to banks in making these loans? Schools and the global climate of plain old greed is the problem. First off, for those who want to go against college professors (who go to school for 8-10 years to become an"expert" in their field" making $100k a year, what about the football coach, with a BS, that is making $5 million? Our schools have become more concerned with sports rather than education. The government needs to direct that these become independent of one another. Also, executive compensation needs to be looked at also. Some of the presidents and chancellors are making over $1 million a year. Then, as pointed out, students can't graduate in 2, 4, or 6 years because they have a bunch of BS classes that students have to take in order to make them stay longer and have to give more money. Education is one of the biggest rackets in our nation at this time. If these schools can pay these types of salaries, they are no longer institutions for learning, they are businesses and should pay taxes just like every business!

I have always been under the understanding that when one looks to go into education it's about passing on knowledge and not getting rich like the greedy bastards in corporate America, who are taking all our jobs overseas and to other nations leaving our nation with high unemployment. Screw NAFTA and all the rest, and tax everything that is brought into this nation. Tax all revenue that these corporations are making "worldwide" if they are based in the US. After all, they are being afforded the protections and infrastructure that comes with being here and if they can afford to pay their executives 10, 20 50, & yes even 146 MILLION for one years work, they can pay their FAIR SHARE! I say the same with all these tax free Indian Casinos! There should be no free rides, just like the many the small businesses of America pay their fair share so should everyone else who is making all this money and taking advantage of the BS that our politicians have come up with.

Now back to education. I'm currently in graduate school and it costs $2500 per class, and yes folks, this is online. You know the latest thing so that you aren't paying for buildings and infrastructure and you are able to do it while working in hopes of improving your present occupation. Some people have no clue!

Yes folks, this is the next ticking time bomb! This is the next housing crisis; and until our government quits kissing the 3% a$$es, soothing their buddies with pork barrel projects, doing what they have been for the past 50 years so they and their buddies can get rich, we will continue to have these problems occur.

At least our President is trying to do something to head this thing off! At least we have a President that understands what student loan debt is, he lived it. For those of you who think flip, flop can or will change anything that will benefit anyone except the top 1%, you need to go back and get some education because you are completely clueless about what has been going on the past 50 years, and most of it has been under the republican watch. The Mitts of the nation are getting richer off our backs and by destroying our nation or any hope for a better tomorrow, is that what you really want? No one will be able to go to school beyond HS.

Finally, as to all these useless degrees, we had one prime example brought out here. This is exactly why China will no longer provide assistance to those pursuing degrees that the nation doesn't see as being meaningful for future employment opportunities. Perhaps our nation needs to look at the many ways that they are doing things like this. But, until corporate America comes on board and starts bringing jobs back to the US, we are all screwed!

STOP THE INSANITY! There is only enough money to send to Afghanistan and Iraq! There is no money for the idiots who take out loans and can't pay them back. Hell, those idiots should be drafted and sent to Afghanistan! If you get shot in the face, consider your loan forgiven!

Hey Cheese Sandwich? I guess you don't read about all those "business run colleges who have fought Obama (along with the GOP) tooth and nail to cut the gray train." Our waitress at Pizza Hut is spending $32,000 for two years of "trade" school to become a medical billing clerk. Go figure. But then it's business run. Too bad the GOP cuts the heck out of community colleges, but then their "big boy friends" would not be making all those millions on ripping off students!

I think a big part of the issue is two-fold... Number one... Ever since kids are BORN we tell them "you can do ANYTHING!" I'm sorry... Johnny IQ 40 IS NOT GOING TO BE PRESIDENT! Here's a shovel, you can dig ditches the rest of your life.. but wait... NOT going to college and working a respectable job, such as flipping burgers at McDonalds, IS BENEATH many of these kids these days.

A second large problem is the 60 hours+ of "general education" you HAVE to take in order to get a degree... I thought High School gave you the GENERAL EDUCATION.

I went to a 2 year school with a whopping tuition cost of $52 a credit hour, that was my choice. I then went to the University to finish my degree with a $1,000 PER semester scholarship for attending the previous 2 year community college. I WORKED ALL THROUGH SCHOOL. I was an RA so I got free room and board and when I wasn't doing that I either had my nose in the books or was WORKING. Too many students go to college, they don't work, they rack up bills buying game consoles, flat screen tv's, drinking it up... I've seen it... I lived frugally in college (graduated in December 2009, pretty bad timing). I took a job in WYOMING. Was that where I wanted to go??? NO! But I took it.

These kids have WAY too many ideals on what life is SUPPOSED to be like. They know nothing of SACRIFICE. As I said... I work in WYOMING. When I graduated I wanted to go "east coast, west coast, or maybe Vegas, but not in the Midwest" which is where I've lived my entire life... but I made that sacrifice to be a contributing part of this nation... You want to complain about your loan debt? You probably should have spent a little more time WORKING and less time PARTYING and you should have gotten a REALISTIC degree... PHILOSOPHY won't get you a JOB. Same with FINE ARTS, JOURNALISM, etc... Be career minded BEFORE you pick your major... ask yourself... "Is college REALLY for me? Can I hack it? Or should I go work at Burger King?" You're not going to graduate from college and make 160k a year starting testing video games for EA... get over yourself... pay your bills. I shouldn't have to pay your bills because you were irresponsible but then I pay my own as well... get over yourselves... MOVE out of NYC and maybe go somewhere LESS DESIRABLE to get a JOB. Take that silverspoon (perceived or otherwise) OUT OF YOUR MOUTH. WOE IS YOU IS CRAP!

