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NY Times: That Student Loan, So Hard to Shake

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MattH
Senior Contributor

NY Times: That Student Loan, So Hard to Shake

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/business/24loans.html?em=&pagewanted=all

Much of the content of this article regulars on this board already know, such as the extra-special legal status that all student loans have, such that they can only be discharged in bankruptcy if forcing the borrower to pay would cause "undue hardship."


...can get out of student loans only if they can show “undue hardship.” That term is not defined by the bankruptcy code and, lawyers said, judges often take a narrow view of its meaning.

“The cases are so harsh in measuring what an undue hardship is that anybody who is working and maintaining any kind of home life has very little chance of discharging these things in bankruptcy,” said Cathleen Cooper Moran, a bankruptcy lawyer in Palo Alto, Calif.


The article goes on to say with credit and jobs both getting tighter, many experts expect dramatic increases in the numbers of recent graduates struggling to pay their student loans.

Message Edited by fused on 08-24-2008 08:53 PM
TU 791 02/11/2013, EQ 800 1/29/2011 , EX Plus FAKO 812, EX Vantage Score 955 3/19/2010 wife's EQ 9/23/2009 803
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Always remember: big print giveth, small print taketh away
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Watchmann
Valued Contributor

Re: NY Times: That Student Loan, So Hard to Shake

All the more reason for students (and their families) to really consider what they are purchasing when they sign up for student loans.  In my view, you are buying a product when you go to college, a 'ticket' if you will, that will gain you admittance to a club that will pay you for a career.  Too many parents and students treat this expensive four, or five, year experiment as some sort of indoctrination to life.  So they come out with worthless, imo, degrees in liberal arts and other such degrees.  The world is desperate for individuals with engineering and technical degrees.  Hard degrees that are needed to keep society going.  An engineer, nurse, technician, or other individual in sought after disciplines will ALWAYS be in demand.  We wil always need plumbers and electricians, but we never really need liberal arts degree type people.  You pay your money, and you takes your choice.  Thirty five years after graduating with an engineering degree, I've never been faced with a dearth of job opportunities.  
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MattH
Senior Contributor

Re: NY Times: That Student Loan, So Hard to Shake



@Watchmann wrote:
All the more reason for students (and their families) to really consider what they are purchasing when they sign up for student loans. In my view, you are buying a product when you go to college, a 'ticket' if you will, that will gain you admittance to a club that will pay you for a career. Too many parents and students treat this expensive four, or five, year experiment as some sort of indoctrination to life. So they come out with worthless, imo, degrees in liberal arts and other such degrees. The world is desperate for individuals with engineering and technical degrees. Hard degrees that are needed to keep society going. An engineer, nurse, technician, or other individual in sought after disciplines will ALWAYS be in demand. We wil always need plumbers and electricians, but we never really need liberal arts degree type people. You pay your money, and you takes your choice. Thirty five years after graduating with an engineering degree, I've never been faced with a dearth of job opportunities.





Indeed, and if you look at who takes the hard subjects in our Universities they tend disproportionately to be Asians. The dividing line between majors likely to pay for themselves and majors unlikely to pay for themselves is pretty sharp: is the student expected to BE IN A CALCULUS CLASS in the first semester of college?

See here:
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/SavingForCollege/IsYourDegreeWorth1million.aspx


If a person has an undergraduate degree in such a subject then he or she can usually move into other scientific or technical subjects later -- for instance my undergraduate degree is in engineering and my doctorate is in biology -- but somebody with an undergraduate degree in something like English would find it very difficult to enter a graduate degree in any field requiring numeracy.
TU 791 02/11/2013, EQ 800 1/29/2011 , EX Plus FAKO 812, EX Vantage Score 955 3/19/2010 wife's EQ 9/23/2009 803
EX always was my highest when we could pull all three
Always remember: big print giveth, small print taketh away
If you dunno what tanstaafl means you must Google it
Message 3 of 3
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