Skipping out on student loans

So, when I graduate in the spring, I'll be about 50k in debt, but this is a debt I'm pretty sure I won't be able to pay. I took the debt on because it was the only way I could get an education. Sorry for the reality check, but working doesn't cover much if you have to go to school AND live on your own. Tuition alone is 3700 bucks a semester. You divide that up, compare that to minimum wage even working 40 hours a week, and you'll see the feasibility really quick. Bear in mind, that's also only tuition. You've got to count fees and books in there as well.

With the economy the way it is, even having a degree in a "useful" field like IT is pretty much a sham. I was brainwashed into going to school, and now the society that brainwashed me into it has left me high and dry. I'm about to have a 4 year degree and have almost 4 years of work experience in IT, and I can't get my foot in the door at cotton picking Geek Squad.

Don't come to me complaining about how I should take responsibility blah blah blah. If you buy tons of crap on your credit card, if you buy a house, if you buy cars you can't afford, you can bankrupt out of it. Guess what? You can't do that with student loans.

I've got relevant experience, I'm going to have a degree very soon, and I have zero hope for the future. If the time comes, and I can't pay them back, I'm simply going to stop trying and run for the hills.

If you've got kids, encourage them to not go to college. Push them into a trade. If they don't like working at McDonald's, the reality is that they're going to be doing that, anyway, but at least they can do it without the debt.

This is your education system, America, and, starting with Gen-Y, your kids are screwed. Merry Christmas.

kudos

i think trade school is a better option now of days. You can usually finish a program in around 18 months. and most schools have connections with the local industry(big oil industry down here). going into debt isn't worth the education. and our education system only produces knowledgeable idiots, still unaware of what is blatantly in front of them

Im in the midst of doing this myself. However I just started. Im almost done with my 1st semester Four more years of this, yeah, I can do that Good thing theres always working under the table.

Anyone I know with good grades gets a job, head hunted out of school.

Try harder young man, You are the future,

-GM

the old expectations were that you'd be able to pay that debt off with the job you'd be able to easily land out of college, but thats not the reality anymore as most of the jobs are being relocated overseas which is a developing market,

everything in our society seems to be centered around the cliche military industrial complex...almost as if you're expected to work for the government in one of the many agencies or in the military doing something.
you know what I mean?

WHATEVER you do, don't skip out on those loans. They will RUIN YOUR LIFE.

By the time they are through adding penalties, you'll owe twice as much. They cannot be discharged by bankruptcy. And because they are backed by the federal government, you will have every paycheck docked at the level that the federal government deems appropriate... FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.

Do whatever you have to do to be in good standing on these. I'm sorry you are having such rotten luck. Call your loans company every single month, let them know you are still unemployed - and make a payment every month, even if it is only $10. As long as you are making a good-faith effort, they can't put you in default. But you MUST stay in contact with them. Keep a notebook & document every contact with them.

I'm really serious - I watched my stepmother go from around $20k in loans to nearly $50k, her credit go into the toilet. It took her nearly 15 years just to have decent enough credit again that she could purchase a car. You have NO idea what you are doing to yourself if you allow these to go into default. It's worse than having a tax lien.

In the case of my stepmother- she went into default after being in a medically induced coma for 6 months after a car wreck that nearly killed her. She had surgery at least once a month for a year, and when she finally emerged able to deal with her finances - the government didn't give a DAMN what her excuse was.

They won't care what your excuse is, either.

Originally posted by Gradius Maximus
Anyone I know with good grades gets a job, head hunted out of school.

Try harder young man, You are the future,

-GM

it really depends on what field you're trying to find a job. I know lots of kids who got electronic tech jobs after getting out of school. But I'm from the south and they need a lot of people to work on drilling equipment. but i know guys that went to medical school and have specializations that can't find a job. my dad just recently got one of them a job sandblasting.

Be an independent IT business until you network your way into a decent size company.
And yeah, it sucks to be you with all that debt. Don't skip out on the payments, SWAT has been known to kick doors in for lack of student loan payments.

reply to post by biggmoneyme


Most places arent interested in your degree alone, they want to take the cream of the crop. 200 jobs to fill with 10,000 students to fill them. They wont even look at the people who pass with 70-80%, they'll take the 95-100% and fill every position with the Grade AAA students while the rest of them whine "But I have a degreeee"

Mediocre students with a great degree will still end up with a mediocre blue collar job, sandblasting for example.

-GM

reply to post by Schkeptick


That's really kind of the point, man. When I say run for the hills, I mean run for the hills. Like, become a permanent hobo.

Originally posted by AnIntellectualRedneck
If you've got kids, encourage them to not go to college. Push them into a trade. If they don't like working at McDonald's, the reality is that they're going to be doing that, anyway, but at least they can do it without the debt.

That is actually good advise. They have no idea how horrendous living in debt can be, and by the time they work it out, it's usually far too late. Most parents encourage their kids to live the debt based life because they have no other ideas on how to survive, so they encourage their kids to serve the bankers.

Feel sorry for your situation because you fell into their trap.

The idea of students entering professions in heaps of debt is to control them. See, if someone ends up becoming a doctor and discovers the medical industry in controlled by extremely evil men, they can't leave. You can't pay those types of debt off working at McDonalds...

If you decide to run to the hills, you have my full support.

Excuse me for saying so, but I think that approach to the student debt is just shameful. I can understand being overwhelmed with debt and sinking. I've been there. However, you haven't even come out of School yet and you're already making justifications to yourself about both why you can't make it for whatever you just went through a degree program to get, and why even making a good faith effort at the start to repay your debt isn't worth bothering with in a serious way.

