For Many Students, College Means Back to Middle School - Kenneth Terrell - The Atlantic

This is a pretty huge problem.

The whole point of primary education is to get your ready for secondary, and secondary is to get you ready for the real world. If there are incongruities on both those levels then what the heck are we doing education-wise? Teach children to learn?

We need to get this education reform thing in full tilt before things get much worse.

Get Your Degrees Kids

Are college degrees still worth it in this economy?


I've seen a lot of articles talking about the value of a college degree in this economic climate. All of them seem to point to very important, the most important. Adults tell you, "Without a college degree, you can't get anywhere in life." Evidently, they are right. Go to school and get a valuable (read: STEM) degree and your future will thank you.

Links: Student Loans, What To Do?

How to Fix the Broken Student Loan System - ABC News

This!

(Seriously though. This an interesting look at the student loan climate and solid ideas on how to fix it.)



SoFi Will Crowdsource Your Student Loans | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation

This?



Stop Handing Out Student Loans Like Candy, Or Else You’ll Get Sued Like Sallie Mae « Above the Law: A Legal Web Site – News, Commentary, and Opinions on Law Firms, Lawyers, Law School, Law Suits, Judges and Courts

More loans=higher tuition costs=more loans=higher tuition costs= more... Anyone else sees a catch-22 here?





Communities of color lose more wealth, carry higher student loan debt | North Dallas Gazette

Like so many other things it seems the loan problem may have a racial overlay.

Bankruptcy on Student Loans

Encourage bankruptcy, not forgiveness, for student loans (essay) | Inside Higher Ed

I'm not sure which sounds better, but Inside Higher Ed does make a very pointed case for reactivating the ability to discharge student loans in bankruptcy over either student loan forgiveness or the current situation.

Highlander – Dead and still buried in college debt: let’s forgive student loans

This article makes a interesting and sensible point regarding how we should deal with student loans when they don't provide a return on what we invest, as in when a loan holder passes and the loan holder's parent are stuck with the bill. It's interesting to think of a school loan in a more concrete way. That's one difference between education loans and housing loans; you can't repossess someone's education as you would their house, or car. Education is an abstract object, but what if, especially in circumstance of death we are able to "return" what we invested in considering if we do continue to pay we are paying for something that's going unused. This isn't a broken toy here, you break it you bought it shouldn't apply. 

Note To Self: No National Economic Problem Doesn't Mean There's No Problem

Why not to fear a student-loan bubble - The Tell - MarketWatch

I've seen it argued a few times that there's nothing to worry about as far as U.S. debt bubbles go because there's not really one. I don't know if that's true or not, but whether it's either or, student borrowers should still take time to get acquainted with the loaning system. We should know how much money we need to pay for school and if the pay off after is worth the debt we accumulate during. Also we need to know whether we believe we'll have the ability to pay off the debt in the long-run. Paul Dales, the guy quoted in the piece linked above says that now this dept bubble (blip?), "just needs to be monitored," so we probably won't see any huge changes in the system anytime soon if others find this student loan thing to be more of a blip than a bomb.

A Few More Important Articles Regarding Student Loans...

Election will affect student loans, Pell Grants - News - Daily Campus - Southern Methodist University

When heading to the polls, which candidate is right for economy? What about education? Because, you know, those two things are highly related. What will President Obama do if he's reelected in the current election? Governor Mitt Romney? Is either plan right for you?

Speaking of...



Which Candidate Has Good Student Loan Plan? Neither - US Business News - CNBC

It turns out no matter which of the two candidates you pick, you've picked the wrong one on education...



Complaints may presage student loan crisis - The Washington Post

When are we going to take the "debt bomb" seriously? Maybe we can preempt the looming catastrophe and prevent four or more years of slog the way we didn't with the mortgages. Or maybe it's all just a bunch of hoopla...



Don't buy myth of student loan 'crisis' | The Columbia Daily Tribune - Columbia, Missouri

See? Hoopla.



Lastly,

Don't take on new loan debt | Recordnet.com


Because Michelle Singletary is doing an excellent job over at the Washington Post writing about student loans. Plus the advice of the above article, though aimed at recent graduates, is a universal one: Look before you leap (or better yet, considering the clear evidence of the currenct educational/economic problem, it's probably better to just not leap while you look).

Note To Self: No Loans Unless You Have Money To Pay Back, Quickly

Sallie Mae Assists 2.2 Million Student Loan Customers to Avoid Default - DailyFinance

Sallie Mae Tops Student Loan Complaints - Business Insider

I have problem with Sallie Mae too, but I know in my case it's not at all their fault, and in a general sense I don't believe it's entirely their fault. Fact of the matter is personally I should have never done business with Sallie Mae. I knew nothing about loans and took the advice of people that didn't realize I knew nothing about loans. It was kind of a Catch-22 situation. If I knew more about loans I probably would have been able to asked the right question, but not need to. Since I didn't know anything about loans I didn't know the right questions to ask when I really needed to.

I believe loan company try to help and more specifically their employees. I talked to the really nice guy named R__ recently. He did his best to help, it's just that the means the company provides to help is kind of like a Catch-22 situation. If I were able to pay you $3000 to bring my payment up-to-date you would so not be calling me right now because surely I would have been making the, what, $50 or $100 payments all along. But sometimes policy trumps people. That's not the company's fault, completely. They service upwards of 2.2 million people (I'm using the figure in the article cause I don't have the actual one right now in front of me.), so they have to protect their interests to keep operating and providing loans to the needy.

That's tough.

I just wish there was an easier way to individualize the process. Really give people who can't options and ways to payback the loan. I'm sure not everyone who borrows money is looking for a way not to pay you back. If they had the cash flow, the payment surely would be flowing the way of the lenders. At least that's the way I feel about my personal situation compared to how I must look to the Sallie Mae, (etc.), computers.

Crushing debt: Students finding solutions to avoid or survive loans | Deseret News


From Deseret News, a hefty chunk of information about student. It amounts to get as much information as you can throughout the process. "Knowledge is power," is basically the key to stopping further problems with indebtedness due to student loans and is almost a carry-all when it comes to most problems faced. The more you know the more information you have to deal with what comes next.

Student Loan Debt Slavery, Is College Worth It? :: The Market Oracle :: Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting Free Website


It's a little bit too ranty for me, but I agree (and experienced) some of the points being made in the article.




Edit/add:

Also Part 2 and 3 of the NYTimes blog student loan Q&A.

Answers to Your Questions About Student Loans, Part 2 - NYTimes.com

Answers to Your Questions About Student Loans, Part 3 - NYTimes.com