topic Re: Student Loan Horror Stories from NY Times in Student Loans

Student Loan Horror Stories from NY Times

MattH — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 11:36:14 GMT

Re: Student Loan Horror Stories from NY Times

tengtengvn — Sun, 09 May 2010 19:38:42 GMT

When TJ Williams arrived in Portland from his home in Utah to enroll at Le Cordon Bleu in 2007, he was shocked by the terms of the aid package the school had arranged for him: One loan, for nearly $14,000, carried a $7,327 “finance charge” and a 13 percent interest rate.
“They told me that halfway through the program, I could probably refinance to a lower rate,” he said.
When he tried to refinance, the school turned him down, he says.
Career Education declined to discuss Mr. Williams’s case, citing privacy restrictions and saying he had not signed a waiver.
Mr. Williams has been jobless since last fall and recently returned to Utah, where he moved in with his mother.

Look at the immigrants who come to this country with no money in their pockets and work their way up from scratch.

I just don't feel sorry for people like this. That's life.

Re: Student Loan Horror Stories from NY Times

jeffery581 — Sun, 09 May 2010 21:52:43 GMT

Yea, Some people are not happy unless they can see someone struggling because they struggled and are bitter themselves!

Re: Student Loan Horror Stories from NY Times

Jazzzy — Mon, 10 May 2010 01:43:02 GMT

@tengtengvn wrote:

Look at the immigrants who come to this country with no money in their pockets and work their way up from scratch.
I just don't feel sorry for people like this. That's life.

I understand that you might not feel sorry for the students...but it is the taxpayers who are footing the bill. You can feel sorry for us.

I watch an area school take people who could barely scrape their way through their GED and are on all types of public assistance, and the school gives them thousands of tax dollars in the form of grants and loans. The school then takes most of this money in the form of tuition, fees, etc. Most of the students drop out, and the loans are never repaid. Even if they make it, they are training them to be $9 hr medical assistants.

It's a racket, and only a few lucky ones make it out with training that will get them a basic job. They won't likely make enough to pay the loans back...but hey...it's taxpayer money...so, no harm done.

Re: Student Loan Horror Stories from NY Times

laz98 — Mon, 10 May 2010 04:20:06 GMT

@tengtengvn wrote:

When TJ Williams arrived in Portland from his home in Utah to enroll at Le Cordon Bleu in 2007, he was shocked by the terms of the aid package the school had arranged for him: One loan, for nearly $14,000, carried a $7,327 “finance charge” and a 13 percent interest rate.
“They told me that halfway through the program, I could probably refinance to a lower rate,” he said.
When he tried to refinance, the school turned him down, he says.
Career Education declined to discuss Mr. Williams’s case, citing privacy restrictions and saying he had not signed a waiver.
Mr. Williams has been jobless since last fall and recently returned to Utah, where he moved in with his mother.

Look at the immigrants who come to this country with no money in their pockets and work their way up from scratch.
I just don't feel sorry for people like this. That's life.

i have to agree. i don't feel bad for any of these people. some people can graduate with a four-year degree with a much lower amount of debt. if you were dumb enough to fall for such a stupid idea, then you deserve to suffer the fallout. sorry, but $41,000 for a 9-month program should sound off great big alarms in anyone's head! if it doesn't, tough luck for you then.

& yes lynette, it sucks that it's always the taxpayers' dime bailing everyone out, so maybe one day we'll all smarten up enough & stop letting all this corruption go on & on around us. until then, i guess we'll all have to sit & wait.

Re: Student Loan Horror Stories from NY Times

Anonymous — Wed, 26 May 2010 02:02:40 GMT

Wow, you're a compassionate bunch. Couldn't get into a 4 year college? Too bad! Trying to better yourself? You deserve to be scammed! That's like saying it was the victim's fault for being mugged. These organizations are just like payday lenders--they prey on people who don't have the education to know better.

This has nothing to do with "bailing everyone out"--the government should support higher education, because an educated workforce is valuable to the economic success of this country. If it's taxpayer money being wasted that means the government should more closely regulate institutions that use these loans as bait to lure unsuspecting customers/students.

Re: Student Loan Horror Stories from NY Times

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:30:37 GMT

Lynette I wouldn't put down people who make $9hr so long as they making an honest living. Student loans are for life so you cant runaway from them like credit cards. Yes, it's crazy for these people to be paying $41000 for a 10 month trade school. There was another crazy lady in a NYT article who went to NYU for a libral arts degree and ended up with $100K in student loans.

Re: Student Loan Horror Stories from NY Times

laz98 — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:35:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Lynette I wouldn't put down people who make $9hr so long as they making an honest living. Student loans are for life so you cant runaway from them like credit cards. Yes, it's crazy for these people to be paying $41000 for a 10 month trade school. There was another crazy lady in a NYT article who went to NYU for a libral arts degree and ended up with $100K in student loans.

i don't know if she's putting them down; i think she's saying if schools are going to charge so much for their degrees, then they could at least place the students in a job with higher pay.

