How Not To FIRE

[Culture]

Student loans puts college graduate into deep financial hole

Summary of Story:

26 yo, single, with one year old infant
Graduated with $140K in student loans
Business degree with 2.0 GPA from expensive private college
Makes $7.25/hour working at a bowling alley
Has a $150/month cell phone plan
Has $120/month cable bill

The anti-FIRE.

 

[W2R]

Student loans puts college graduate into deep financial hole

Summary of Story:

26 yo, single, with one year old infant
Graduated with $140K in student loans
Business degree with 2.0 GPA from expensive private college
Makes $7.25/hour working at a bowling alley
Has a $150/month cell phone plan
Has $120/month cable bill

The anti-FIRE.

Luckily, most people grow up eventually. Sounds like she is not quite there yet.

 

[haha]

Luckily, most people grow up eventually. Sounds like she is not quite there yet.

I thught we didn't have debtors prison. If she can't bankrupt out of these SLM loans, she is essentially an indentured slave.

Ha

 

[Rustward]

Maybe there was too much focus on completing school and not enough focus on the financial side of it.

I am told that there is a college student lifestyle based on "living it up" on financial aid. Students get as much aid as they can, take minimum courseloads, drop classes they could have completed . . . "Every student takes out extra for living expenses." Not saying that is the case here, though -- just don't know.

The 2.0 GPA should have also raised some flags. "Dillon lost her eligibility for government aid because her grade point average fell below a 2.0." Seems like if one is not able to swing at least a 2.0 something is fundamentally wrong with the plan. If she was not doing well academically, maybe that should have been addressed.

The other half of the glass is full: She did finish school, and she is working.

But the debt . . .

 

[W2R]

The other half of the glass is full: She did finish school, and she is working.

But the debt . . .

She is working 25-30 hours a week, according to the article. She probably wants to be with her baby as much as possible, and I don't blame her if that is the case, but it is hard to find a part time job these days that pays more per hour than hers. Being a single Mom is tough and I imagine that will probably help her to grow up fast.

 

[Wally]

I teach college students (for 5 more months) and I can assure you that the typical student on financial aid is very aware of their debt. Most work hard to keep it down. I do think, however, that the current generation of college students would serve themselves well by cutting down on the luxury items in their budget. Many students have jobs and could work significantly less if they reduced expenditures of cars, entertainment, and clothes. Being a full-time student and doing it right should be a full-time occupation; they should be focusing on their education and not on a job if at all possible.

On the other hand, there are always some students that are amazingly irresponsible and clueless. I see them every semester. This one didn't even file a FAFSA form for the first three years of college but did manage to fail at least 1/3 of her classes and reproduce.

Not everyone is college material...

 

[Moemg]

m told that there is a college student lifestyle based on "living it up" on financial aid. Students get as much aid as they can, take minimum courseloads, drop classes they could have completed . . . "Every student takes out extra for living expenses." Not saying that is the case here, though -- just don't know.

. . .

I have seen this first hand . My SO's son and his wife lived great on Student loans . He finally graduated but she still does not have her degree and they have a three year old and massive debt . These kids think they know better and just keep piling on the student loans and it is a shock when they have to repay them .

 

[haha]

Some families don't do a good job of guiding their kids. My BIL wouldn't fill out a FAFSA for my neice. She was very good student, in a fairly practical field but she is stuck with some pretty steep private loans. Fortunately nothing like this unfortunate woman.

BIL is otherwise a very sensible person, but he believes that 18 year olds should take care of their own lives.

In retrospect she probably should have spent a year working to achieve emancipated status and go it alone.

Ha

 

[Bikerdude]

Student loans puts college graduate into deep financial hole

Summary of Story:

26 yo, single, with one year old infant
Graduated with $140K in student loans
Business degree with 2.0 GPA from expensive private college
Makes $7.25/hour working at a bowling alley
Has a $150/month cell phone plan
Has $120/month cable bill

The anti-FIRE.

I think I saw her story on TV. The baby was the result of rape. She decided to keep the baby. I think when you lend people money for education you should first educate them on the financial realities of life.

 

[tmm99]

I think when you lend people money for education you should first educate them on the financial realities of life.

I whole-heartedly agree with you on this one. It should be a crime to lend such a huge amount of money to the 20 year-old's in my opinion. I'm pretty sure most of them have no idea what they are getting into.

 

[Sam]

Some families don't do a good job of guiding their kids. My BIL wouldn't fill out a FAFSA for my neice. She was very good student, in a fairly practical field but she is stuck with some pretty steep private loans. Fortunately nothing like this unfortunate woman.

BIL is otherwise a very sensible person, but he believes that 18 year olds should take care of their own lives.

In retrospect she probably should have spent a year working to achieve emancipated status and go it alone.

Ha

Hmm... I'm confused. Are you the same haha who said

Aren't you kind of overcommitted here? This is America, he is your nephew.

Are you going to be paying for his education?

Ha

just a few days ago in the Psychology degree thread?

