How America's universities became debt factories

Re:How America's universities became debt factories by cruffle_duffle on Saturday September 14, 2024 @02:00PM (#41541555)

I mean for fucks sake we were pushing 18 year old teenagers into tens of thousands of dollars of debt! I dunno about most people but at 18 I had absolutely no clue about anything, especially the concept of money nor career. How the fuck does an 18 year old comprehend why taking $60,000 to get a degree in “Latin Dance” is not a good idea (and we all know many people who fall into this bucket too!). And yet parents, councilors, teachers, and “the whole system” pushed this onto every kid in high school.

And then society turns around and mocks them later on for being “stupid” and “lazy” or whatever… fuck that shit. Society strongly told kids that college, any college, was the only way to have a future.

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Re:How America's universities became debt factories by lispisok on Saturday September 14, 2024 @02:10PM (#41541636)

You are being downvoted but that was exactly my experience. It wasnt hyperbole. I was told my entire time in k-12 you need to get a college degree by everybody. Parents, teachers, counselors. Additionally they said, with no exaggeration, to get any degree, at any school, and take out as many loans as you need. So yes an entire generation of kids were told the $60,000 in debt for a latin dance degree at a no-name school was better than no degree at all.

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Re:How America's universities became debt factories by ryandrake on Saturday September 14, 2024 @06:13PM (#41543457)

I don't know when that narrative started, but it was not what I heard (high school in the 90s). I at one point thought out loud about majoring in Art in university, and everyone, parents, teachers, guidance counsellors said, "Buddy, not if you want an actual career! Major in engineering or something." Maybe the later generations got the bad "Major in anything" advice but I sure as heck didn't.

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Re:How America's universities became debt factories by jajko on Saturday September 14, 2024 @03:28PM (#41542174)

Where were parents? Don't tell me they were absent in such a massive decision that absolutely defines rest of their kids lives.

Yes its horrible to force 17-18 year old to make such an important decisions and also schools should have known better and counsel heavily beforehand. But lets not forget that for the state you are 100% responsible for your actions at that point including any crime, state will happily draft you and send you to get killed if the need arises. Loan management pales in comparison with this.

Truth is harsh, society is harsh and unfair in many aspects. I don't see this improving unfortunately anytime soon.

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Re:How America's universities became debt factories by cruffle_duffle on Saturday September 14, 2024 @04:14PM (#41542500)

Of course for many the parents were present! They were being told the same thing by the education system. They were told that unless their kid got a college education their kid would not be successful. And while I wasn’t parent then but am now, I’m positive their peer group was pressuring them into helping kiddo out by co-signing on crazy large loans for degrees that their kid might never really use. I’ve seen it happen.

I get that there is a lot of societal bias toward blaming the person who got the loan for being a pile of shit deadbeat who was stupid enough to get a $70,000 “art history” degree… but dude. These people are basically kids. Or at best adults with very, very little life experience being given strong thumbs up by “the elders” who are supposed to know better…

The student does take some responsibility but society at large should take most of it.

I mean for Christ sake you had 18 year olds getting into huge amounts of debt that you cannot discharge in bankruptcy. There are very few financial tools in life that are so “iron clad” as a student loan and we handed them out like candy to the least experienced adults out there. What a shit thing to hand to somebody who just started out in the real world. Feed them lies and convince them to saddle up with a lifetime of debt that has absolutely no undo button besides death. It’s bullshit.

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