US student loan crisis

Lots of ideas and solutions were put up by people.

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Blockquote: The way of the future is learn online. Learn online in A rural area Or small town , take classes at a community college then uni.

I tend to agree with everything you’ve written. But I also think you’re describing a way to get around the problem, instead of fixing the problem.

Even though everything you wrote is true, it doesn’t help the gullible students who get stuck with huge loans for life. So I think the big universities and specialized schools should be more selective, admit fewer students, and the school itself should have some skin in the game. The school should approve the loan and somehow suffer a loss if the student doesn’t repay.

This way the schools would have a motivation to keep tuition lower, as well as a motivation to provide students more practical help to make sure they’re gainfully employed and can pay back the loan!

It’s also incorrect. The UK has a student loan debt crisis kick-started by Tony Blair.

Applying standard lending criteria to student loans would be a good start. Appraisals for example. Just as you wouldn’t lend $250,000 to somebody for a house that appraises at $100,000 you wouldn’t lend $250,000 to somebody for a degree that appraises at $0.

The interest rate freeze is extended to Jan 31st. :smiley: So nice to not have interest accruing right now.

I think 0% interest is the way to go.

There will be a whole lotta happy gender or post-colonial study grads/baristas pleased with such cancellations, if this ever happens. They will be singing Che songs while making mochas. :cowboy_hat_face: :laughing:

(838) Nathalie Cardone - Hasta siempre (Official Video HD) - YouTube (love the scene where she is breastfeeding on a chair after riding a donkey – so Commie rustic).

My own view—make it zero percent if they go into a trade. Other than that, buyer/studier beware.

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I think not letting US universities charge so much for tuition is the way to go. I know so many 18-22 year olds who were fully on track to graduate in their planned time who have taken a leave of absence due to the cost of tuition not matching what they’re getting right now. That $50,000/year tuition is mostly for the maintenance and services that you get on campus. Everyone is zooming in from their dorm rooms and those other facilities are closed. Why pay that money?

The grad program I’m in just raised tuition for next year by $30/credit. That’s an extra $400 this summer that I hadn’t planned on spending when I was budgeting my education expenses. Everything is still online, not in person. I have yet to set foot in a school that I’m paying in person tuition for.

Schools in the US have no right to keep raising tuition, especially now with COVID. They should be investigated for how their money is currently being spent and the government should stop letting people take out loans to fund tuition increases.

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But how? Many of them are private institutions.

One thing I’ve noticed is American universities have so many amenities. I’m an old crow and we had boring classrooms sans rock climbing walls. I think this is similar to our healthcare crisis in that Americans want bells and whistles which can’t be delivered at low prices. Disclaimer: I put two kids through university so I’m for containing costs and against forgiving loans (unless I can get a refund).

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There are no bells and whistles in taiwanese universities. The reason medical care cost so much in the states is because of all the middlemen, government not negotiating with drug companies to lower prices for everyone, etc.

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Easy. No government-backed student loans. My parents were in college (private university) when the government started “helping” people pay for college. Freshman year, the loan my mom took out paid for 100% of tuition, textbooks, food, housing and transportation, including home to a different state a few times/year “and even some money left over for beer” (drinking age was 18 in that state at that time). By junior year, my mom took out the same amount of money and couldn’t even cover the full cost of tuition. Because the government was “helping” people pay, so schools raised the costs.

My school required everyone to pay $3000/semester for the 21 meals/week that we got at the crap dining hall. My sister studied abroad in Germany and still had to pay the full cost of her US university’s tuition because that’s the only way they would accept the credits she earned there, even though she could have studied in Germany for free. The government encourages this behavior by offering increasingly more loans.

Don’t “help” people pay for private universities and magically they will figure out a way to fund the students who want to go there. Dump the climbing walls, lazy rivers, million dollar salaries for presidents, etc. Fund the public schools better by…not letting corporations get away with not paying taxes and lower the public school costs to something that can be paid for working full time on minimum wage over the summers. The market will correct itself. Some private schools will fail, because many already were, even before COVID, but that what should happen. No 20 year old should be helping to keep a university afloat by having insane loans. If the school can’t run itself without scamming people desperate for a piece of paper, it shouldn’t exist.

Otherwise, how has every other country on Earth figured out how to make it work except for America?

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I don’t think most Americans actually want the bells and whistles for higher ed or medical care. It’s that the only option is bells and whistles. You can’t get a plain vanilla education in America unless you’re going to community college to learn a trade. Four year degree = overpriced with a lot of things that you didn’t ask for but have to pay for. Your options really come down to A) pay the equivalent of a house for your education so that you might earn that back over the course of your lifetime (increasingly difficult) or B) don’t go to college and get shut out of all white collar jobs, many of which could hire a middle school student to complete, but demand a BA because they can

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I’m not sure about that. Not to be crude, but the last time that I went for a pelvic exam in Taiwan, we are lined up like cattle and have all of 2 minutes to talk to the doc. I told the doc I had a breast lump and she quickly confirmed it was a lump. I was scared shitless with no one to talk to and feeling like I was being pushed down a conveyer belt. The doc scribbled a note with a docs name for me to make an appointment with. It’s all very rushed and you can sense the urgency of moving quickly so you know the docs can’t possibly catch everything. The exam rooms are 50% as clean as what I’m used to in the US. I really don’t think Americans who have never been outside of the US are ready for socialized anything. Do I think Americans need to lower their expectations to contain cost? Absolutely.
One of my Taiwanese friend’s daughter broke her pinky in the US so we went to a doctor. He took a lot of time to make sure it wasn’t broken in a growth plate. He even waved goodbye. The other Taiwanese kids with us were wondering why it took so long to see the doctor. The nurse gave the kids some coloring books and crayons while they waiting on their friend. It was extremely expensive - ~$300USD with x-rays.
I’m a big proponent of growing more people with actual skills over higher education. The reality for me was I had to have a 4 year degree to work in the job I wanted in the semiconductor industry. The company offered tuition reimbursement for my MS so I did that as well. Did it make me any smarter? Not really other than I was paid more than people without a degree…
I hope these things change for future generations but I don’t think copying Taiwan 100% is the best way.

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If you wanted more medical attention then there are non nhi doctors that will give you their undivided attention, but still cost way less than the US.

I never said to copy Taiwan 100%. The US is the only developed country on the planet that charges unfathomable prices for healthcare and upper ed. No one else from the developed world can wrap their head around the costs that Americans have just accepted as reality. There are a LOT of other systems that could be used as models beyond Taiwan.

And Taiwan’s medical service problem is also a problem with the fact that I have seen VERY few people working in hospitals who understand the very basics of germ theory. Even the really nice expensive hospitals have nurses using a tiny spritz of rubbing alcohol between patients that they’re drawing blood from and doctors who never wash their hands. That has NOTHING to do with socialized medicine and EVERYTHING to do with basic incompetence.

You think that’s expensive?

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I felt frightened and those were my feelings.

Was the $300 out of pocket or did insurance pick up some of that? It’s not really that much when you think about the care the doctor took to make sure the fracture wasn’t in a growth plate…

I haven’t had to use NHI for much here but I’ve been traveling/living overseas for many years now and have experienced a lot of different types of systems first hand. Fortunately for nothing life threatening. But I have also met expats who have had to access healthcare for more serious issues. All I can say is…it doesn’t matter how much something costs $ wise if you get a bad diagnosis that hurts your quality of life permanently.