30 Alarming Posts About How The Student Debt System Affects People’s Lives And It’s Terrible
The student debt crisis has become one of the hot platform topics for candidates on the 2020 election circuit, but for the people it affects it is more than a campaign strategy. Tuition and fees at public and private schools rose at roughly three times the rate of inflation between 2007 and 2018, according to a College Board survey. Borrowers currently owe more than $1.5 trillion in student loans, an average of $34,000 per person.
The list below is a collection of tweets from people explaining how the U.S debt crisis evolved to this point or sharing their stories on how student debt has impacted their lives since graduating - and they may shock you or be sadly relatable.
I feel so bad for these young men and women. It's not fucking fair! Starting your life with that much debt must be soul crushing. I feel so bad because when I finished grad school, I had $213 in my checking account and the only debt I had was to the electric company for $13. I wish there was something I could do for these kids.
I'm fourteen, and I really want to be a special education teacher when I'm an adult, which requires college. I want to have a job that I love, but I can't imagine being that much in debt. Any time I bring it up to an adult, I'm told that I'll "figure it out" or that "I shouldn't be worrying about that yet". But considering the situation my country is in, I probably should have started saving for college two years ago :(
I'm Gen X. We hae ALL inherited the debts racked up by Boomers and the gutless politicians catering to them. They didn't pay it forward. They loaned it forward, with compound interest....
As a retired professor, I strongly agree with this statement. It is terribly broken, from pre-K up to PhD. The American education system is completely broken.
As a swede with mostly free schools and low cost state loans to cover other expenses it is so horrifying to read all these tragedies :'(
In Australia university was free until 1988, but now it is paid for by Government loans - but repaymemts don't start until your income is over a certain threshold. If you never reach that threshold, you never repay the debt.
Just wow.. I only pay 25 USD each month during 4 year of college.. Then (because I work while studying) another 50 USD each year for 2 year of extention.. Totally I spend around 20 Million IDR (around 1.500 USD) till graduate.. #asian
With interest it could become that much and the sucky thing is our children will probably be responsible for some of it
OMFG I'm surprised boomers aren't being slaughtered en masse in the USA. Pro Tip: Start with the politicians...
I officially paid off my student loans four years ago. Want to know how? My husband died.
That's supposed to be a joke, right? She didn't pay it off, her mother basically did!
You guys in the U.S. need a revolution or something!
Yeah, it's insane. I graduated with a bachelo'rs degree in my home country in 2011 and was super pissed that I had to pay tuition for a couple of semesters (it's abolished now). I was about 2800 Euro in debt and paid it off in a little over two years with monthly payments of 100 Euro. And I'm still super angry I had to do that. Can't imagine how fucking pissed I'd be if I were in debt for 20+ years just to get an education.
I have an MBA and $120,000 in debt. I'm on a 25 year plan where my payments don't come close to covering the interest each month. After 25 years of payments the debt will be forgiven. By that time I'll be 58, my daughter will be 30. Welcome to America.
Who paid for the rest?
It's coming, and probably sooner than I like to think about. 2020's election is going to be a sh*tstorm no matter who wins. If the Cheeto-in-Chief cheats his way to another victory, he'll declare himself emperor next. And if he loses (which he already did the first time), his uneducated, willfully ignorant, bigoted, gun-loving supporters will threaten another civil war. I desperately hope I'm wrong.
You are one sour bitch.
Hear me out. DON'T accumulate student debt. I think everyone can agree that you are perfectly capable of working full-time in the summers starting at the age of 16. Until you go to college you will have 3 full summers to work and save money. The average job will land you $10/hr for students. This gives you $10,000 after taxes and expenses like gas money, fun money, etc. Use this $10,000 to go to community college and get your general classes out of the way debt free. Or if you want an associates degree or trade school, College is paid for! Done. If you want to get a Bachelor's, then take a year off after your first 2 years and work. You can work and make enough money in the 15 months to pay for another year of expensive college debt free. Rinse and repeat. I graduated college in 6 years while working full time zero debt. Now at age 30 I have no car loans, and only $40k left on my mortgage. Meanwhile, idiots in this post signed their adult life away and are still behind me.
