Student loan debt is now more than credit card debt

It’s a national disgrace. It has implications for our economy as well. If we truly valued education we would find a way to pay for it. Haven’t we spent more in Iraq?

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The problem is that Universities have transformed from places of higher education to factories over the last 20 years. The Hope scholarship helped usher in the false assumption that all high school graduates should go to college, and Universities fed off that by letting more kids in and rapidly expanding the salaries of Presidents and the on-campus facilities.

The United States still needs skilled labor, and yet there is none anymore, because kids who used to take shop as seniors and went to apprentice with a skilled worker right out of college have been seduced by the idea of getting a college degree. So instead of starting to work a well-paying job at 19 years old, they go to Kennesaw State, flounder around for 6 years, get a worthless degree in psychology and have $70,000 in student loan debt.

There are lots of kids out there who are 23 years old, have worthless “degrees” and massive loan debts that they will never be able to pay off. But hey, at least Kennesaw State was able to raise student fees to $120 a semester to field a football team.

We need to fundamentally re-train guidance counselors to start letting kids know that not everyone should go to college. It is a false promise that is being propagated by higher education to continue to pay the salaries of the university presidents and athletic department heads.

Wake up America, you are being scammed.

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bachelors and masters: $60k debt. and i worked while in school!

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I would also like to add that our grade schools/high schools need to start including a personal financial education component.

If a 16 year old starts to understand what $25,000 in debt at 5.5% can do to their financial well-being, they will not be making those poor decisions as young adults.

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Destin Dawg and Time to wise up got it right! (Except for the part about having a degree at 23–many students at 23 are years from that!)

The education bubble needs to go ahead and bust.

HOPE turned out to be a curse rather than the “Jewel” some claim it to be since the schools’ response to it was to jack up tuition and fees accordingly along with going on building binges and inflating the salaries of presidents .

And student loans: the schools are ready and waiting to shove them down the throats of foolish, gullible students who should be working and paying their own way.

Why aren’t the schools being held accountable for this as well as for their poor graduation rates and unemployable graduates. Statistics should be available for each school listing the employment statistics, salaries, etc. for each major. Why go to college for 4+ years, waste parents’ money, and run up big loans to work behind a fast food counter or worse yet, have no job at all?

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@Time to wise up – absolutely there should be a personal finance education class in the high schools. And, the parents of the high-schoolers should teach it – similar to Junior Achievement with real-life examples and pitfalls. Tell them the truth, as they are going to need it.

I was fortunate to have no debt after graduating from college (fortunate = working my way through plus scholarships). If employers didn’t “demand” a college education as a screening tool (and most jobs DO NOT need one, especially where an apprenticeship/internship would suffice), many people wouldn’t be drowning in debt.

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Dear Destin Liberal Arts Degrees are not crap! I would love to see you go through this 4 year program at a traditonal college. This program is 10 times as hard as a reagular Teacher Education degree. With a Liberal Arts Degree I can go on to gradute school and get any degree that I want. I am not pigon hold into getting an useless business degree or an social health degree. Plus if your goal is to work in Corporate America a lot of bosses look for critical thinking skills and good writing skills. You can not learn this in a regular degree program. So getting a Liberal Arts degree is not a waste of time. I am so tired of small minded people thinking this is just a fluff degree. Now granted I went to Mercer and I work full time and I am still leaving school 55K in debt but, atleast I have a degree that I am proud of and can use on a daily basis. According to Suze Orman school debt is healthy debt because it shows that you are trying to better yourself.

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Time to wise up is absolutely correct. Guidance counselors have been told by administration dunderheads to tell all students to go to college. What a load! The world needs plumbers, electricians, welders, carpenters, and auto mechanics a lot more than it needs another college graduate with a degree in African studies or women’s studies. Has anyone with such a degree ever got a job in either of those fields? Do those fields even exist?

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[...] Read th&#1110&#1109 article: Student loan debt &#1110&#1109 now more th&#1072n credit card debt – Atlanta Journal Constitut… [...]