I went to college because that's what you're supposed to do to get a good job. I went in-state, but that doesnt make it cheap. My parents had agreed to pay for my school because they wanted me to have a chance to focus on school and not work 2 jobs; unfortunately my father decided to change his mind part-way through so I had to get loans to cover that cost. Yes that was his choice and I am very lucky that my Mom wanted to step-up and help, but graduating in a crappy job market makes getting jobs hard. period. I'm not saying woe-is-me or that it should be someone else's problem, I'm an adult so it's my job to cover my cost, but I think some of you are a bit unrealistic as to how the world looks today. Getting a job is challenging, getting one that pays what it would have paid before the recession is even harder. (and for the record I am not unemployed or complaining, just providing a point of view it seems some people are missing)

And Concerned parent/citizen you're right, I know a lot of people who chose to follow the president's advice and continue their education after attaining their bachelors because of the poor job market, so now they have an extra piece of paper, they're even further in debt and still have to figure out how to get a job in a crappy market to pay for it all.

Hey Kevin, apparently you were not aware that the Demo. had the majority in BOTH Houses for 8 years (96 months) prior to the Republicans gaining the House 40 months ago. If you haven't got the smarts to know a "LOAN" needs to be re-payed, may College is a waste of time for you. You should of only taken "required courses" and left the Zombie, Basket weaving and feel-good courses for someone who could "afford" the cost. There are things available to repay those loans - you can get deferments, you can have you monthly payments reduced, you can combine your loans for lower interest rates. THEY ARE YOUR LOANS AND YOU ALONE NEED TO REPAY THEM!! To Nicole, you should have thought before signing for YOUR LOANS. You're probably one of those for whom College was not choice.

The title should be "Bad decisions delay dream of becoming nun" but then that would acknowledge personal responsibility instead of demonizing the institutions that lent her the money she asked for, and responsibility is not in the liberal agenda.

@grilledcheesesandwich, do you want the US to graduate any doctors, lawyers, veterinarians, etc? Undergraduate is one thing but professional school is insanely expensive. I pay 45,000 dollars a year to go to an out of state veterinary school because A.) there isn't one in my state of residency, B.) professional school is extremely selective so you accept your spot regardless of location, and C.) I'm at an inexpensive veterinary school. Some of the others I was accepted at had tuition at well over 60,000 a year. What am I supposed to do? I'm in class 14 hours a day so I can't work a job. Most professional schools don't offer any sort of significant scholarships because they are so selective. I'm only going to make 60-80 thousand dollars a year upon graduation. That means I will be spending the next 25 years of my life paying off student loans. I would love to own my own clinic but do you think that's even possible with so much debt? The current loan situation just stifles new business and entrepreneurs.

Just pray for it to be forgiven. God wiped out sin from an entire planet, twice, and can't wipe out a few bucks in debt?

If it doesn't work it's because you are a bad person and don't believe in the Gods.

If you borrow money, even for education, you must pay it back. Failure to pay your debts is immoral and unethical.

On the other hand, I think educational loans should be very low interest.

One of the things I don't here to often about is that every one is told that they need the full degree, and that they have to attend all 4-5 years to get it. I did a few semesters at a community college, a couple at a "tech" school, and a couple with an online university (biggest rip off IMO). Only the first semester was as a full time student. I took only the classes that I felt I needed for my chosen career path, ignored general ed classes, and now I'm making a decent amount of money in the IT world.

I think colleges can and should be looked at as training centers, get the training you need for what you want to do. If you feel you need a bit more rounded education then you can pick up extra classes. It worked well for me, I would attend for a while, rack up some student loans, pay them off then go back.

Seems like that would be a more survivable way of getting an education

Is it me or what?? I thought the point was not what major you choose, not:

"paying back your college debt" or "leaving the taxpayers on the hook for default college loans".....

I thought it was more like:

"Why are colleges and universities gobbling on the government guaranteed teet to garner obscene amounts of tuition"??

http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=76

She attended a Catholic College, and wants to be a Catholic Nun. One would think the Catholic Church would pick up the tab for a lifetime unpaid employee. I mean, the Catholic Church can certainly afford it.

I worked hard to make sure I had no student loan debt for my Bachelor's. I've since had to take a 7 year break because I couldn't continue to work full time, go to school part time and work a part time job to pay for my Master's (which is a requirement to advance in my field, not an option, unless I want to make $30k a year for the rest of my life). I have saved money (sometimes working 2-3 jobs) and paid down all the rest of the debt I had, I have scholarships and grants and at the end of this my Master's is still going to cost me almost $40k in student loan debt. I don't expect anyone else to pay this for me, but I also don't think it's fair to continue to raise interest rates and demand that I pay far more than I can afford, especially when a 6 month unpaid internship is part of the program. I won't be asking for hand outs, but I don't want to make that hill I have to climb a mountain.

Florida State University (my alma mater) estimates the cost of the upcoming school year at $20,000 (in state). When I went to school there 10 years ago the cost was about half of that.

grilledcheesesandwich: If you want to attend college in a different state, one of your parents would have to move there 1-2 years before you start university.

The world has changed considerably since I graduated. University costs a lot more, there are fewer jobs, and wages are much lower.

I am also horrified that companies run credit checks on people applying for jobs. I don't exist in the credit reporting system, since I have never been in debt, and I've been living abroad for years. It doesn't seem like a person should need to incur debt in order to get a job.

People need to learn personal responsibility. I don't ask anyone to reimburse me for the investment mistakes I've made over the years, and I don't expect my tax dollars to go to pay for other people's mistakes.