Re: Student Loan Horror Stories from NY Times

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 04:24:08 GMT

It's not the taxpayer's dime. These borrowers will be paying on these loans until they die, and then their estate will be paying on the loans unless the loan carries a forgiveness clause at death (most student loans no longer carry a forgiveness at death clause). Student loans are not dischargable in bankruptcy, so once the student borrows the money, it stays with them until it is paid off.

Re: Student Loan Horror Stories from NY Times

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 00:12:27 GMT

X2 You probably forget that there is a extremely high number of students/people period that don't know what there credit score is or what a FICO is. Add that with dishonest lenders that prey on these types of people, you probably haven't heard the worse cases yet...

Re: Student Loan Horror Stories from NY Times

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 15:41:58 GMT

I was actually thinking about this the other day. It's true, since the recession loads of people have tired to make money off people by making them believe they need this and that qulification. And people are really buying into it. So many people are getting out personal student loans which they are not going to be able to pay back in their current situations. I think there should be improved career orientation help made available.

Re: Student Loan Horror Stories from NY Times

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 08:08:14 GMT

I think we should all be very saddened by this article. No one is benefiiting from what is happening. And to think, when I finished my undergraduate degree and graduate program, I had two loans totaling $3,500 (and this wasn't that long ago). Really puts everything into perspective.

Re: Student Loan Horror Stories from NY Times

castlefox — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 18:51:11 GMT

The article didnt load for me. But... that does sound really crappy BUT people need to be more aware of the things they sign for. I can understand how its a pain in the butt to read all the fine print BUT it needs to be done.

Ya I didnt finish my undergraduate degree and I had 12,500 worth of debt a year ago. I got it down to 3,000. It didnt really feel like I owed that much until I had started to realize how much of my paycheck I would need drain into that debt.

Re: Student Loan Horror Stories from NY Times

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 17:58:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
so once the student borrows the money, it stays with them until it is paid off.

I believe there is a 25 year rule where after 25 years, the student loans are automatically forgiven. Not sure if that is 25 years of payments, or just 25 years from date of loan origination.

Re: Student Loan Horror Stories from NY Times

MarineVietVet — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 18:26:19 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
so once the student borrows the money, it stays with them until it is paid off.
I believe there is a 25 year rule where after 25 years, the student loans are automatically forgiven. Not sure if that is 25 years of payments, or just 25 years from date of loan origination.

I'm not saying you are wrong but do you have a source for this?

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802, EQ - 10/10-813, TU - 10/10-774

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

Re: Student Loan Horror Stories from NY Times

laz98 — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 18:35:43 GMT

@MarineVietVet wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
so once the student borrows the money, it stays with them until it is paid off.
I believe there is a 25 year rule where after 25 years, the student loans are automatically forgiven. Not sure if that is 25 years of payments, or just 25 years from date of loan origination.
I'm not saying you are wrong but do you have a source for this?

i might be wrong as well, but i believe this is ONLY if you are in the IBR program, and it's after 25 years of on-time payments.

Re: Student Loan Horror Stories from NY Times

MarineVietVet — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 18:51:00 GMT

Both of you are correct. At the Federal Student Aid website it says:

Income Based Repayment (IBR) Effective July 1, 2009

Income Based Repayment is a new repayment plan for the major types of federal loans made to students. Under IBR, the required monthly payment is capped at an amount that is intended to be affordable based on income and family size. You are eligible for IBR if the monthly repayment amount under IBR will be less than the monthly amount calculated under a 10-year standard repayment plan. If you repay under the IBR plan for 25 years and meet other requirements you may have any remaining balance of your loan(s) cancelled.

Re: Student Loan Horror Stories from NY Times

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:22:06 GMT

The topic is near and dear to my heart as mine will be 25 years old in 7 years. Just about the time for last years of med school. But there is a plan beyond the IBR as well, right?

My med school loans will be forgiven because I will be a rural family physician (yes, I'd like to do pedi onc but it is highly unlikely that I will get to it at my age)...

Re: Student Loan Horror Stories from NY Times

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:25:24 GMT

What are qualifying payments? The Department of Education has indicated that the following types of payments will count towards IBR's 25-year forgiveness period, as long as you are in IBR at some point during those 25 years.

Payments made in the Income Contingent Repayment plan (ICR) before July 1, 2009.
All payments made on or after July 1, 2009 in the IBR, Income Contingent Repayment (ICR), and Standard (10-year) Repayment plans.
Periods when the borrower has a calculated payment of zero in IBR or ICR (this occurs when your income is at or below 150% of the poverty level for your family size).
Periods on or after July 1, 2009, when the borrower has been granted an economic hardship deferment.

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So... what I read is that I will qualify due to job loss, economic hardship deferment, forbearances, etc.

The interest has killed me.