Student loans.

[karpathion]

This shit is getting crazy!

My nephew just graduated from our states #1 college this past year with a masters degree in Mechanical Engineering. He's been there for almost 6 years and has racked up a debt of over $110K in the process, all in student loans. He was promised some type of job placement after graduation, and assured that he would have a starting salary of around $100k per year. This did not happen.

He cannot find a job in his field, the school has placed him nowhere, and he is forced to work at Wal-mart. Now, he can't pay back the private loans that he took out because his loan payment is pretty much what he makes after taxes. Now the company that gave him the loans, "we'll just call them SM," is trying to garnish his wages, and take any tax returns that he gets.

What the fuck is going on? How can anyone come out of a masters program, with over $100k in debt, and a $10 an hour job be expected to pay that?

Now I don't know about anyone else, but when I purchase a product and it's defective, I can go straight to the source and get a refund, or a replacement at no charge. Why are these schools not held accountable for there defective products? It's the same thing, right?

It's the point that this kid is contemplating suicide. He broke out in tears when he was telling me about this, this past weekend.

Way to go USA. That's how you get things done!

[LesStrat]

This is why I discourage student loans.

I have plenty more to say, but I'll leave it alone for now.

[Securb]

If I were college age again I would got to Mexico denounce my US citizenship then sneak back into the US illegally for free tuition.

[lreese]

He cannot find a job in his field, the school has placed him nowhere, and he is forced to work at Wal-mart. 

This was me in the 1990's.  Also mechanical engineering.  I went to commuter colleges and was lucky to accumulate no debt.

1999 I landed a job in a telco doing customer support.  I'm plumbing IP packets now (network engineering).

[idsnowdog]

After 3 masters degrees I'm getting paid less than I was in 2000.

[lreese]

Has he considered signing up with a contract agency? That's what I finally had to do after a failed business arrangement. Then comes the dirty work. Nights, weekends, the less glamorous shift, etc.

Its not going to be the 100K, but its better than Wallyworld will pay.

That's not going to help much with the student loans - That's going to be a serious hardship no matter how you slice it. I don't think those are dischargeable (via bankruptcy) debts either.

I wished we could look at it as simply a defective product, but we're dealing with an educational institution (and likely a Gummint one). I certainly remember the frustration in those years after graduation, to put it mildly. This sounds way worse.

[karpathion]

I don't know what he's supposed to do.

Isn't there some program for people just like him? Something that lets him put his loan payment off for another year or so? Surely there is something in place to help kids like this.

[idsnowdog]

I don't know what he's supposed to do.

Isn't there some program for people just like him? Something that lets him put his loan payment off for another year or so? Surely there is something in place to help kids like this.

There is something called forebearance where you don't need to pay until you are employed or when you are unemployed. You can also apply depending on your income level for restructuring, consolidation and forgiveness.

When I graduated it took me along time to find a job so I had to apply for forebearance.  I then worked for 8 months until I was fired and I applied for forbearance again until I hand another job.

[LesStrat]

Yes, just be aware that they capitalize the interest during the deferment period.

[johnjohn]

$18,000 debt left from my wife's first degree, (we've already paid about $14,000 off)
$35,000 for this one and God only knows what her masters will cost us.
(Basically the cost of a used Ferrari Spyder)

Thank god she's already being scouted for gov and policy jobs, so she'll be making more than me in a few years.
Thankfully we got good interest rates on everything.

I get frustrated sometimes, feeling that I while I'm making good money I shouldn't be living like a student at my age.
But it's only for a couple more years (even after she graduates what she'll be making will largely go into paying off her school debt), and I did know what I was gettin into.