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Just b/c you go to a liberal arts college, doesn’t mean you have a “worthless degree”-hello.
I have a liberal arts degree, an a good job, and am still struggling to move on in my life to have children,etc b/c of prohibitive student loan debt-and that is after 2 years of community college, before transferring. My husband is a nurse, one of the most in-demand jobs right now, so we are both employed in good jobs, and having trouble moving to the next level in our future b/c of the more than $500/month in school loan payments, and we don’t carry almost any other debt, incl CC loans.
Don’t blame it on liberal arts education, blame it on the money making, greedy financial institutions that are ruining our country, and driving up debt. But what else is new?

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I’ve got over 11 years experience working in my field and recently my company hired another indivdual to work in the same capacity I am working in. This individual is a recent college grad, has no experience but is making $10k more than I am simply because he has a degree. Corporate America demands these degrees – they value degrees over experience! Thankfully, I am graduating college soon and although I will have $30k in student loans, I will be able to use my degree to position myself for a higher position with more responsibility.

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Bill…there is still a demand for electricians,Just not the ones that only wire houses,industrial electricians like myself that are trained in the repair and maintenance of industrial machinery are still in demand, and a lot of us are rapidly approaching retirement.its a 2 year course taught at most technical schools.spread the word to the young folks.

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It’s time for you to wise up! All the skilled labor jobs have been shipped to China and Brazil. There are no more factory jobs in the U.S. Get a degree in math, finance or computer science or pay your college tuition back for 20 years…..

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Mercer… more school ?? grad degree in what ?? more debt ???? what kind of a job/career path do you have ???? a friend of mine’s son graduated Mercer… recently… he’s bar tending

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to elaborate on the “worthless degree” comment… Some degrees require a little more footwork outside of school. Some degrees don’t. I got a job opportunity weekly as student at tech. Some I didn’t qualify for some I just wasn’t interested in. I have friends that went to schools across the state of Georgia that didn’t have that opportunity because their school didn’t give them that chance or their degree didn’t give them that chance. At that point its up to them to step up to the plate and fight for their place in the working world – it just is what it is.

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and yes.. you can get a degree by joining the military.. better than student loans !!

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Destin it sounds like your friend didn’t visit the career center at Mercer… Right now I work for an excellent State University college so I can go to Grad school and beyond for free…. so you bet I will be taking advantage of this service……

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Too many people are going to schools they cannot afford and taking out massive amounts of loans that they hope someone else will pay for. Taxpayers beware, it will become your problem when the default rate rises even higher! Students need to look at local colleges. Your tax dollars are already subsidizing these schools.

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Colleges and universities are simply ripping off the students! In 1971 as an out of state student attending a small school in MD my annual cost of attendance was $1800. Now, an in-state student would be hard pressed to get into that school for $18,000. How come? How did the cost of a college education increase more than: clothing, housing, energy costs, etc?

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I graduated from UGA with a Business Ad degree in 1976. The employment rate was as bad then as it is now. I was fortunate to find a job in a K Mart as an assistant manager. At that time GA Tech grads with EE and Aerospace degrees were working in similar retail environments. In the early ’80s I made the decision to get some technical training and I have been gainfully employed ever since.

The difference between 1976 and 2011 is that we didn’t graduate with a lot of debt. College was affordable and most parents could afford to pay the tuition. I feel sorry for today’s grads because of the debt. Enjoy the little bit of disposable income you have. Things will get better.

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Buzz G, explain to me how you can can vegetables and text at the same time. IIllegal aliens aren’t the issue. Get off your soapbox.

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@Destin either I will pursue a Computer Information Systems degree or an Middle-Secondary Education & Instructional Technology

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The “Five Year Party” clowns are complaining about the cost of the party? Too bad, pay up, deadbeats!

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My parents and I knew college would be expensive. I kept my grades up and kept HOPE while working at the same time, and they worked hard and saved what they could to pay for the rest. The end result? I graduated debt free.