If there is actual fraud involved, that's a different story...but I'm against paying for someone else not understanding how to manage their money.

Books from the bookstore in which these kids are told they can only get books from (more imply it but teachers are told to tell the kids they have to)

Berenerd - That statement is totally, completely wrong. Colleges do not now, or ever, tell or imply that students can buy their books only at campus bookstores. An article was published in our local paper just days ago reporting on the closing of a bookstore next to Central Campus at the University of Michigan. The bookstore had been there for decades. The second off-campus store is close to closing, and the lease on the only campus bookstore, which is located in the student union, will soon be up for renewal. Barnes & Noble, which operates the store, has not specified if they plan to renew. If all of these three locations close, there will not be any bookstores on or near campus from which students can purchase textbooks. Any student who doesn't have the good sense to order textbooks on-line at a discount doesn't have what it takes to graduate from college.

BTW, your statement that I quoted is not a complete sentence. If you can't do better than that, then maybe you should demand your money back for your education.

Maybe that's God's way of telling her not to be a nun.

As for the Sister so--o-o-o!? Join the rest of us. At least once one gets to a convent, their room and board is covered. Not so for many who have to pay rent, buy groceries, need a car just to get to work! We'll in our 40s too before we can buy a house or try to support raising children. Here's a thought, though:the Catholic church has loads of money. Maybe they should agree to pay off student loans for those willing to join up. I understand the military also has a "forgiveness" program for those who give 10 years service.

juanita...tere is a movement to start changing how student loans are granted. They would be looked at along the same lines as a business loan. While banks currently take a look at business loan requests and make decisions based on the liklihood of being paid back the full amount, they do not do that with education. The new concept would be that banks would take into consideration the major and the possibility of full time income coming in immediately following the graduation. Therefore, those who were getting a degree in Engineering would have a better chance at getting accepted than someone majoring in Philosophy.

Most of the real problem surrounding massive student debt is not even being discussed here. Yes, a lot of students are taking out more and more loans for a lot of reasons: a) tuition cost is rising as states and the federal government cut back funding, b) more and more students are wanting to go to college because there are fewer career alternatives (apprenticeships, vocational training, etc) available, c) the economy has hit their families hard, d) poor choices of both parents who did not save enough and students who simply did not understand coumpound interest, and e) state tuition pre-payment arangements which, like Alabama's, were poorly managed and now are bankrupt. But for the most part, college is a good investment in a person's future and the average student debt is still less than the cost of an average compact car.

What skews all the numbers off the charts are for-profit "educational" institutions, such as Phoenix Online, that offer sham degrees and promises of future employment that are completely bogus. They give everything from baccalaureate degrees that are worthless to PhD's that are absurd. Most of these places will do anything, including fraud, to keep a student enrolled and paying, even if there is no hope that they can ever graduate of find a job with the degree they would get. Then in their senior year, things toughen up by a huge margin and they flunk out. This frees the institution from claims that the person graduated but couldn't find work or the degree wasn't accepted. But it doesn't free the student from a crapload of debt.

This phoney school scam has been going on for a long time and accounts for over 80% of all student loan defaults. This could be stopped except that the phoney colleges are a powerful lobbying force that spends millions a year on bribing (aka donating to the campaigns of) Congressmen.

These schools need to be stopped. They are literally taking students who are trying to better themselves and, with federal and state complicity, dooming them to poverty. When people can get an online "PhD" in less than 6 months, it is certain that something is wrong --- and it isn't with the people who spend 20+ years getting their PhD and the necessary post-doctoral work. The formula should be simple: if a course or degree cannot be transferred to your flagship state university, no student loan can be used to pay for it. Othersize the taxpayer is on the hook for the damage that scammers continue to do. These disreputable schools are the third largest advertiser on TV stations after drugs and automobiles.

Stopping these would eliminate 40+% of all student debt and 80%+ of all student loan defaults. And you're talking about over a trillion dollars of current student debt.

That said, the girl apparently wanted to be a nun but did not fully understand that a vow of poverty means that not only do you not make anything except subsistence pay, but that you must not owe anyone either. I find it strange that a person could graduate from a Catholic university and not know this. It is such a basic precept of the vow. How did she think she would be able to pay off the loans? Bankruptcy?

Tim from Chicagoland
and a couple with an online university (biggest rip off IMO).

Penn and Foster? I agree. I paid the thousand and whatever dollars to take their Bookkeeping class so I could get a grant from the Army to start my own business, I did every single thing they wanted and the very last project had to be sent in (I couldn't submit it online) so 3 months later I called them up asked where my certificate was and they told me I didn't submit my last project so therefor I didn't "graduate" and I would have to do the whole thing over again.

Student loan debt is not only affecting kids today. I was 28 when I went back to college. I am married and between my husband and I we gross just under $60k per year so I am not eligible for any financial assistance at all whatsoever. I received an associates degree online from University of Phoenix which did nothing for my career options and did not gain me anything with my employer at the time except a "congratulations". It did get me $30,000 is student loan debt by the time I paid for tuition, books and "other" fees, and I took CLEP tests when I could to avoid paying for classes that I had enough knowledge about to test out of. I then started on my Bachelors Degree in Psychology and partway through that decided that I would really like to be SpecEd teacher. I am one semester away from my B.S. and have been accepted in the Masters program; my student loan debt is now hovering around $60,000 and I have been turned down for every scholarship I have applied for regardless of having made the Deans list and carrying a 3.8 GPA, because I do not qualify on the basis of financial need. I have 18 months of schooling to go for my Masters program and my only option for paying it is more loans. Sure, I could have opted out of going to school and remained a secretary for the rest of my working career, but I don't feel like I should have to give up an opportunity to better myself and do something I love just because I am not filthy rich or dirt poor. I plan to pay my loans back, but I do not see how I will be able to afford the monthly payments on them while I do. Other than my loans, my car and my house I do not have any debt because I do not believe in living on credit, but it is sad that in order to own a home and have an education people have to put themselves into a financial quagmire with little hope of ever really getting out.

