Sure, but plenty of parents do take out PLUS loans - which are capped at whatever the tuition is. Aside from that, many lenders are handing out loans without cosigners[1]. And as the 2008 crisis has shown us, that's not an error: they are gambling.
>This is a story about grad student debt
OK, but the discussion is about student debt, not grad student debt. I think it's reasonable to assume that most people would be talking about undergraduate debt cancelation.
As for those absurdly expensive Masters degrees - the one in the article is borderline a scam.
>If we just got rid of loans for grad school, we're taking away an entire life path.
Again, it's quite a leap from debt cancelation to loans not being available to anyone ever, particularly for grad school. As you said, graduate school students are older, and graduate degrees often do pay off. Why would the banks pass on a money-making opportunity?
The degrees that are a solid investment would not disappear (and neither would loans for them), but the scammy ones (like in the article) would.
>By far my biggest disappointment with the current administration is not pushing more for free community college
Amen to that.
>Then you have my alma mater, the CSU system
OK, off-topic, but I'm going to live right next to CSU East Bay campus, and would appreciate any info about that system. One of my 2022 goals is getting involved in community outreach (math education / talks / etc); trying to remedy the damage done by our education systems when it comes to mathematics, particularly hoping to reach working adults.
Would love to hear your thoughts about that.
[1] https://loans.usnews.com/student-loans-without-co-signer
For 3rd year and above >$12,500-No more than $5,500 of this amount may be in subsidized loans
For sake of this example, let's say they let you take out this much for all 4 years. That leaves you at 50k. This assumes your parents can't take out a Plus loan.
Your very unlikely to be able to get 200k in undergrad loans without a co-signer. If you don't have a co signer your effectively capped at 50k.
This is a story about grad student debt. This is a story about, at a minimum 22 year olds ( normally a bit older) deciding to make a choice. You can make a ton of life altering choices at 22.
If we just got rid of loans for grad school, we're taking away an entire life path. For many taking grad school loans leads to a much higher paying career. You don't hear stories about someone who takes out 100k in grad school loans, but then lands a job paying 145k.
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/payin...
>The median earnings for full-time, year-round workers holding bachelor's degrees was $66,536 in 2019, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. With a master's degree, median earnings for full-time employees jumped to $81,636. With a doctoral degree, median earnings were $113,578, and the amount for individuals holding a professional degree was $127,487.
None of these people in this article were forced into blowing $200,000 on a degree which isn't going to help them make much more money. The best thing about America is people generally do have a lot of leeway in how they live their lives. And the dark side of the European system is many people just can't get into any type of college, I've met these kids attending community college in America since the European schools wouldn't take them.
By far my biggest disappointment with the current administration is not pushing more for free community college, that would nudge people in the right direction. I went to community college and I worked and that's how I paid my living expenses.
I was working full time, already making 100k a year ,when I finished my BA at a CSU.
Let me ride this tangent for a bit, in California you have two state school systems. You have the UC system, which treats college like a vacation with a hint of learning. These schools are actively hostile to anyone with a job.
Then you have my alma mata, the CSU system. There you'll actually have flexible schedules where you can work a full-time job and still attend school. Of course UCs are viewed as more prestigious. Adults have a right to make choices. Everyone who attended this USC program wanted to plaster USC on their resume. They all had the option of attending cheaper schools.
It's not nearly as simple as looking at a few extreme cases and deciding to forgive a trillion dollars in student loan debt. I'd agree more regulation is needed here, but in general people need to take more personal responsibility.