My room mate spent six years at the same school, never graduated, and also racked up 60K in student loans that his parents kept co-signing on. What did he get out of all those loans? A flat screen tv, xbox, video games, and large bar tabs. (he has since joined the armed forces to pay back the debt. first paycheck he got, he bought a new truck)

College is not for everyone, and it is not cheap. No one is entitled to it

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I did not choose to go to college, as I was so over how awful my GA high school was, I couldn’t stand the thought of continuing on the same path of crushing students down to the least common denominator. That being said, I studied on my own, bought books, spent hours upon hours at home learning new technical skills, and recently was making over 90K a year.

I’ve watched time and time again new people came into our office right out of college with Psychology degrees, Political Science degrees, and English degrees, and you know what they were doing? Accounting. Yes, the only job they could find was was punching check amounts into a computer. Plus, almost every one had the work ethic of, “I graduated, so pay me”, and they were the first ones at our small-mid sized business to say consistently, “that’s not my job” whenever someone asked them for help.

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Probably 95% of law schools exist just to pay staff, faculty and return all their unspent tuition to the larger University. There are no labs, no experiments, no broad based studies or surveys. You just read books in classes with 100 other students. That will be $30,000 per year, please.

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Ultimate success depends on what school you chose and the grades you make while you are there. Going to KSU for 4 or 5 years and making mediocre grades doesn’t do many people good. Going to GT and making great grades (which is anything above a 3.3 at that school) will set you up nicely and open doors that would otherwise be closed. After you get work experience…the degree becomes somewhat of a formality. KSU, GSCU, Valdosta State, etc degrees are dime a dozen….they cant all get good jobs. The college degree is becoming the new high school degree….I feel for anyone who didn’t finish high school.

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You all realize that tuition went up nationwide right? It’s not like HOPE paid tuition at all those schools. GA schools have to compete to get good faculty in order to maintain their rankings and attractiveness to students which is why you have professors getting 300k/yr to lecture a few hours a week and give the test key to their TA’s. Student loans and lax standards are allowing people to borrow far more money than a degree is worth. This is all b/c we tell every kid that the only way to a future is through a college degree whether or not the kid can even read. Then we wind up w/ 3rd tier/4th tier private schools that accept anyone w/ a pulse and the ability to sign a finaid form. It’s subprime mortgages all over again.

Taking a 10-15k loan out of GT/GSU/UGA etc is more than likely sustainable since you can come out and make a decent enough salary (even 35k is enough to pay that down). If you work part time, you can probably do just fine if you hang onto HOPE. On the other hand, taking out 40-50k to go to a supposedly elite private liberal arts school w/ a 95% acceptance rate to get a degree in leisure studies will most likely end in financial ruin but not for 5-10yrs while they defer the loan, go to grad school, or live in their parents basement to scrape together payments.

If you want to stop the excessive borrowing that is fueling $40-50M gym/student centers (GT & UGA are guilty of this), then publish student loan default rates and adjust student loan interest rates based on that. Good schools will stand out and bad schools will fall off the face of the earth. Unfortunately, this will shine far too much light on the education industry’s profit centers and probably go very negatively against underrepresented minorities (they do need access to education…just not blanket loans to sketchy schools). Sure no one is forcing you to sign on the dotted line but once you’ve started, your education up till that point is worthless until you get the sheet of paper saying you’ve finished. That’s a big incentive for people to take on private loans once they’ve exhausted even subsidized loans.

I have ~27k in student loans left from about a peak of 37k (22k of that from an MBA I’m finishing in 3 weeks) that I should be out of in ~4yrs but it’s not an undue burden given the payment is less than 5% of my monthly gross and my salary growth over the last 2 yrs is more than the entire program’s cost. In my travels interviewing, I met more than a few full time MBA students that bet it all (100k+ in loans + 2yrs of lost income) to go for the same level jobs I’m looking at. Even w/ a fat six figure paycheck, it’ll take quite a while to work that debt down.

