$70k at 6% is $350/mo -- if you only pay $350/mo, you're gonna have this story to tell I guess...

A lot of people are talking about this but no one will do anything about it.

It's fun to get outraged and all. But how do we actually change it?

This is one reason I actually really like code camps. I got my bachelor's kicking and screaming because I knew most of the stuff I was learning was completely irrelevant. These code camps cut right through all the bullshit. In fact nowadays maybe you would question the intelligence of somebody who got a four-year degree to become a programmer?

1) Free college tuition for anyone who wants it, along the lines of what Germany does.

2) Cancel existing student debt up to, say, $50K. (Eg, see Warren's plan)

3) Start treating trade schools as an equally worthy pathway as a college, and stop promoting the myth that college is the best way to succeed in life.

4) Organize actual trade schools for software development, with accreditation, full-time staff, etc. Again, with free tuition (and again, see Germany's V.E.T. programs - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_education_system ).

There are many pathways through life, and 'programming' is a wide topic. I can think of any number of programming careers where a four-year degree would be useful. Foremost are those who want to write software for specific field, where knowledge of that field is essential. I imagine it's much harder to write something like Mathematica without a pretty deep background in mathematics, and getting a mathematics degree is likely to help more than going to a code camp.

Replace "Mathematica" with "quantum chemistry" or "aerodynamics" or "astrophysics" any number of other topics.

Or, perhaps someone, you know, wants to be a programmer but is interested in other topics as well so wants a broader education instead of a deeper one.

We need 4-year code camps. People coming out of something like that would put Comp. Sci. grads to shame.

I feel like the financing of education is messed up.

I also worry about these tragic stories where adults took irresponsible actions and they're simply cast as victims.

I don't like the system or the problem... I'm not sure I see the problem as starkly as some do....

> adults took irresponsible actions and they're simply cast as victims.

This is an extremely optimistic definition of adult, no? I didn't go to school in the US, but if I had I imagine I would have been under 18 while applying to college and applying for student loans.

You could argue that the students are adults in their later college years, but it being the "best worst choice" to graduate and continue receiving your student loan is nowhere near the same thing as having made an informed decision at the start.

Well you don't take out a loan for an entire education on day 1 so I'm not sure just 18 is when $70k happened.

But if they aren't capable of making such a decision, do we want to go down the road of saying they can't take out a loan?

I'm okay with allowing them to take out the loan, let's just not pretend it's actually done through fully informed adult consent. And if we're willing to do that, perhaps we'll decide to allow student loans to be discharged at bankruptcy, which they currently aren't.

I feel like the bankruptcy option would simply lead to the logical choice of declaring bankruptcy after college...and the collapse of any loan system.

Where were the parents while she was signing this?