I have a family member who is a single mother grossing less than $20k per year and her son was able to get financial aid for part of his first year at college, but he had to take a loan for about $5000 of his expenses. How can someone that makes less than $20k a year afford to send their children to college? Again I believe the high cost and low quality of education in this country is the result of our government trying to keep us stupid so we are easier to manipulate.

To Chris: Phoenix online is "accredited" and I actually worked very hard to get my degree, but they made it difficult by flunking me out of classes for "non-attendance" when there had not been enough time for me to have met their non-attendance policy yet and refusing to accept credits I'd CLEP'd after telling me the credits were acceptable. I now go to a college that is about an hour from my home so that I can attend online or on campus and have easier access to administrative staff and academic services. You are right, schools like UoP are out to screw $$$ out of their students, but their credits do transfer to "real" schools and the quality of the required school work is there.

In reply to every single one of you who criticized my comments - I never said people shouldn't take loans out for school. What I DID say was that if you do take those loans, be prepared to pay them back yourself and don't expect everyone else to pick up the tab. In case you didn't notice, my comment was in REPLY to post #1 which states that he believes that the taxpayers are going to be expected to bail out all those loans people are taking - and I say HELL NO!!!! PAY IT BACK YOURSELF OR DON'T TAKE THE D*MN LOAN!!!

True, plus you have politicians at the highest levels telling [kids and] parents that if their kid is not educated at a well ranked school following high school, they are essentially doomed to failure, and that government will be there to insure they can avoid "failure" by being the only source for student loans. As usual, it's government who causes a problem, then rides in on a white horse to "solve" the problem. [If you're willing to be a good little liberal soldier and indentured slave for a good portion of their working future, if their is one]

That was my first question! Why on Earth do you need a college degree to be a nun? Is it required?

Because if it isn't required, then she made her bed. If it is required, that seems awfully hypocritical of the church (but then, I'm not surprised).

Teachers usually require a 4 year education. Some nuns still teach.

@Dano is correct. It depends on the order you join and what your vocation is. If you want to be a teaching nun, then you need the same credentials as any other teacher - which includes a college education. I wonder how much she researched this ahead of time though - she might have been able to get some relief if she joined an order first - they could have helped get some costs deferred, especially at a Catholic college.

I find it hard to believe that this is the case though in this story - otherwise, she would have mentioned that. Also, you can get a teaching degree without having $60,000 in debt. She choose a private, exclusive college.

It really doesn't matter what classes she took....whether it was of a religious nature, or not. What is important, per this article, is that all prospect individuals who want to enter into the religious order, need to be.......DEBT FREE! PERIOD!!

It has absolutely nothing to do with WHAT they took in school, or for that matter, what they spent their monies on. It's about the DEBT, only...........whether it's from loans [school, or otherwise], credit cards, etc.

Please read the article before you pontificate!! :)

duuug - Her question wasn't about debt, it was about the need for an expensive education to become a nun.

Please read the comment before you pontificate!!

I'm pretty sure people read the article. Personally, I don't care what the church requires. The church is one of the most hypocritical institutions on the planet.

This article is using this particular example to illustrate problems with student loan debt, thus putting her education (and her decision to pay so much for education) under the microscope.

guys being a nun isn't just going around and helping people---it is actually helping people you need at the very least a counseling degree

My favorite Nun (who died last month) had a counseling degree to handle marriage problems and youth problems, along with a teaching degree.

But since she went to a catholic university they should of (like the military academies ) should of paid the loan or let her go to school for free as long as she entered the nunnery

After she acquired her "education" and $60,000 of debt she still went and added $20,000 of credit card debt.

"It took her until late last year to pay off her loans because she was unable to find many good-paying jobs and ended up racking up $20,000 in credit card debt."

Pretty clearly this woman is just senseless or has the feeling of entitlement for wanting to be a nun that she shouldn't have to repay anything like the common folk.

Joining a religious organization is both a vocation and a profession. To be professional requires a lot of education.

She never shirked her debt off to others. She worked and paid. This I recommend to all debtors.

Like others have stated, nuns do more than just feed the poor. They are part of every aspect of the nonprofits they run, from executive director to CFO, PR to HR, and front line. Yes, the duties of many nuns require more than a high-school education.

That being said, I find it interesting that this nun-to-be did not research the requirements of her desired profession until after she earned her degree. I'm sure it wasn't a hidden requirement; I haven't attended church regularly since I was 12 and even I know that they are debt free and meant to live with only basic needs met.

Rebecca: you have put your finger on it. Because the money is easy to get people do not put enough thought into their future and how their education choices are suppoed to make it happen. So they sign up for the cash, spend it on something, and then later, Oh My realise there is no correlation between their choice of education and their future plans for adult life. Interestingly, since there are many of these poor planners, they have discovered each other and formed a coalition to simply complain about their lot in life and demand the rest of you pay off their debt. This bail out mentality and welfare mentality is the dominant thing now. College students have always had trouble picking the degree program that is best for them, but simply blowing it and telling the other guy to pay the bills is new.