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All these for-profit colleges like Phoenix and the bartending schools that have existed for years have greatly increased the bottom line on student loan debt. 20 years ago Southern Tech in Marietta was the degree granting center. There was a Computer Learning Center school in Norcross that got shut down in Norcross 10 years ago when the Dept of Education (finally) determined it was letting anyone in just so they could get student loans that would finance the school’s existence.

The for-profit and the traditional schools often sell “college degree gets you more money” but nothing about a political science degree will get you there. If you must go to trade school then do something related to jobs that cannot be outsourced and must be done here. Medical, electrical, automotive, computer repair (mainframes, not PC’s), construction, landscaping — you can’t send those jobs to China.

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And for the record, parents are partly to blame for this problem. They pamper and take care of many college students by paying bills for them while they just go out and party every night. As a student at GT, I saw so many of these free loaders, mostly greek of course, who would just get drunk every night and make piss poor grades. If you make your kid pick up their own slack…I guarantee you they will take it more seriously. I know this isn’t the case for all college kids, but I was one of the few people from my group of friends who had a job during college and paid all my own bills. At 18 your an adult…quit giving your kids a reason to never grow up and maybe they will make something of their education.

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Take a look at the Georgia Professional Standards and you will see that personal finance IS part of the Economics curriculum in high school. It’s not just the schools job to educate your children.

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YOU ARE an adult at 21 in my book. Enjoy YOUR youth, YOU’RE only young once! I only have a College GED even though I grew up in the shadow of UT and had the highest GPA in my class in the 7th grade among children of scientists. And then along came puberty! Of course I attended numerous training classes in my working career and attended an excellent tech school in the USAF. We need to utilize our military schools to train civilians instead of closing them.

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To Yeah… Wow just because you seem to have graduated from GT, does not mean someone from KSU or GSCU cannot hold their own. Frankly I remember while I was in college and working a particular GT Chemistry major coming to me for tutoring and help understanding what she was doing at work.

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There is a lot of ignorance and assumptions about degrees. I went to UGA for a computer science degree. I graduated with honors out of high school with a dual seal diploma and two professional technical certifications. I started college with 3 credits. I took no summer classes. I graduated in four years, on time, and with NO DEBT. My first job paid less than $44k with no benefits (Spring 2009). After raises, promotions, and job hops, I am now at $72k with full benefits and still no debt other than my mortgage at age 24. Without college, none of this would have been possible.

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You’ll start seeing the quality of public schools increase, as smart kids who normally would go to private schools are going to be steered towards the cheaper in-state school by their parents.

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Liberal arts is the last bastion of civilization. Many on this blog would prefer everyone sell insurance for sustenance and watch t.v. for culture.

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[...] to college (University of Wisconsin-Green Bay) Student loan debt is now more than credit card debt (AJC) Is college education worth the debt (NPR) Balancing debt against college choice (NYT) The project [...]

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When my child was born in 1985 we started putting money aside for college. We also funded our retirement. In 2003, our daughter graduated from high school, and chose to go to an out of state college, so no HOPE. She received a BS in exercise science. This May she graduates with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy, and has a job lined up. She worked part time/full time in her undergrad years but not during the 9 semesters of graduate school. She has ZERO student loans. We made her education a priority. Granted, we only had one child, but we did it. We are average middle class people, both primarily school teachers. However, I quit teaching in 2002, and we still managed things on one income. I am certain many will criticize me, but we have managed our income and weathered all the ups and downs of the economy like everyone else.

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Many have mentioned earlier that the for-profit and online degree diploma mills have made a mockery of higher education. The biggest joke is the online doctoral degrees. Ughh. I know several teachers who are in six figure student loan debt from an online degree program. If you talk to them for ten minutes you realize they do not have the skill set to work in a pie factory. Then, we ask what is happening to public education. Their poor children will not be able count on mam or dad for assistance for college because they will be paying for their student laon mess. It amkes you think….what is going to happen when this education bubble bursts or shall i say BUST?

