End of the "student loan bubble"? Delinquency rates suddenly go parabolic

Dubbed "the scariest charts of the quarter" by Zero Hedge, these two show student loan delinquency rates going to the moon. Students aren't paying the debt on their worthless degrees - probably because they have no way of doing so, seeing as the degrees don't provide jobs. Is this the end of the "student loan bubble"?

Hopefully the end of this particular game of musical chairs will lead universities to re-assess their programs and provide more useful educations. And hopefully future students will shy away from usesless degrees that produce nothing but non-dischargable debt. Its time to end the 4-year basket-weaving studies programs and focus on practical skill acquisition, whether at universities or through some other means.

Getting from here to there will be a bumpy ride, however, and the system will need to digest the ugly implications of this latest data.

Work experience beats education in most jobs. Universities are still needed for the Sciences, Linguistics and Mathematicians though.

reply to post by silent thunder


I know my education at the University was inexplicably irreplaceable. I gained an extremely important set of knowledge and experiences.

That being said, considering this thread topic, and everything else, especially the real unemployment rate and the soon-to-be retired folks, yea....

we're #ed.

I think it is time for a "jubilee year" and/or a massive reset with all unsecured debts forgiven. Screw the banks and the bankers. Time to break up the mega banks and end the federal reserve anyway.

The whole idea of everyone going to college to get a better job was just a sales scam. There weren't enough jobs for all the people going to college in many fields. We need livable wage jobs for all kinds of people, not just college students. You don't need a college education to work at Amazon, you don't need a degree to work on an auto assembly line or an auto parts store. Most factory jobs could easily be trained in the factory, no college needed. I see college has turned into a marketing scheme and no more. In the four years and moocho bucks for college, the employer can train the person at a reduced starting wage. Sure, some jobs need a college grad but most of them don't. Job experience is very important. On the job training is extremely important.

Originally posted by rickymouse
The whole idea of everyone going to college to get a better job was just a sales scam. There weren't enough jobs for all the people going to college in many fields. We need livable wage jobs for all kinds of people, not just college students. You don't need a college education to work at Amazon, you don't need a degree to work on an auto assembly line or an auto parts store. Most factory jobs could easily be trained in the factory, no college needed. I see college has turned into a marketing scheme and no more. In the four years and moocho bucks for college, the employer can train the person at a reduced starting wage. Sure, some jobs need a college grad but most of them don't. Job experience is very important. On the job training is extremely important.

You're absolutely right, but if you major in the right subjects, and take the right courses, along with being privy to mindsets often found in this website, it makes it patently obvious the extreme atrocities and major systemic flaws we have in this world.

To a #ing 'T'

No Education system driven by profit will ever work.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

This is America's downfall.

P

reply to post by ProperlyErrant


The problem comes in that some people aren't meant for some jobs. They go college at great expense for four years only to find they don't like the work or kind of people that work in those jobs. What a waste of time and money. If employers brought the employees in to be trained with the worker before they retired, things would be better. They keep changing computer programs too often now, the experienced people want to get out because they have to keep learning new systems all the time. Drive out the high wage workers with retirement and put in lower paid college grads with no bennys to speak of. I see whats happening all over, I know many people.

reply to post by DarthMuerte


One of the first things Obama did after getting elected the first time, was to change student loan programs, so that you can only borrow money from the gov't - not private banks - for college loans. We are already seeing social security checks being garnished for "unpaid" student loans. The gov't will get its money back, it will garnish your income tax refund check, your payroll check (if you can actually get a job), put liens on your property.....

Isn't socialism wonderful for all of us!

reply to post by Happy1


This is where I side with Republicans. College isn't necessary for everyone but for some crazy reason kids nowadays think they have to go to college to get any job. What is wrong with being a secretary for a company or working as an employee in a factory or in a store. Nothing at all, these people are not inferior to those working in a big corporation. The feeling that you are inferior can keep you from succeeding in life. Kids grow up thinking they will be working at high wages in some big business after going to college, this is a misconception, there are not that many big jobs out there. If everyone works those kind of high paying jobs, than the cost of living in the area skyrockets. I would rather manage an apartment building than sit in an office and try to brown nose the people above me. Is brown nosing an acceptable word nowadays? It is important to respect your employer and be appreciative of the job you have but to put them on a pedestal so you can get ahead is like signing over your soul. Feeding the ego of the boss is good to a certain extent but if you go overboard it alienates you from your peers.

reply to post by rickymouse


I agree with you.

I'm a registered nurse working in a state mental health facility, and I work with PCT's which I "supervise" (nurse's aides). More than half of them have expensive college degrees for a job that they only had to pass a civil service test for.

Many are going back to school for a 2 yr. nursing degree because I make twice as much as they do.

People have to be smart when choosing a degree to study for, not listen to the ridiculous hype the 4 year colleges spout.