I think what many people fail to realize is that nowadays, many religious Congregations are not supported by the Church, but by themselves. It is the younger Sisters who are highly educated that become one of the sources of income to the order. When you enter any order, you MUST be debt free. No order will assume the responsibility that any candidate incurrede prior to going through the process of becoming a nun. Nowadays, education has gotten very very expensive. Even the Community Colleges charge an arm and a leg and we will not go into the price of books! When I earned my degree back in 1983, my tuition per credit had doubled from when I started in 1977. In 2012, what I paid for college for 4 years may only pay a year and a half in today's economy.

The number of religious in this country has been declining, partly because many candidates, such as the girl in the article, does have such dent. At least it wasn't debt incurred frivolously, but for an education, which is what I feel many people are missing the point. Education is very important, whether you are a lay person or religious. Try to be more understanding before you pass such judgement.

The Church's thinking is rather retrograde here (surprise). One of the really big breaks extended to students with federal student loan debt is the ability to reduce it (by half?) by teaching for a specified period of time (ten years?). This should be a no-brainer for the Church to provide teaching opportunities: perhaps a special program where the Church can have the benefit of the applicant's skills and education and the applicant can get a reduction of debt. It's not like the Church doesn't get a big wad of federal money for social services it provides. Spread it around.

Most orders of nuns demonstrate piety by their works ---- nurses, teachers, scientists, social workers, etc. All these require degrees.

Some Nuns do more than pray. Some are doctors, professors, accountant. Even for Catholic priests you may meet one that is an engineer, biologist, etc. . Now you know why some of them do have a debt.

as someone who lived at home for 2 years during school and worked a full time job while in school and was also an RA to get free room/board, i can tell you that very little of my extra money went to beer and spring break. It took me five and a half years to graduate because of this. The kids who had money for beer and spring break were the kids who had mommy and daddy paying for their books and apartments and everything else. Maybe they had loans for their education, but most of them had their parents to supplement their lifestyles.

if you try and go part-time and work a full time job to pay for school, you'll be living at home and graduating when you 28. so either you go to school, take on the debt, but have a chance at a decent job and future career at 22, or you don't have the debt, but you hamper your earnings for 6 or 7 years and delay your future earning potential. Either way, we've basically told anyone under 30 that either you take on a mortgage worth of debt, or you can't meet your earning potential. In both cases you are hurting the individual's purchasing power and their standard of living, and you are hurting the economy as a whole.

Brian, once again, there are alternatives. Community colleges, on-line schooling, trade school etc. But just because you are "told" something doesn't mean you have to accept it as gospel. And if you still don't understand that, even after getting a college education, than I'd say that you didn't get your money's worth.

And, again, the government helped CREATE this problem by making so much easy loan money available to borrow, which allowed colleges and universities to raise rates to levels that they would never have been able to do if people couldn't take such huge loans. Now that they helped drive college costs through the roof, they are going to expect the taxpayers to pick up the tab?

And Brian? How hard is it to understand that taxpayers don't have endless pots of money just laying around waiting to pay for all this stuff? Is it too difficult for you to understand that taxpayers are being squeezed to death by all of this outrageous spending and OUR purchasing power and standards of living are being totally destroyed?

What exactly did they teach you in that college you spent so much money to attend?

Double post.

Honestly, if you can't get merit based scholarships to help pay for school, maybe you shouldn't be there to begin with. If you HAVE to take out student loans, at least pick a major with the earning potential to enable you to realistically pay it back. I have zero sympathy for people who pick a major with no economical value and take out 50k in loans for out of state tuition.

I had a room mate who did exactly that for the four years I was in college. He went out of state, maxed out his Stafford loans, then got his parents to co-sign for Parent PLUS loans. All for a theater major, which he flunked out of because he wouldn't attend class. Now his parents are financially wrecked too.

I agree. I worked my way through college and grad school. It took 14 years, but I incurred only $30,000 in debt.

And I made the calculation ahead of time to get a career that would pay back that debt.

Sounds like this lady didn't do that - not figuring out that you need to be debt-free to be a Nun.

Also, the $20,000 in credit card debt? Was that "necessary"?

Oh, I forgot, everyone's a VICTIM these days, and my bank account needs to be raided to pay them.

Stupid me. Here, have all my money. I don't need it and I never scrimped, saved or did without to get it....

Right?

Brian - stop whining. No one has a "right" to an education by age 22. I worked my way through school and didn't graduate from law school until age 32.

Do I feel "disadvantaged"? Heck no. I feel lucky to be able to live in a country why my future is determined by how hard I work, not by how much money my parent's had.

And by the way, 20 years after graduation, I am ready to retire. How did I do that? Well, learning to be frugal, by working my way through college.

One of the jobs I had while working through college was delivering pizzas. PLEASE don't try to tell me that most college students are hard-working and scrimping to get by - not at $20 a pie. And they all offered me bong hits and beer, thinking that was funny.

And yea, a lot of them had money from Mommy and Daddy AND student loan debt.

And you know something? $60,000 AIN'T A LOT OF MONEY TO PAY BACK, when you have the rest of your life to do it.

I ran up over $30,000 by 1992, and paid it all back by 2005.

I see these kids with signs saying "I have $25,000 in student loans and I will never be able to pay it back!"

Really? Over the rest of your life you will not be able to pay back the amount of money it takes to buy a moderately optioned Toyota Camry?

I think otherwise. People just want a free ride. Yes, they made mistakes. Yes, the colleges are scandalous in raising tuition. And YES, it is a horrible thing we ask 18-year-olds to make these financial decisions (at an age where a new coffee-can muffler for Mom's old Honda seems like the bomb!).