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Mercer,
50k of debt is almost $600/mon for a decade. I hope you’ve got a line on some six figure jobs right after graduation. The student loan interest deduction is also subject to a phase out above 60k so it’s actually closer to $800/mon since you’d have to pay from after tax income if you make above 75k AGI.

If you’re looking at an income under 60k, then it’s not taxable but that’s at least ~12% of your annual gross. If you need to buy a home or a car, you’re going to be seriously squeezed. It’s going to be a lot of ramen to be able to save for a house. If you stretch the loan beyond 10 yrs, that 50k is going to still be around when you should be looking toward your own kids’ college funds. As it is, I feel like I’m spending too much and my car (only 4 payments left)/mortgage/student loan@5yr repayment only add up to 16% of my gross.

Student loan debt can be ok debt but it still goes against limits toward mortgages. Normally, you shouldn’t exceed 36% of your gross against recurring debt but that doesn’t leave a whole lot to actually save for a 20% down or to find much house that fits in under the limits.

I’m not trying to be really negative but you’re taking on a similar folly that thousands of people have done before. I thought long and hard about taking on my current debt (27k across 3 degrees) but given I was getting badly squeezed on taxes being single w/o dependents, I decided to buy a home in ‘09 w/ 20% down and had to take a loan to cover my tuition when I changed jobs and lost about 10k in tuition reimbursements but since made up in salary increases.

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….and you will work while in school and make decent grades. If you don’t work and flunk out, you will have to work a minimum of 2 jobs if plan to come live in my home. No adults will waste my money in school and then expect to come and be a grown burden to me…..

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Something is backwards here, it seems that if women have children out of wedlock and have multiply children with different daddies (no offense) to the children for they are a blessing, it seems the government will find a way to support these women, yet on the other hand you have women who go to college and possible be the first one in their generation or family and bleieving they will be able to pay back loans because they didn’t know how to look for scholarships about time they receive their degree its almost like they should buy it and it’s hard to find a good paying job to be able to pay the loan back. SMH. There is something seriously wrong with the system.

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“We care about education” is just another hot political catch phrase. With all the liberal teachers(and their semi-worthless social studies classes) and their taxpayer money leaching unions(some teachers are still under paid); it is a joke nowadays. I had over $130,000 student loan debt, that I have been slowly chipping away at the low, low price of $700/month for 30 years. What is worse, I have a friend with over $250,000 student loan debt. All my friends have had their salaries cut or kept neutral for 2-3 years now, but college tuition keeps going up(waaaaaayyyyyyy uppppppp). America though keeps falling behind China and Europe. We care about education? I have multiple international friends, their high school education is very comparable to our college courses!!! They were taking histology and microbiology, while I was forced to complete my university studies required classes. One the classes I had to choose from was called, “Men, Women and Society.” It was taught by a lesbian female boxer and one of her best friends and a guest speaker was a woman who was arrested for breaking out a prisoner that she was responsible for guarding in jail. But wait there is more, she had us watch a video on African American homosexual male relationships, and it had a 10 minute XXX scene in it (which felt like an hour). I am sure there is a place and time for such classes; and addressing tolerance and prejudices is extremely important; but at $258 a credit hour(3-4 credit hour class), I just don’t know??? The problems are many and the solutions are not as easy to come up with. We need to constantly debate, discuss, and reinvent new ways and ideas to teach. My best teachers were the ones that kept my interest and instilled passion into the subject matters; not just reading from a text book. The governments solution at throwing billions at the problem doesn’t work, the government uses their naked eyes, when the problems need to looked at with an electron microscope. I think private schools succeed because they are smaller, their is better supervision, and if they stink, they go out of business. I think these are potential models for future consideration. When I come home from work and the entire subdivision has kids running and screaming around and through everyone’s yards, I think we have a problem with our schools and the parents.

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How many college kids would apply for a job working at a canning company or any other manufacturing or factory type industry (like any are available or hiring) to pay for college?…absolutely NONE…don’t blame illegal aliens for doing the jobs our kids wouldn’t dare consider even if that was the only option to pay for their education…they would rather choose not to attend college…BANK ON IT…most kids are going to college, boring money, so they can put off working and paying bills…you blame them? Face it, kids these days are lazy…period.

