Have your noticed the "new" looming financial crisis being pushed by our MSM?

[CTyankee]

Now it's student loans!

Saw the shot over the bow today on Morning Joe. We'll start seeing a coordinated drive print and electronic media very soon...getting us all ready for the next "crisis in government spending."

Be on the lookout for it...

[dkf]

1. The ad on CNBC yesterday said that there is now more student loan debt than credit card debt.

Seeing that not everyone has a college loan, but most have a credit card that is pretty amazing.

[DragonSlave]

2. I can't afford to pay my student loans

Actually could for a while, by using my unemployment to pay for them, but now my unemployment has run out.

[stray cat]

4. and you can not get rid of them - not even by declaring bankruptcy

Good luck on your search for a job and best wishes

[kestrel91316]

8. Take advantage of their hardship deferment program. I don't know the

details, but I know such a thing exists.

[stray cat]

3. So Student Loan debt you think is not a problem? And the gov doesn't have to worry about it

the students do and no one will bail out students- all they may do is regulate potential predatory loans

[CTyankee]

5. Didn't say it's not a problem. Not at all. And if regulation of predatory loaning is the goal

I'm pleased and delighted!

I'm skeptical because lately we haven't had much in the way of penalizing the lenders. I'm seeing which way this "leans" and it could be the same blame game that the RW subjected us to during the mortgage loan crisis...it's all the fault of those profligate borrowers!

[KansDem]

7. Yeah, we bought more education than we could afford...

Wait for the graduates of the "College of Hard Knocks" to start thumbing their noses at us.

[stuntcat]

6. if they weren't a bunch of pure salespeople they could have warned us a long time ago

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: our shows make us feel so safe and happy, people are in a friggin trance if they couldn't predict what's happening.

[jtown1123]

9. This should be a huge deal...many of those student loans are predatory.

[badtoworse]

10. What makes a student loan predatory?

You borrow money to pay for school and are obligated to pay it back. What else is there?

[niceypoo]

12. Impossibly high interest rates and penalties

Designed in such a way that a student who defaults on their loan will never ever be able to pay it back, thus they pay until the day they die.

You cant run from student loans, they cannot be discharged in bankruptcy unless you fall under strict and almost impossible criterion. They do not go away after 7 years.

Debt collectors will track you down to the ends of the earth, garnish your wages and make your life hell if you can't pay.

[badtoworse]

14. I paid my student loans off decades ago...

...so I don't have a feel for current rates and terms. What are the rates and penalties on current loans?

I have no problem with having to pay loans back.

[jtown1123]

15. Bully for you! Most college students have an average of 5 figure debt

And there are NO jobs.

The interest rates are absolutely ridiculous and keep accruing even if you are in financial trouble.

[badtoworse]

16. I'm trying to put this in context and without know rates and terms...

...I can't do that. What does a typical student loan look like today? I seem to recall a rate of around 7% (in the mid '70's)and I paid mine off in about 5 years.

[sweetloukillbot]

19. The Stafford I took out for my grad classes is around $20K a year

The interest on the subsidized portion is around 4% I believe and around 7% on the unsubsidized. I've never gotten a private student loan, only federal loans, and as near as I can tell, the interest rates have always been quite low. I was able to defer during times of financial hardship, and haven't had any problems.

[badtoworse]

20. That sounds like a pretty good deal as far as rates go

$20K a year is a pretty tough nut, but if you can defer during hard times, you should be OK.

This does not sound at all predatory to me.

[niceypoo]

29. I too have a gvt stafford loan

I still owe about 30k on mine. Yes, they are forgiving if you do not have a job or if some other hardship comes up. It is the private loans that are not federally backed that do not play by the same rules. The loan limits on federal guaranteed student loans has not gone up since 1992 and the difference is made up with the private loans, so predatory lending is becoming more of a problem.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/college/2007-05-29-student-loans-usat_N.htm">Here is a good article that details what is happening :)

[badtoworse]

30. Thanks for the link. I had no idea this level of abuse was ongoing

What I find particularly outrageous is the involvement of the schools themselves in some of this. I would have expected schools to look out for their students and I can understand how students, expecting the same thing, could be easily duped.

The article was dated 2007. Has any progress been made?

[sweetloukillbot]

31. I believe the SL reform passed w/ HCR changed many of the practices

IIRC, it upped the debt ceiling for Federal Loans, consolidated all Federal Loans under the govt's control (last year my federal loan was processed by Sallie Mae, this year it was strictly the Feds). Dunno if this has lessened the private loan business (I steered clear of those when I was offered them - and actually the school loan officers did NOT recommend them).

I've heard about problems w/ for-profit schools like University of Phoenix where the enrollment officers are essentially salesmen pushing student loans, but to my knowledge that practice is being heavily investigated and prosecuted as well - I know UofP is under investigation right now and just laid off a chunk of enrollment officers in the process of fixing its dubious enrollment practices.

[sweetloukillbot]

32. I feel like a jerk now, but I don't feel much sympathy for the people in the story

They're complaining about the high student loans accrued while going to prestigious schools like NYU and Columbia. When I looked for where I was going to go to school, I looked at what I wanted, what I could afford and what programs met both needs. I would've loved to go to an Ivy League school, heck I would've loved to go to Gustavus Adolphus, but I also knew I couldn't afford it - loans or not. So I went to a state school, was able to pay my tuition with about half of my total loan amount, live off the rest while working about 30 hours a week and be able to pay for summer classes to finish up quicker.

Also, the story is dated 2007 - before the Student Loan reforms passed this year.

[AngryAmish]

23. They are nondischargeable in bankruptcy

[badtoworse]

24. Absent that, the loan rates would be much higher...

Fewer students would able to afford the loans, if the rick of bankruptcy had to be factored into the loan rate

[Johonny]

11. Obama talked about it during the election and press congress to do more about it

glad to see MSM 2 years later dial in. L O L.

[niceypoo]

13. "talked about it during the election"

lol

[felix_numinous]

17. Bail out the banks, wall street

and endless war, then tell the people it's a financial crisis when there is not enough money left to pay for the infrastructure.

The crisis is that our money has been stolen from us.

[truebrit71]

18. Bingo!

..

[Poboy]

28. Yes sir.

[avaistheone1]

21. When did we get out of the existing financial crisis?

[leftstreet]

25. +1

[Pathwalker]

22. It was on CNBC's lunch time show. I listened for 2 minutes, but

the wailing and gnashing of teeth got on my nerves, so I changed the channel. The word crisis was said at least 10 times.

[CTyankee]

26. Aha, that reinforces my belief...sometimes Ihate being right...

[HughBeaumont]

27. It's also CNBC, which is pretty much "Faux/GE Finance"

Wailing/gnashing/"We're all Gonner DIE" crap is to be expected.

What's not to be expected is blame directed towards universities and corporations taking full advantage of desperate adults who've had it drilled into their heads that they "NEEEEEEEEEED a college degree just to get your foot in the door."

Nor will there be any blame directed towards offshorin'-happy industries not employing HS students after college like they did pre-1990s, which LED to the glut of students in college because they pretty much have no choice in the matter.