But no one forces them to sign the loan docs. I made a smart choice. Should I be penalized and asked to pay for those who made bad choices AND ate those $20 pizzas that I delivered to them?

I should subsidize the lifestyle of people who live better than I do?

I think not.

I have worked every year since I turned 15 saving money for college as I knew my parents didn't have money to pay for it. They took out a parent loan to assist me but I took most of the expense. I remained at home attending a Junior college at first (full time) and working full time and transferring to a four year school where I worked both on campus (work-study) and off campus. I came home each summer and took classes at the community college (while working locally) to fulfill gen-ed requirements.

I did study abroad, but I paid for it out-of-pocket after working full time all summer for 2 summers. I didn't go on spring break trips to Florida. I went to visit my Aunt who lived 3 hours away instead or I worked and picked up hours from those who were going to Florida and Mexico.

After undergrad I took 2 years to work full time before entering a part-time graduate program that met in the evening. I worked full time and went to school part time (full time one semester!) and paid for it in-full each semester.

I am now 28 and have completely paid off my student debt as I paid on the interest for my undergraduate debt while I was in school and paid for graduate school as I attended. I rarely bought books from the book store, often I would find them from various library sources (especially in grad school) and get them on loan during the time on the sylabus we would be using the text.

The point- while costs may be rising- it is possible to get a grip on the costs if these young people are smart about it. Parents need to have conversations with their children as they start to enter high school about their realistic financial situation and the help they are able to give them.

I did ten years in the Navy. So when you add the GI Bill, plus if you are able to take classes while your in they pay 75% of the tuition (hard to take classes at sea). Now the GI Bill can be used for a graduate degree (it couldn't while I was in). The Air Force pretty much shoves an associates degree down your throat! Plenty of options.

*My information is old, so things may have changed slightly.

I paid off my student loans with my re-enlistment bonus in the military. I never thought to make someone else pay my debt.

What if your parents won't let you live at home and won't help with your tuition (even though they have the $)?

What? -

Then you have parents with faith in you and your abilities to cope with the real world.

Kathy,

My mother disowned me when I was 17; I was adopted and it was not her choice, she never wanted me and got rid of me as soon as she was legally able. I never qualified for financial aid, first because I was too young to apply without my parents (at the time you had to be 25 or married to do that) and had no parents to apply for me and later because my husband and I made just a little too much money for me to qualify. I started college at 28 years old. I am now 36 and one semester away from being able to start my Masters program. I work a full time job with the local government and a part time job at a landscaping firm. I go to school part time, pay a mortgage and all of my bills, I do not have credit card debt and I bust my butt to stay on the Deans List. I have an UNGODLY amount of student loan debt because I do not meet the financial need requirements to qualify for assistance or scholarships. The last time I went on a vacation was my honeymoon in 1997, since then the only time I have ever taken off has been for funerals and once to have surgery. I have never been on Spring Break or spent my hard earned money or student loan money on partying, drinking or doing drugs. I live in a rural area so I drive over an hour to my classes when I don't take them online and I go to a local college that has lower rates than privately funded schools. I am very careful about spending, but that does not mean my loan debt is not ridiculous. The problem is that college is priced out of the range for people that do not fall into either wealthy or so poor the government will pay categories. This semester my cost for tuituion is $2300, that is part time (2 classes) that does not include my textbooks and other materials or travel expenses.

I am happy for you that your mommy and daddy loved you enough to care about your future, but there are a lot of us in this world that are not that lucky; I think we still deserve an education and every opportunity to succeed.

Go Kathy ! Society is full of people living like you describe these college kids. Universities in FLa require students to have med ins. Some lie and say they do through their parents so the University won't force them to buy a policy. When something happens they ask the employees to sell them a policy retroactively. No morals. Other people's money is just a joke or a discussion point for everyone now. There is no respect that the other guys' earnings are just that - earned. Make bad choices and get hurt, no problem. IF you want the other guy's money, just make up a line about hardship and it becomes "societies" responsibility to fix it for you by giving you money. Meanwhile, let's have a kegger !

someonewholiveshere -

Even the un-lucky must pay their debts.

Here's another hint - don't have more kids than you can afford, including sending them to college if that's what you are hoping to be able to do.

Or just make them pay for their own tuition.

take Spanish lessons and you... can have all the kids you want...the government will pay... for their food and health care etc... nothing to pay back...

Or just stop having kids.

can't...octo mom's kids... need somebody to play with...

Ms. Dettwyler -

That is what planned parenthood is for.

Amen!

In addition she did not know the requirements to achieve her dream job. I have
seen many posts during the last several years from individuals that say it’s
impossible to get a college education without loans and that is BS. I worked in
student financial aid administration at public institutions in 3 states for 35
years.

It takes planning and some sacrifice, just most things in life. In my
presentations to pre-college students I emphasized this and my personal path to
college which included working both full and part time for my undergraduate
and full-time during my graduate degree. And yes I completed my
undergraduate degree in 4 years by attending summer school each year. It was difficult and you give up a lot during those years but it is worth it.

This may not work for everyone but it can be done and I did see other students doing the same thing.

Also part of the student loan process is that loan applicants are required to go
through loan counseling prior to loan applications being certified by the
school.

Your community college comment is (at least partially) crap. Most have agreements with state universities that garuntee acceptance into a full four year program after you finish out two years at the community college (with an acceptable GPA of course).

I went that route, lived at home with my parents for two years while I went to community college, worked the graveyard shift at a hotel, and transferred to a full university engineering program with a full ride scholarship. My current employer made a job offer after I completed an internship, a full year out from graduation. Didn't seem to faze them at all that half of my transcript was from a community college.