@Jennifer Goyette name me 1 scenario where you cant do this
It is beautiful that you were able to do this. But this might not work for everyone / all degree desires. And you may have had mentorship or foresight that others did not (and possibly had a place to live and food on your table). The point is - it shouldn't be this way! No one should face lifelong debt to achieve a career. Any career. The student debt crisis is real - you evading it is a blip in the data - you are an outlier. They are not idiots.
This comment has been deleted.
There are a lot of things screwed up about the system over here, the education system is just over if the many things needing to be fixed despite an obstinate government.
It will happen in a couple decades if things keep going at this rate. People need to feel their stomachs rumble before they get up and fight back. It’s always been that way everywhere.
How about dont take out loans? Dont voluntarily decide to do something foolish and then bitch about how it sucks now. These people are fucking embarrassing.
Nah, not sacrificing my human rights just so you won’t be mildly uncomfortable, wuss.
Maybe see if China could annex the USA and run it like it does with Hong Kong? At least the education will be better.
Wait you realize that China doesnt run hong kong? It was run by Great Britain until 1997 and Hong Kong is independently governed until 2047. They are rioting now because they DONT want Beijing to interfere.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Nah, we're good here
We NEED a better education system, period! It's beyond upsetting :'(
What you NEED is to stop voting for tax breaks for billionaire investors and start voting for proper funding for all levels of education.
I don't know why this is getting down-voted...it's true. Billionaire's don't need tax breaks, working-class citizens do. I'd rather see the billionaires pay extra so our education and healthcare can be free.
We don't, but a plethora of morons do vote for congressional reps who are in the pocket of PACs and lobbyists. Better still, they vote like they are supporting a sport franchise, with racism in their back pocket, and the usual triggers like evangelism and anti-choice. They vote with so little concept of ideas that are more real to their lives than their fundamental fear and hatred. That's how we got that cheeto buttplug.
There are no choices. Almost all politicians are leeching criminals.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
I'm a fan of getting rid of public education and privatize it
What you NEED is to stop taking student loans. take time off, save $$$, and THEN go to school.
Yet another story about how you Americans seem to have designed your systems to create victims, not to help people, in ways that has the rest of the world shaking its head.
I would not be surprised, though I would definitely be saddened and sickened, if people have died by their own hands upon realizing they would never get out of debt.
I've contemplated faking my own death to get a new identity in order to start over...
That's a really good way to put it actually.
You Americans? Nope! I didn't vote for fuckface Trump! How was I supposed to know that my loans and the banks defaulting would happen at the same time. At the time I didn't fully realize that corporations run the country and not the people. Also, apparently there are a lot of very stupid people in the country. I don't know how else to explain Trump becoming President.
Yeah, because Americans have to pay for University because of Trump.
I don't disagree that the student loan crisis is exactly that, a CRISIS. However, I'm also curious how the "rest of the world" would react if we either completely cut off or substantially reduced our monetary contributions to foreign aid in order to help and take care of situations like this. Let's be real, it would cause an uproar. Can't point the finger at our systems unless yours is perfect and at this point in history we ALL have a ton of progress to make.
You guys in the U.S. need a revolution or something!
Yeah, it's insane. I graduated with a bachelo'rs degree in my home country in 2011 and was super pissed that I had to pay tuition for a couple of semesters (it's abolished now). I was about 2800 Euro in debt and paid it off in a little over two years with monthly payments of 100 Euro. And I'm still super angry I had to do that. Can't imagine how fucking pissed I'd be if I were in debt for 20+ years just to get an education.
I have an MBA and $120,000 in debt. I'm on a 25 year plan where my payments don't come close to covering the interest each month. After 25 years of payments the debt will be forgiven. By that time I'll be 58, my daughter will be 30. Welcome to America.
Who paid for the rest?
It's coming, and probably sooner than I like to think about. 2020's election is going to be a sh*tstorm no matter who wins. If the Cheeto-in-Chief cheats his way to another victory, he'll declare himself emperor next. And if he loses (which he already did the first time), his uneducated, willfully ignorant, bigoted, gun-loving supporters will threaten another civil war. I desperately hope I'm wrong.