Wouldn't it be great if corporations were allowed to run their own "colleges"?

Graduating highschool students could apply to the Apple school? Or Monsanto school?

School and on-the-job training. For a variety of different positions.

Something needs to change in the college-level education system. How many young people find out they don't like the work at age 27, that they thought they liked at age 19?

My (intellegent) sone quit college. He made his way repairing motorcycles and working in the 100 degree heat in a friends car shop. And loving it.

Now he works for Lexus fixing them. Loves it. Company treats him great. No degree. His friends with artitechure degrees have no job. And ate $100,000 in debt to boot.

The future belongs to those with actual skills.

reply to post by rickymouse


I completely agree that we overvalue the college degree and undervalue actual skills. A good secretary that cares about their company can be of more value than 10 highly educated individuals working for a promotion. I suspect a great many companies are run more by the secretary than the actual owner/manager. That being said, the part that bothers me is all the individuals who want to get into a field but either cannot afford the education, are forced to go into debt to get the education, or neglect to follow their desires because they are afraid they cannot get a job in their desired field. Our economy mainly produces worthless jobs targeting consumerism and if we're gearing our education towards filling those jobs we're misdirecting tremendous amounts of talent away from the sciences, healthcare, industrial, and other truly worthwhile endeavors.

Even the jobs that require a college degree rarely require the education that comes with the college degree. Perhaps small pieces of it, but pieces that could be learned over a year or two rather than four. Were we to develop a system of testing that evaluated the actual skills needed, the mystique of the college degree would quickly dissipate. These days universities are playing the part of trade schools and while I wish everyone valued knowledge for the sake of knowledge, most do not, and for those people the knowledge acquired in college is of little value beyond the job it provides them. Certainly not worth 50-100k in student loans.

I find it disappointing that many members are using the student loan bubble to denigrate the notion of education. Education is more than acquiring skills to become a worker. In fact, I would argue that many graduates have to sacrifice originality in order to conform to the requirements of the workplace.

People should have the right to study whatever they want, they should not have to become a debt slave in order to do that.

The problem lies in the increase of administration departments within universities. Stop increasing administrators!!!!!!

An education is more than a piece of paper. Knowledge is power!

reply to post by deessell


You've got an internet. You don't need to pay someone to learn something.

Originally posted by Happy1
reply to post by deessell

 

You've got an internet. You don't need to pay someone to learn something.

Happy,

You need to understand that most of what is on the internet is rubbish. The real stuff is in Libraries, most of which are at universities.

Hence, we go to university to have access to the knowledge.

reply to post by deessell


I don't mean any disrespect. I'm guessing you don't live in the US. We can go to university libraries, we can even moniter university classes without paying and without getting "credit" for them.

I'm guessing you're in Britain.

Originally posted by Happy1
reply to post by deessell

 

You've got an internet. You don't need to pay someone to learn something.

Yes, but you are not just paying for the access, you are paying someone who has a lot of knowledge in the field to assess your understanding of the material. You are also assessed on your ability to fulfill certain requirements that demonstrate understanding of the issues.

Originally posted by rickymouse
reply to post by Happy1

 

What is wrong with being a secretary for a company or working as an employee in a factory or in a store. Nothing at all,

You ask what's wrong? RETAIL jobs amongst the ****est paid and most stressful jobs out there, and factory worker is not a dream job either. Seriously... how can you even ask?

I myself am not screaming "get a college education" simply because of my own experience, eg. I got hired as a software engineer after the boss TOLD ME that "hands-on experience" is much more worth than some paper degree in your hand.

But that being said, I don't say it's "bad" to have a college education - being a factory worker or working retail can HARDLY be the goal in one's life...

While I understand the importance of a degree, I feel a majority of degrees are better taught via experience in the work place (such as hospitality, communications, film production, photography, business, etc.). There are a myriad of examples of successful entrepreneurs, photographers, directors, etc. who did not obtain any college degree in their career-field.

The scariest fact I can provide is the fact that one of the easiest degrees to obtain, an education degree, is filled with nothing more than men/women who can party and get drunk six nights out of the week and still obtain straight A's (at least at my current university). These are the future leaders of our children, yet they were able to breeze through college. I personally know three future educators and they are making scrap books and elementary level science fair projects which count as final exam grades. In other words, the projects these people were doing during the early years of their life count as final exams for them now during their senior year of college, which should essentially make them unqualified educators.

I will never understand why a future educator at any level of schooling is able to teach after 4 years of b.s. classes (b.s. does not stand for bachelor of sciences if you catch my drift), while any kind of doctor requires 8+ years of schooling (not just medical doctors). If educators were required more schooling before they were able teach our children, the future of this world would be looking much more radiant and vibrant than what it currently looks like.

In summary of this little rant, I definitely agree that a major reform is needed towards how society looks at university-level education as a whole.