@ Hazy McMazy: So you went to a private school and complain about costs, well maybe you should have considered a public school instead.

Oh wait you have already formed your opinion about public schools such as community colleges, that they were not real schools and you were above their standards. I worked 35 years in those community colleges as a financial aid professional and you only get out of an education what you put into it.

I began my education at a community college and completed my undergraduate and graduate degrees at 4-year public schools and I can assure you that there are thousands of others that did the same thing and were/are successful.

I do not know the reason you selected a private school but do not be critical of something you have not experienced or are completely naive about simply because things did not happen as you expected.

Hazy, you should have gone to community college rather than Bong Hit U., as apparently you never learned anything.

One way to reduce the cost of college is to go to a community college and get those Freshman and Sophomore credits out of the way and then TRANSFER to a four-year school.

Freshman Chem and English Lit are the same about anywhere. And four-year schools need transfer students to fill the empty seats left by dropouts.

A friend of mine did this when they got accepted at B.U. but could not afford the tuition.

I was a "returning student" as well. There are a whole host of ways to go to college - it is shocking to me that after four years of college, your have such a narrow viewpoint.

I co-opted at General Motors, which paid me to go to school. Later on, I worked at UTC and they paid my tuition at S.U. The government and a law firm helped pay my way through law school.

And then there were odd jobs, delivering pizzas, working as a Teamster, and even as an intern at Planned Parenthood.

I learned a LOT working - perhaps more-so than at school. And I never have to worry about being unemployed - nor do I consider a good-paying job some sort of "right".

Experience is the best teacher - and the best credential on your resume. Rushing through four years of college and learning how to pass tests an appease professors is no job experience at all.

Would I hire a college graduate with no work experience? Heck no! Because he basically doesn't know the first thing - about working.

I DO AGREE WITH YOU that the increase in tuition rates are scandalous. But why protest Wall Street? WHY NOT PROTEST THE BURSAR'S OFFICE?

When students get pissed at their SCHOOLS, maybe change will come.

But nowadays, the $30-an-hour janitors go out on strike at school, and the students blindly support them, not realizing that their cushy pay and benefits (for unskilled work, at rates higher than they will get as college grads) are being paid for by those student loans.

The enemy is in the Dean's office, not Wall Street.

I went to community college. I never felt badly about it, and never let anyone look down upon me for it. It was not my fault that I did not have well off parents, and not their responsibility to pay for my college. I worked throughout high school and college. Spent two years in community college, and 2 years at a private university after that- with partial scholarship based on my community college performance.

That you accepted that community college is beneath you- is your problem. That you believed your debt load would not matter and that a high paying job would await you, was your delusion.

I did my first two years of a five year degree at a community college as well. When I started tuition was $3.75 per credit hour up to a maximum of twelve hours, everything above that was free. When I completed the two year it was all the way up to $4.25, I then attended a private university and tuition was $125 per hour. That was painful, but necessary. I saved a ton.

Maybe I just learn really well from public service announcements and general information, but in 1971, I saw a cover of Newsweek, showing a male in full graduate robe and hat, running a jackhammer, and the cover read, "The Liberal Arts Glut." I spent two years at a state school, borrowed about $5k for the two years, worked almost full time at the cafeteria during those years, and didn't get why I was taking classes in Philosophy and Sociology and borrowing money. I didn't want to be a waitress or taxi driver with a fancy (or not so fancy) degree and loans, so I dropped out.

When I read articles profiling, as one article recently profiled, a young man who owed $60k for a degree in creative writing and "couldn't find a good job in writing," I wonder why nothing has been learned over the last several decades. Yes, people my age heard that PSA intoning, "To get a good job, get a good eduation," but who is it that is telling "our"youth that they will get a great job out of college? No one told me, and if they had, I would have been able to see through it. Aren't people who are going to college able to do a little reading on their own about the world around them, and the world they are entering? Yes, I know people are young, but are they blind and stupid too?

Thank You!

I'm glad there's at least one person on here with a rational thought

maybe she wanted to be a teacher of sort's...and needed a degree...religious school...think bout that...

I'm pretty sure that if that was the case, she would have said so in her interview and the reporter would have reported it because it would have supported the story.

But, for arguments sake, even if it that was the case, she didn't need to go to an private, exclusive and expensive institution to get a teaching degree.

And thanks all :-)

1%? You do realize that not every young person is college material and not every job requires a degree. Importing Engineers is also a financial windfall when the pay scale drops for those recruits. Availability is one thing and cost something else. I teach a technical field and it does not require a degree to be successful and achieve a very respectable income. Students all want the college track to wealth and glamour.

What a stupid post! For one, big banks can't even provide gov't student loans anymore. The interest rate on private student loans is very reasonable and if it weren't for those "evil banks" many people couldn't afford school.

Explorerdog, hiring engineers from overseas is not like hiring day labor from Mexico to pick crops. They are paid very well, the same an Amercan engineer would be if one could be found.

Is it me or what?? I thought the point was not what major you choose, not:

"paying back your college debt" or "leaving the taxpayers on the hook for default college loans".....

I thought it was more like:

"Why are colleges and universities gobbling on the government guaranteed teet to garner obscene amounts of tuition"??

http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=76

My first student loans were at 2.75%, then G.W. Bush and friends changed student lending laws and now some of my loans are as high as 7.75%, and none of them are private loans. That is higher than my mortgage rate. For those that insist G.W. Bush did not do this and Obama did, please know that the first loans I received at the higher interest rate were received while Bush was in office, so Obama could not have done it; he may not be helping, but he did not put us into this mess alone either.

