denisdman wrote:
Sorry I am late to this thread. The original comment from Spiral about this being like the housing crisis is very true. We are burdening our future leaders with debt that hampers their ability to buy a house, start a family, and mature in the way generations before them have.
When you go to college, you are already behind in starting a career and generating wealth. The trade off is you increase your long term earnings potential, so it’s worth that initial sacrifice. But when folks are graduating with six figure debts, you are burying these folks even further.
As I have said over the years, our education is the best place to reduce income inequality. It starts in pre-K with teaching kids to read and stretches all the way past high school with equipping folks with skills that employers need (not just college education but technical/trade skills for those not going to college).
The cost of college has risen for two main reasons:
1) states like IL have cut allocations to universities.
2) colleges have spent way too much on fancy campuses and administration.
It is sad, and there is no easy answers, like healthcare. I can’t believe I am paying about $200k for my daughter to attend IU. I have no clue how folks on median incomes could ever afford this, and it saddens me greatly. The current system reinforces inequality because kids like mine already have inherent advantages, and then they will not be burdened like lower income families. I would absolutely be willing to pay more taxes to boost education and improve the entire system.
The bolded part really hits home. I delayed entry into the work force by going to law school. I went to law school because I couldn't immediately find a job out of college. I took out loans because I couldn't afford tuition on my own.
I will own that part of the problem was my fault by getting an arguably non-marketable degree in undergrad, and my ignorance of the importance of establishing a network. But I also graduated undergrad in 2008 during the fall out of the housing crisis. I was aimless.
Six years out of law school, I have a job, a house, and two kids. At the time I graduated law school my total student loan debt was a little over $80,000. For the first year or two out, I was on an income based repayment plan which wasn't enough to cover the principal on the loans. When I went off the income based repayment plan the interest capitalized and I owed closed to $90,000. That was a real system shock.
Right now I have about $35,000 left to pay on my student loans. Last year my wife and I used $30,000 that she inherited from her grandfather to pay down a chunk of my debt. I imagine Deni$ would say we were better off investing that money and he's probably right. But I am so motivated to pay off the debt because writing that check each month is stating to eat at my sanity.
I am eleven years post-undergrad. I only have a house because my parents contributed to the down payment. I got my first job out of law school because the boss was a family member. We pay far below market rate for childcare because my wife's parents are able to watch our kids while we are at work. I have very little in the way of savings compared to my parents when they were my age. I have what I have in part because I was able to lean on connections. MANY are not anywhere near as fortunate is I am.
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Seacrest wrote:
The menstrual cycle changes among Hassidic Jewish women was something as well.
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