Students amass mountain of debt as default rates continue to climb

[marmar]

Students amass mountain of debt as default rates continue to climb

By Kim Kozlowski
The Detroit News


Three years after Angie Rider earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at Michigan State University, she has a teaching job that she loves — but also a student loan debt of $100,000.

Rider, 27, a fourth-grade Detroit Public Schools teacher, pays $1,000 a month on her debt, and sees no end in sight. That's why she has delayed buying a home, getting married and starting a family.

"I did the math and it's going to take (decades) to pay it off," said Rider. "It's just crazy. I just feel like it's never going to go away. I get so hopeless."

As spring commencement season begins later this month, more students are graduating with a debt load that's doubled in comparison to a decade ago, as unemployment remains high. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120417/SCHOOLS/204170370#ixzz1sJO9dta7

[4th law of robotics]

1. Might be time to try hyperinflation

could wipe out a lot of private and publicly held debts that way.

Would be rough on people with a fixed income though . . .

/yeah I know that's not a great solution.

[xchrom]

2. du rec. nt

[jwirr]

3. And it is not just school loans that are being defaulted on - is anyone keeping tract of other forms

of personal debt? Quietly - one by one.

[dkf]

4. She is only doing the math now?

How crazy is that?

It is so important that people get a good perspective of loans and debt before they incur things. Once it's on your tab it is too late!

This is truly the worst deficiency of our school system.

[msongs]

5. umm how does a person get $100 k in debt going to to college for a teaching degree????? nt

[marmar]

6. It's called grad school.....Try reading a little more.

nt

[Snake Alchemist]

10. I thought the way to do that was to go to undergrad and then let the school district pay for your

grad and doctorate degrees. That's how my family always did it?

[Yo_Mama]

7. graduate degree also

Some educational school systems pay you more for a master's. Maybe it was an undergrad liberal arts/ go on for education degree?

[Egalitarian Thug]

8. The next wave. K&R.

Not educated enough to fill those mythical jobs, but...

Not enough money to pay for educating people to fill them.

[taught_me_patience]

9. She probably should have done the payback calculation before

taking on the debt. I want to know how she racked up $100k in debt going to a state school. Even with a graduate degree... it seems impossible.


She should also ammortize the debt over 30 years. If she's paying $1,000 on 100k in debt, she's almost certainly ammortizing the debt over 10 years. There is NO WAY she's paying $1,000/mo and it will take decades to pay off. If she ammortizes over 30 years, at 6.9% (federal loan rates), then her payments can lower to $650/mo.

[HiPointDem]

11. $16,666 a year for 6 years = $100K, even excluding interest. If you're paying cost of ed +

living expenses from debt, easy to do.

I don't understand why kids do it, though. Especially for a teaching degree.

[taught_me_patience]

13. That's assuming she did no work at all while in college

and ignores the fact that most teachers finish their degree, go to work, and then finish their masters on nights and weekends. This person literally went through college in the most expensive way possible and is seriously miscalculating the amount of time it will take to pay off the loan.

[HiPointDem]

15. It's not assuming anything, it's just stating how much $100K is divided by six. And the time

it takes her to pay off her loan depends on what she's paying. Which you don't know. If she's making $40K she could be paying $20K a year on it while living like a student.

[taught_me_patience]

17. The article states she's paying $1,000/mo

Calculate the payments at 6.9% (federal loan interest rate), 10yr ammortization, and 100k... you get very close to $1,000/mo.

If she simply ammortized over 30 years, at the same interest, her payments would drop to $650/mo.

[HiPointDem]

18. ah, my error then.

[shanti]

12. $100 grand???

that's like having a mortgage payment every month...but no house! appalling....

[FirstLight]

14. not just student loans...

I first read the headline as 'Americans...' I am thinking there's a lot more than just student debt that is being defaulted on left & right...

we are living in a debtor's economy, at what point will it collapse into itself?

[aikoaiko]

16. Wow, MSU is 20K/year for tuition/room/board (instate)

http://admissions.msu.edu/finances/tuition.asp

Angie made bad choices and her school probably didn't care much. I don't know what they could have done to prevent her from making that choice.

A good rule of thumb is don't go into debt more than half of your expected first-year's salary. A never ever more than your expected first-year's salary.

[Marrah_G]

19. This is why my son joined the AF National guard

Well, one of the reasons anyway. He will graduate with no student debt. Massachusetts pays tuition and fees, GI bill pays enough to cover dorm and food plan. His younger brother will be doing the same after graduation in May.