Many Americans Feel Cheated by Their Student Loans
This article frustrates me. I suppose the whole debacle of student debt frustrates me. I would fall into what the article labels a &quot;retributive view.&quot;<p>&#x27;“I think there’s this assumption that millennials are spoiled, naive, and entitled,” Jen said.&#x27;<p>That&#x27;s because they often are. Jen racked up $50K of students loans in one year at an Ivy League school. My daughter is finishing up her first year of grad school at a state university, debt free. She works multiple jobs while going to school. It&#x27;s hard. Sometimes it&#x27;s really hard. And when she&#x27;s done she won&#x27;t have a diploma from an Ivy League school. But she won&#x27;t have any debt, either.<p>Jen&#x27;s case is intentionally special because she had a stroke in the middle of all this. So we can&#x27;t criticize Jen. We have to sympathize with her. By extension, we are supposed to sympathize with everyone who has racked up student debt.<p>The cost of a college education is crazy. I agree with that. But the onus for student debt should fall on the debtor. Just like the onus for a car loan so that somebody can drive to work. Or the onus for a mortgage, or credit card debt. You can&#x27;t repossess an education. When a student defaults, that knowledge and experience can&#x27;t just be transferred back to the bank. So it is fair that such loans are secured differently than debt on hard assets.<p>If you don&#x27;t currently have a cash flow that would allow you to make a $2000&#x2F;month mortgage payment, don&#x27;t take out that mortgage. If you don&#x27;t currently have a cash flow that would allow you to make a $500&#x2F;month student loan payment, don&#x27;t take out that loan. If you could afford a $200 monthly payment, find a degree that fits your budget. Try a $3000&#x2F;semester school instead of a $25000&#x2F;semester school.<p>Don&#x27;t rack up $50K&#x2F;year and then pretend that you&#x27;re not entitled.