You are one sour bitch.
Hear me out. DON'T accumulate student debt. I think everyone can agree that you are perfectly capable of working full-time in the summers starting at the age of 16. Until you go to college you will have 3 full summers to work and save money. The average job will land you $10/hr for students. This gives you $10,000 after taxes and expenses like gas money, fun money, etc. Use this $10,000 to go to community college and get your general classes out of the way debt free. Or if you want an associates degree or trade school, College is paid for! Done. If you want to get a Bachelor's, then take a year off after your first 2 years and work. You can work and make enough money in the 15 months to pay for another year of expensive college debt free. Rinse and repeat. I graduated college in 6 years while working full time zero debt. Now at age 30 I have no car loans, and only $40k left on my mortgage. Meanwhile, idiots in this post signed their adult life away and are still behind me.
@Jennifer Goyette name me 1 scenario where you cant do this
It is beautiful that you were able to do this. But this might not work for everyone / all degree desires. And you may have had mentorship or foresight that others did not (and possibly had a place to live and food on your table). The point is - it shouldn't be this way! No one should face lifelong debt to achieve a career. Any career. The student debt crisis is real - you evading it is a blip in the data - you are an outlier. They are not idiots.
This comment has been deleted.
There are a lot of things screwed up about the system over here, the education system is just over if the many things needing to be fixed despite an obstinate government.
It will happen in a couple decades if things keep going at this rate. People need to feel their stomachs rumble before they get up and fight back. It’s always been that way everywhere.
How about dont take out loans? Dont voluntarily decide to do something foolish and then bitch about how it sucks now. These people are fucking embarrassing.
Nah, not sacrificing my human rights just so you won’t be mildly uncomfortable, wuss.
Maybe see if China could annex the USA and run it like it does with Hong Kong? At least the education will be better.
Wait you realize that China doesnt run hong kong? It was run by Great Britain until 1997 and Hong Kong is independently governed until 2047. They are rioting now because they DONT want Beijing to interfere.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Nah, we're good here
We NEED a better education system, period! It's beyond upsetting :'(
What you NEED is to stop voting for tax breaks for billionaire investors and start voting for proper funding for all levels of education.
I don't know why this is getting down-voted...it's true. Billionaire's don't need tax breaks, working-class citizens do. I'd rather see the billionaires pay extra so our education and healthcare can be free.
We don't, but a plethora of morons do vote for congressional reps who are in the pocket of PACs and lobbyists. Better still, they vote like they are supporting a sport franchise, with racism in their back pocket, and the usual triggers like evangelism and anti-choice. They vote with so little concept of ideas that are more real to their lives than their fundamental fear and hatred. That's how we got that cheeto buttplug.
There are no choices. Almost all politicians are leeching criminals.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
I'm a fan of getting rid of public education and privatize it
What you NEED is to stop taking student loans. take time off, save $$$, and THEN go to school.
Yet another story about how you Americans seem to have designed your systems to create victims, not to help people, in ways that has the rest of the world shaking its head.
I would not be surprised, though I would definitely be saddened and sickened, if people have died by their own hands upon realizing they would never get out of debt.
I've contemplated faking my own death to get a new identity in order to start over...
That's a really good way to put it actually.
You Americans? Nope! I didn't vote for fuckface Trump! How was I supposed to know that my loans and the banks defaulting would happen at the same time. At the time I didn't fully realize that corporations run the country and not the people. Also, apparently there are a lot of very stupid people in the country. I don't know how else to explain Trump becoming President.
Yeah, because Americans have to pay for University because of Trump.
I don't disagree that the student loan crisis is exactly that, a CRISIS. However, I'm also curious how the "rest of the world" would react if we either completely cut off or substantially reduced our monetary contributions to foreign aid in order to help and take care of situations like this. Let's be real, it would cause an uproar. Can't point the finger at our systems unless yours is perfect and at this point in history we ALL have a ton of progress to make.