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Sabi - You are making many false assumptions.
1. It makes no difference if you took the student loan before you are married vs. after. And the OP is questioning why they can not claim $0 in income and not pay the loan. There is a simple concept that seems to be lost to many people. You borrow money that means you must pay it back. If you don't then "we" meaning everyone else has to pay it for you. There should not be loopholes that leave it to other to pay your loans.
2. We have less than 4% unemployment - and wages are no longer flat like they were from 2009. Yet despite this student loan defaults are rising. I agree that colleges are quite drunk on spending and the costs are out of control however 100% of people who take out student loans since 1990 were provided estimates of what the monthly payments would be post graduation and the interest rates. Knowing this they signed for the loan promising to pay the money back . No one was tricked into student loans.
3. The interest rates on student loans are very low. Show me one unsecured loan you can get at a better rate than a student loan. It is not the student loan program or the interest rates -but the modern feeling of entitlement that is causing the student loan crisis.
4. A 4 year degree is still a valuable tool and you should be able to get a job in a market with sub 4% unemployment. You may not get that job you dreamed about but you can get a job. I live in one of the most economicaly depressed areas of the country. I only have a 4 year degree yet if I lost my job I would estimate that it would take less than a month to get a new one. Heck, I could get a job in a day but it would be about a month before I got my first check. I am confident of this because I obtained a degree that is marketable in any economy instead of a fun degree that was less marketable. It is not the governments fault if you take out 60,000 in loans to get a degree in a dead or non - marketable field.
@beutiful5678 wrote:I agree. Unfortunately, there's not much in the U.S. system of financing higher education that makes sense.
+1
When I was 20 years old I was working two part-time jobs and living on my own - even helping my parents at times - yet I still had to include their income on my FAFSA as if my family was helping me and it was figured in when calculating my financial aid.
At the time I felt there was nothing fair about it - I was getting zero financial support from my family - but that's what I had to deal with. (FWIW I still feel it's not a great way to do things.)
In my case the damage wasn't too bad (my family doesn't have much) but for young people who have wealthy parents who refuse (for whatever reason) to assist them financially with school it's really not fair. In that case short of getting married you just have to 'deal with it' until you're 24, which could mean someone putting off higher education altogether for literally years.
I realize that isn't what this thread is addressing, but I just wanted to point out that not everything is as you might think it 'should' be with financial aid, student loans, and repayment.
@CreditGuy03, if your wife's repayment schedule is causing a financial hardship I highly recommend having her reach out to her servicer as soon as possible. Several times I saw that I would be running short, and my servicer was always able to help me make an arrangement (twice I was able to get a forbearance) to help me get back on track.
I always called before there was a problem (I hadn't been late yet) and I found them to be easy to talk to and deal with. You won't know what options are available until you call and ask.
beutiful5678 Yes that is exactly what the OP is asking for.
uncleB - this is not really true , your parents income affects pell grants and subsidised loans - it has no bearing on traditional student loans. There is no reason to put off school untill you are 24. I was in the situation you descibed and recieved nothing from my parents for college yet was able to pay using student loans loans and working part time.
@Anonymous wrote:beutiful5678 Yes that is exactly what the OP is asking for.
uncleB - this is not really true , your parents income affects pell grants and subsidised loans - it has no bearing on traditional student loans. There is no reason to put off school untill you are 24. I was in the situation you descibed and recieved nothing from my parents for college yet was able to pay using student loans loans and working part time.
I was speaking specifically to subsidised loans and grants; my freshman year was before the law changed and I qualified for sufficient grants to cover almost everything. The next year the rules were different and my parent's resources had to be provided. With this change everything turned to loans only, some subsidised, and some not. Speaking as one who had the 'privilege' of paying off all those loans I can assure you there is a meaningful difference. Also, my parents were fine with providing information for the FAFSA; some aren't so lucky (which is a whole 'nother issue).
As for putting off school until 24... I agree that's not for everybody. I was just pointing out the lack of fairness in forcing a 18-year old to take out expensive loans while a 24-year old with the same income would likely qualify for grants.
In any case, I was trying to draw a parallel to the OP's issue, not start a separate topic.