I'm part way into a college degree program myself and, likewise, am building debt at a bit higher level than I had intended. You're absolutely right. It's pushing the high side of impossible to pull 18 credit hours and work at a high enough rate to pay all the bills...AND manage a family....AND retain the focus required to get through the program at a level that makes the effort worth it on the many hours of homework atop everything else for time. The debt is sure helpful in making something possible that flat out wouldn't have been otherwise. it removes the 8 hour job atop the 10 hours of schooling to compete with for time.....at a price.

Where my thinking is a little different I guess is that when I get through it, I'll come out with a very strong attitude to make it and make it well. I have a young boy depending on me for it. If I can't do better than minimum wage? Well, screw 'em if they can't take a joke. I'll start my own business and see about supplying my skills below market and cut my little piece of the pie that way. Degrees do impress customers anyway, depending on what you went 50K in debt to get for yourself.

I always pay my debts......what company would want to hire someone if the owner/managers knew they had a thief working for them?

Graduate, find a job, work two if you have too, just don't shirk your debts and make other people pay for them, because that is just what happens when people skip out on their debts.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I'm not making justifications. I'm letting everyone know the reality of the situation, and the kind of uphill battle that I'm facing. Maybe I'll help somebody out when they see the stress I'm under trying to figure out how I'm going to pay it back even though I'm actually going to school for a decently useful degree in the IT field.

I bolded the section about not letting your kids go to college for a reason. I can't stress this enough: don't let your kids go to a university.

As for shameful, I don't view it as shameful to be mad that I can get out of any other debt in bankruptcy, but for trying to better myself, I'm getting screwed. And maybe I didn't make it clear enough: I'm going to try to pay them back. I simply don't have much hope that I'll be able to.

reply to post by kyred


If I can find a job, I will pay them. It's not about not wanting to pay them, it's about not being able to pay them. Next time, read the post.

And as far as me being a thief, that is a distinct downside. However, if trying to be honest doesn't work, then I've got little problem being a thief. After all, the banks and politicians do it all the time, so why shouldn't I?

Originally posted by AnIntellectualRedneck
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

As for shameful, I don't view it as shameful to be mad that I can get out of any other debt in bankruptcy, but for trying to better myself, I'm getting screwed. And maybe I didn't make it clear enough: I'm going to try to pay them back. I simply don't have much hope that I'll be able to.

I've got relevant experience, I'm going to have a degree very soon, and I have zero hope for the future. If the time comes, and I can't pay them back, I'm simply going to stop trying and run for the hills.

Well, I could get nit picky and use that as an opening to attack...or I could try to be helpful. I believe I'd suggest getting through graduation and find a way to get away from everything for a week or so..or a couple weekends if that's all you can manage. You really sound exhausted and stressed to the max. It is that time of the Semester tho, isn't it?

IT is the direction I'm also going. I'm not new to it, and I've run 3 businesses with it including the one I'm currently working on in the background. 2 of them have been enough to make a comfortable and fairly free living. Everyone needs computer help, every direction you look it would seem. However, call around yourself for computer help on some basic need you can think up and get price quotes. Say...mirroring a hard drive to upgrade a machine with one bootable image straight to a larger drive.

Oh that's a dandy, actually. I've been quoted between $100 and $300 dollars by local shops.. Oh and that is for the one's who'll even be willing to do it. More than not simply wouldn't do it at all. ROFL... Now tell me a guy can't make a living playing freelance with a home office business and charge a fraction of that for such a basic task? Take a little vacation and come back thinking positive approaches.

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck


I recommend expatriating.

Soon you won't be able to leave - especially if you have student loan debt.

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck

They garnished my wages when I couldnt find a job, the school went belly-up out of business, and Ive never got a transcript of any of my grades.

They put a lein onmy pay...took a huge chunk out of each one. They will do that to you. Its not IF you find a job....but in your agreement with them, Im sure somewhere it says you agree to pay within so many months after you graduate or find a job. That'll get you.

Dont say youll pay them IF....cause they can TAKE it...and you cant do anything about it. After 6 months...youll be hearing from the Government lawyers,

PS Ive never recieved verification-transcripts of nearly 95 credits I took. And after 3 years of twice monthly with-holding of my pay...my student loan was paid off.

reply to post by mysterioustranger


They can't take it if I ain't got it to give. You can't get blood from a turnip. That's really my whole point. If I don't have a job, what are they going to do? I don't own a house, the car I own I'll give up to them freely because it's a piece of crap. If I don't have a job, I have nothing to lose. If they put me too far in the hole, I'll never be able to get a job, and they'll never get their money back.

And, dude, seriously, what are they going to take from somebody who has pretty much nothing to begin with?

Mine are in default right now- hope to be able to pay them off when taxes come back- which will kill us because we only have about 17k a year coming in right now and could use the tax money- but I really want to get them paid off and done with- those people are like sharks.
I owed about 1400 and they charge 50 a month in penalties. Yes, I was almost there- it was almost all paid for- I had several that were paid and done with.

It doesn't seem like much to most folks maybe, but when you have so little income coming in, and you're sick...it's impossible- and if you do not have a telephone, they won't work with you at all for deferment- they just sent my paperwork back to me. In fact, I tried to pay them when I got the money too- and they sent THAT back, but then a vehicle tore up and it took more than that to fix it.
There's just no winning.