Actually it was the Democratic Congress under the Bush administration that spearheaded that change. It is a good example of good intentions gone bad. I was in grad school from 2006-2008, and took out loans 3 semesters. My first student loan was a variable rate loan. Congress then decided, given the "low" interest rates at the time, that student loans should all be fixed rate, so students would have that low rate for the life of the loan. All three loans had an interest rate of 6.8%. Now my fixed rate loans are at 6.2% because I got a one time small reduction from my bank for doing automatic drafts of my payments. My variable rate loan is now 1.75%!!!!! If Congress hadn't messed with things, all my loans would be that low, and I'd be paying hardly any interest at all.

And what about for those of us who already went through the system that (thanks to Sallie Mae's lobbying of Congress) legally lacked Truth in Lending?

Education loans won't be a bust. You can't walk away from a school loan like you can a mortgage.

averon1,

That is part of the problem. Private student loans, at least, should be discharged through bankruptcy, like they were before 2005. The "risk shield" that the government has put in place to protect student lenders does NOT help the student debt situation and it makes college costs higher. If these loans could be discharged it would apply free market forces to student lending which would force the lenders to actually consider whether lending $100,000 to a philosophy major would be a good idea or not. As it is now, knowing that these students are on the hook FOR LIFE (unlike any other private debt), these companies shovel truckloads of cash at anyone with a pulse who requests it.

Why should students assume ALL risk? Why in this aspect of the credit economy do certain people defend these educational lenders as though they are blameless and are entitled to screw people over for life without being responsible for the money THEY handed out so quickly and easily? Bankruptcy is the only way to RE-level the playing field, and it isn't a "get out of jail free card," bankruptcy has real consequences for those who declare it... it just isn't PERMANENTLY destructive like being unable to pay or discharge student loans can be.

By the way, if these loans can't be discharged and these kids can't pay them off, then that is not GOOD for the economy. Bailing students out is not GOOD either... the only option is bankruptcy. Let the students discharge all or some of their loans, suffer the credit consequences for the requisite period, restructure their life, and let the banks figure out that just HANDING OUT MONEY to anyone is RISKY business. They will quickly reign in their out of control and predatory lending practices. Perhaps then they will learn that lending $60,000 to an engineering major is a relatively safe bet in most economies, but lending the same amount to an education major is STUPID.

And FYI, student loans can be a bust. Just because the lenders are legally entitled to hound you for life doesn't mean that you will somehow magically gain the ability to pay your loans back. If they don't get their money back, they eventually go under, education lending is then severely affected, and only the rich will be able to afford higher education.

Why is lending to an education major stupid (asks the SpecEd major)? There is a very high demand for teachers and education administrators in this country but a fairly low supply meaning those that major in education and actually have a decent GPA have a very good chance of securing a decent job. However engineering may be good, may be bad, depending on what type of engineering. Where I live the median pay for an engineer is about $40,000 per year, the same as a teacher. Now lending to a literature major is a stupid idea.

She did pay off her loans. She worked hard for 10 years paying the loans and is now on track to be a nun. She took total responsibility and even said she wished she would have save more. She didn't ask for handouts or for her loans to be forgiven.

And she accepted that responsibility and payed her loan. What's your point?

No, college shouldn't be for the 1% but I also don't think people should be able to just walk away from their debt but keep their degree - I am currently going to a community college part-time and paying as I go, maybe I should have gone to an Ivy League school if I knew I could maybe just whine and not pay? Again, if you can't pay your loans (with a fair interest rate), you should not be able to use your degree when searching for employment - THAT seems like 1% behavior to me.......

Hugh - Try Western Illinois University - or nearly any public university for that matter - fully accredited and fully affordable. I attended a community college for 2 years and a WIU for 2 years and graduated with a Bachelor of Business and an Accounting Degree. I was hired before graduation at a CPA firm and did it all with $0 student loans. The key to the whole thing is living with your parents while in school (as the cost of dorms/food at college is horrible), picking a major/degree that is marketable, and working full time while in school to pay each semester's tuition when it is due. My grades may have suffered some - as I was a B student, but I learned a lot about life working as a waitress and juggling my studies.

I think you haven't looked hard enough for a 4 year university that is affordable and that you haven't thought through ways to make college more affordable...

gmonet

If you need to make it political at the very least know of what you speak! The graduate student was not the one needing the pills it was her roomate and she had acondition the required pills far in excess of 9 dollars, but I do understand that it sounds better that way regardless of fact. You incur the debt,you pay the debt. Word of warning, choose a degree that is actually employable.

For years, religious orders have had stipulations about debt-ridden people wanting membership, and with good reason. Some unscrupulous people would "join", have the order pay off their debt, and then "decide to leave".

Mamma mia

Your daughter did it the right way. Private schools can work as well as any other as long as the field of knowledge gained is employable ata level to cover the cost. Hugh wants to pretend that everyone somehow had it easier than he did, guess what Hugh, the WWII generation is mostly dead and gone! Everyone that came along after had to work damn hard to succeed. It is you rgroup that has it the easiest, it is the entitlement group that is totally used to making excuses for bad behavior and crying about something they were not given. Wow, you had to pay for room and board! I had to pay rent if if I was lucky I might have something left over to eat, but I made it work.

Religion is the opposite of education.

One makes an assumption and tries to make the facts fit the assumption, or just makes stuff up.

The other shows you how to looks at the facts and then come to a reasonable conclusion.

She is not asking taxpayers to pay anything. She paid the loan herself.

Judging by your comprehension of the article, education is not your area of expertise.