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If the HOPE scholarship was such a curse that created such a mega bubble for tuition rates, then why are GA colleges year after year considered to be some of the most affordable in the nation? I must agree that we need to stop sending our kids to school to get psychology, art, and history degrees. We need to focus our kids who want to go to college, and encourage math, science and engineering degrees since this is what will help our country the most, and it is where the job markets are growing. If you love art, do art on the side, if you love to write, write on the side. I got a degree in Education so that I could teach writing during the school year, and spend my summers indulging in my true passion, and I am able to still get a pay check. It kills me to see kids going to school for art, rack up $40,000 in debt, and at best be able to get a job making $35K a year. If my kid decides to go to school for something like art, she is paying her own way. The HOPE scholarship is not to blame. The blame should be put on people putting down technical education, and real degrees in favor of party degrees.

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Another great Government Scam!! The big 4 things gov. is involved in just keeps going up in cost. Education, HealthCare, Government itself and Oil.

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True Trans,
Did your degree include a Lexus in there? I’m hoping that includes a JD or MD in the totals. What school in good conscience hand you that kind of debt load unless you have the definite ability to pay for it? My alma mater was $35k/yr in tuition but they handed out 10-20k/yr in grants/scholarships based on need. The secret to avoiding too much debt was taking more classes. I finished in 3 yrs and my younger brother did his in 2.5 there. The only people I know w/ six figures of school debt tend to be medical professionals or lawyers and most of them clear 200-500k so a 10yr payoff is within reach.

As for private schools…they aren’t models for success b/c they’re often dependent on gov’t grants that mask their true cost. They also lobby heavily for vouchers to reduce their costs and obfuscate accountability by gaming the system in similar ways to public schools (drop outs are “transfers” etc). Private schools are at best marginally more successful than public counterparts given they’re often allowed to cherry pick their students to those that would succeed regardless and those that don’t often hang on for years playing with kids futures.

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The Obama administration has a plan for low-earning student borrowers to get out of debt, with income-based repayment that forgives remaining federal student debt for those who pay 15 percent of their income for 25 years — or 10 years, if they work in public service.

Ahhh… the public sector – let’s get more working for the government – and produce more of “nothing” of value other than more debt and taxes so we can finally force anyone out of America who has money. Heck, we need more dirt roads and shanty towns anyway.

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… Private schools are at best marginally more successful than public counterparts given they’re often allowed to cherry pick their students to those that would succeed regardless and those that don’t often hang on for years playing with kids futures …

Also, private schools are a waste of money for alot of people as that money could be spent on a college education and/or the parent’s retirement fund. People through good money away with the myth their little darlings are getting superior and premium when they are only getting better that average. Private schools are also set up for the student not to fail, something you don’t get when the real world knocks you down.

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Lance, you do realize the the public service means the military, police officers, firefighters, scientists doing research at the CDC don’t you? Are you saying that these people are freeloaders? Unfortunately, politicians are supposed to be public servants and we pay their salaries, but they seem to only serve themselves, but that’s another conversation. So, what’s your point??????

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No, I’m not saying those you listed are freeloaders. What I am saying is the government doesn’t produce anything per se. We have government employees retiring at 53 (such as former police chief of SF Heather Fong – $277,656 per year, James Lynch, assistant police chief at $252,997). More than 1 in 3 San Francisco city workers have pensions exceeding $100,000 with over 100 exceeding $200,000. They have a deputy police chief who made $516,118 in 2009.

I have a friend who retired from the IRS who has a pension of over $75,000/year plus health benefits. These are but a few examples of government waste in my opinion.

Many government workers save zero, yet have pensions those in the private sector can only dream about. We in the private sector can look forward to maybe 18 grand tops from social security.

At one time those who worked for the government were called servants… now, those who generate tangible products which are tangible are serving those who work for the government.

