April 18, 2012
An article in the Wall Street Journal reports on the plight of heavily indebted ex-students whose lives have been disrupted by debt. They did not count the cost.
One woman went into debt for $74,000 to earn a degree in business management. She could have earned that degree in two years by distance learning for about $11,000. But no one told her. She pays $900 a month. That is 60% of her meager paycheck.
Her fiancé, age 31, spends 40% of his paycheck on student loans. Each works 60 hours a week.
They did not count the cost. No one warned them. It's tragic.
The total student loan money owed in 2011 was $1 trillion. It keeps rising.
Most students get little help from colleges in choosing loans or calculating payments. Most pre-loan counseling for government loans is done online, and many students pay only fleeting attention to documents from private lenders. Many borrowers "are very confused, and don't have a good sense of what they've taken on," says Deanne Loonin, an attorney for the National Consumer Law Center in Boston and head of its Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project.
Read the fine print. No one tells them.
The average debt load at graduation is $25,000. But some burdens are far worse.
This debt forces the victims -- and they really are victims of bad advice from adults -- from starting their families.
College costs continue to rise. Yet distance-learning programs remain low cost. No one tells them.
If they default, collection agencies hound them for life. There is no escape.
One woman will pay over $200,000 for a $79,000 loan for a college in design. She cannot find a job in the field.
No one warned her.
I try to warn them, but so few students find my website in time.
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