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.

Democratic Senator Compares Private Student Loans To Dickens-Era Of Debt Prisons

Democratic Senator Compares Private Student Loans To Dickens-Era Of Debt Prisons: pThe inability of Americans to discharge student loan debt in bankruptcy proceedings creates a system of indebtedness like the one that existed during the era of Charles Dickens, when people who couldn’t afford to pay their debts were routinely tossed into prisons, a top Democratic senator declared this week. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin (D) has [...]/p

Should You Have to Pay Taxes on Forgiven Student Loan Debt?

Bucks readers weigh in on whether forgiven student loan debt should come with a fat tax bill from the Internal Revenue Service.

(Above from the NYTiimes blog.)

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.