And, government employees now make more on average than those in the private sector doing the same job. The salary figures do not include the value of health, pension and other benefits, which averaged $40,785 per federal employee in 2008 vs. $9,882 per private worker, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

So, if you think increasing the size of government is good – OK. I don’t.

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Part of what the government produces (spends?) is included in GDP, so somebody must think it is valuable. We’re trending in the right direction with private sector jobs slowly on the rise and government jobs being eliminated. HOPE springs eternal!

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I’m amazed at the amount of ‘experts’ arguing back and forth on this blog (and other blogs). No wonder, there are very few intelligent politicians, economists, Rhodes Scholars, and successful CEOs out there; they are all commenting on this blog! Look; the fact of the matter is that none of you have the answers; most have a one-sided view of the world only seen through your own eyes. It’s one thing to have ‘opinions’, its another to call someone WRONG because their opinion and experiences differ from yours… *Climbs off soapbox. But, by all means, keep arguing… Its very entertaining!

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I’d opine that we all have workable answers. At least it wouldn’t hurt to try them. The pols are paralyzed.

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The thing that most people need to remember like all of the “other shoulds” in our lives is that they’re not for everyone.

Everyone does not need to go to college.

Everyone does not need to buy a house.

Everyone does not need to get married.

Everyone does not need to have children.

Most people would disagree but everyone does not need to have a job. I know plenty of people who have a job and all they do is mess it up.

So, before you sign on and become an “indentured debt slave,” you need to really evaluate what you want and need.

My rule is anything that I have pay for more than a few years, I don’t want it.

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I think all these comments are very interesting I am a 24 year old college graduate (graduated at 23) and am 23,000 in debt (right around the average). I was lucky enough to find a decent job, but I’m definitely not where I want to be and feeling the student loan burden already. If I had the choose to go back knowing what I know now I would of still went to college. I feel that I did everything right: didn’t borrower more than I needed, worked all 5 years, had a great GPA. When I look at my friends who graduated doing everything totally opposite of me and coming out with little to no student debt I find that crazy! I need to do more research on the HOPE scholarship but I think financial aid should be based on merit not need. If these businesses are wanting competent workers WITH degrees then the little financial aid avaliable should go to the students who deserve it.

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Mercer, the bar tender is making more than you are !!! and has a career path to Management that could be up to $100 K… casual dining… we need tech majors in medical, engineering, business and math/science teachers… not lawyers !!

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Hey Destin Dawg, I have a full time paying job with my liberal arts degree. My husband is a middle grade math teacher who is looking for a job. Guess who brings home the bacon, I am thankful for my liberal arts degree, at least it is a degree is something. GO DAWGS!!

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HARD TIME, better THINK HARD:
TECH SCHOOL IS GOOD SOLUTION if you can’t afford one at this economy crisis.
I am a college graduate, but I think Tech schools do give you the real skills that you need to do the job well and well-paid for a short period of time (9-14 mos.). eg. Aviation Technician or Medical Assistant. My cousin is an Aviation Technician. He has a great job and great benefits.

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[...] June, for the first time in history, Americans owed more on their student loans, a record $833 billion, than on their credit cards, $826.5 billion. The amount owed on student [...]

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I am a co-signor and my son did not receive his degree after 190k in debt. The system is broken and yes, I do feel it is a scam especially from the Universities who allow debt to pile up and as a parent you can’t get copies of transcripts to see if the student is doing well until it is too late. SM is my lender and they are calling me 6-8 times a day and they are rude and using threats that will place me in a default in 3 months. I pay 200.00/ month and they need a payment of 1800/mth. There is a hardship in which I do not care to talk about but I need to know how to get the money that I am paying to get applied to the principle of the loan instead of the interest? They are not nice and it seems they really don’t want the 200/month I am paying. Every time I make a payment they call and it seems they are angry that I made a 200 payment. will getting a lawyer help?

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[...] June, for the first time in history, Americans owed more on their student loans, a record $833 billion, than on their credit cards, $826.5 billion. The amount owed on student [...]

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