Sam

 

[Walt34]

At age 26, she does have time to climb out of that hole provided she or her child does not get sick. Few make careers out of bowling alley jobs and eventually something better will come her way. If she's looking and ready for it.

At age 22 I was working as a heating & A/C technician and I knew guys who planned to do that the rest of their lives. But I was not one of them.

 

[Bimmerbill]

She should join the military. Get the loans paid off, and take advantage of the single parent programs available. With a degree she could become an officer.

 

[dex]

Not everyone is college material...

From the article:

"University records show she failed to complete the Free Application For Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) on time for the first three years she attended Robert Morris, starting in fall 2005. That meant she didn't qualify for federal student aid and state grant money through the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency."


I think she is a candidate for a "Darwin Award".

 

[Bikerdude]

From the article:

"University records show she failed to complete the Free Application For Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) on time for the first three years she attended Robert Morris, starting in fall 2005. That meant she didn't qualify for federal student aid and state grant money through the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency."


I think she is a candidate for a "Darwin Award".

Agreed. We spend so much money on education and they are always saying they need more, only to produce this kind of result. My Grandfather would have run rings around most college graduates today and he only went through 9th grade.

 

[crazy connie]

That she got a degree is astounding and proves several things:
1. Education is a business and only wants the body count and $
2. You can provide counseling but some are not intelligent enough to understand
3. A degree means nothing if you are this dumb
4. Minimum admissions standards need to be raised at institutions of higher learning
5. Lots of fools tell sob stories to the press, how embarassing
6. She graduated with a 2.0 GPA and is breeding! You want to bet we will be subsidizing another college grad?

 

[Sam]

Agreed. We spend so much money on education and they are always saying they need more, only to produce this kind of result. My Grandfather would have run rings around most college graduates today and he only went through 9th grade.

I don't see it that way.

1) This particular case is not the norm, or at least it's not in the majority. Most people do benefit from higher education.

2) Your grandfather would have done even a lot better had he finished school, in my opinion.

Sam

 

[ziggy29]

2) Your grandfather would have done even a lot better had he finished school, in my opinion.

I don't think he claimed otherwise. As I read it, what he was saying is that a 9th grade education used to be more "educated" than it would be today. You may or may not agree, but the point is that I don't think he was insinuating that his grandpa wouldn't have been better off going beyond 9th grade.

 

[mews]

to go further off topic - I have seen the entrance exam for Hunter Normal School - This was when it was the girl's teacher training school (not college) in NYC in the late 1800's.

They were giving the test to bright eighth graders.

I would have to go review for that test, and they assumed an entire body of knowledge I just don't have.

The exit exam was also quite impressive, including 4 years of Latin & Greek.

ta,
mew

 

[Bikerdude]

I don't think he claimed otherwise. As I read it, what he was saying is that a 9th grade education used to be more "educated" than it would be today. You may or may not agree, but the point is that I don't think he was insinuating that his grandpa wouldn't have been better off going beyond 9th grade.

Agreed. That's exactly what I meant.

 

[Bikerdude]

to go further off topic - I have seen the entrance exam for Hunter Normal School - This was when it was the girl's teacher training school (not college) in NYC in the late 1800's.

They were giving the test to bright eighth graders.

I would have to go review for that test, and they assumed an entire body of knowledge I just don't have.

The exit exam was also quite impressive, including 4 years of Latin & Greek.

ta,
mew

Exactly! My Grandfather with a 9th grade education knew his math, reading, spelling, science, geography, and history. And on top of that had great penmanship. In those days you learned or ELSE!

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

Did she never consider Penn State University or, better yet, a two year community college followed by a transfer to Penn State for the last two years? Isn't she in Pittsburgh?

 

[Wally]

Minimum admissions standards need to be raised at institutions of higher learning

They have been continuously ratcheted up. When public universities do this, it's usually in coordination with the state's high school's simultaneous increase in standards.

There is, of course, considerable political pressure on the universities from state legislatures to admit more students and to keep tuition low. They want want to keep the voters that are parents happy. At the same time, they underfund the institutions in an effort to keep taxpayers happy. You can't do all that simultaneously and the result in the last couple of decades has been increased enrollment, but also increased tuition and increased reliance upon loans. Not a good situation.

 

[kumquat]

I think when you lend people money for education you should first educate them on the financial realities of life.

I once heard something about leading horses to water..drinking was involved. What was it?

 

[haha]

Hmm... I'm confused. Are you the same haha who said



just a few days ago in the Psychology degree thread?

Sam

Yes, the very same man.

#1-I said "he believes". I didn't agree or disagree with this belief. I think there are reasonable arguments both ways.

#2 There is a meaningful distance between refusing to complete FAFSA, and telling a young person what they should study for 4 years or more.

#3, and possibly more germane, she is his daughter, not a niece or a nephew.

Maybe to you these are the same, but if you were my brother and you were telling my son how to conduct his life I wold tell you to butt out.

Ha