What If Your Daughter Ran Up Credit Card Debt of $160,000?
You would be horrified. You would ask: “What bank would allow this?” Answer: lots of them.
It’s credit for college. Students cannot declare bankruptcy to escape college debt. They are trapped for life.
So are the men who marry them.
Kathleen Bijas, 27, lives at home with her parents. She makes monthly payments of $1,608. She has a job as a nurse in an emergency room. The monthly fees eat up half of her pre-tax income. But then she pays taxes. The interest payments are not deductible.
“I won’t be able to buy a home. I can’t buy a car. The idea of getting married and getting kids is frightening. If I can’t afford to move out of my parents’ house, how can I afford to raise someone? It’s all going right out the window.”
How long will parents allow their children to destroy themselves with college debt?
The rising cost of college far outstrips the rise in the Consumer Price Index. It has risen at 7.5% per year for over 30 years. That means it doubles in less than ten years, decade after decade. That is twice the rate of the CPI.
Educators blame the decline of taxpayer aid. They do not blame the real cause: higher education is a cartel created by state and federal laws.
The lady with the $160,000 debt says she had no choice. Nonsense. The degree in psychology she paid for was useless in the job market. She should not have paid over $15,000.
Then she got a nursing degree. She paid too much for that, too.
People need to buy smart. They must not pay retail for college.
Continue reading on here.
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Published on July 9, 2012. The original is here.
Did her parents warn her? Did she ask the advice of an experienced nurse about how much debt was wise? Did she consult an academic guidance counselor in high school? Did anyone warn her not to do this? My guess is that the bank's loan officer didn't. I'll bet the schools didn't, either.
Would any man knowingly marry her, thereby becoming liable for her debts? What would his economic future be if he did?