Student loan defaults jump

The reason probably is because these "colleges" are actually trade schools and these people think they will be able to get a job after "graduating". They take out the loan, finish and then find out that it was really worthless and they can't even get a job with them. The way out of poverty is thru education, a real education. I give these folks cudos for trying to take control of their lives and do something as opposed to just giving up and turning to crime and government hand-outs. Go to a real school and get your money's worth even if it is community college it is much better than these "schools", it is much longer to complete a course or certification there but it is absolutely worth it in the long run.

You've made some very good points Foot Clan.

Fortunately, many community colleges and other "learning centers" offer excellent online and or on site classes at greatly reduced prices relative to most four year colleges.

The problem I see with some of the "four year" colleges is that they're as much a "business" as they are schools of higher learning. Too many young and or financially inexperienced four year college students take on crushing debt loads in order to pay for their classes, over priced college housing, and other ridiculously priced living expenses. A case in point is the recent article were a college student wrote about finding a great restaurant that "only" charged $5.99 for a burger!

College students of today would do well to realize that the "credit, debt, and interest rate" based economy is over.

hey people- stimulus money, if they bail out the fat cats, why not you?

The Foot Clan wrote:

The reason probably is because these "colleges" are actually trade schools and these people think they will be able to get a job after "graduating". They take out the loan, finish and then find out that it was really worthless and they can't even get a job with them. The way out of poverty is thru education, a real education. I give these folks cudos for trying to take control of their lives and do something as opposed to just giving up and turning to crime and government hand-outs. Go to a real school and get your money's worth even if it is community college it is much better than these "schools", it is much longer to complete a course or certification there but it is absolutely worth it in the long run.

I have to agree with you. Most of these dumb trade schools fail to tell their students that they will still hold a minimum paying job after they finish.

Your wonderful advise does not help when unexpected tragety strikes, or 9/11 happens or the economy tanks. Schools are great havens for the unemployed, when the economy is down, you can not get a job, sometimes it seems the only option is to go to school, borrow what has to be borrowed and hope for the best when you graduate. But still sometimes things go horribly wrong, and with Non-dischargible student loans, the student will soon find themselfs - even if they keep every scrap of paper, even if they keep in contact with their lenders, even if they get deferments and do everything right, buried in a mountain of student debt two and three times what their schooling costs, thanks to the miracle of compounding interest. These students, who did the best they could at school, defered starting a family in the hopes of bettering their lot in life are then left with no way back into normal solvent middleclass life short of winning the lottery.

The schools encourage this borrowing, they want the money for their schools, for their profits if a for profit and for their expansion and retained earnings if a non-profit. Thus, the schools get all the money, the students are saddled with all the risk and all the work.

So the truth is, if you are a student, and you do not have Money and connections in the business world, your odds of avoiding default when you graduate are only good if you are lucky enough to find two to three jobs and are willing to put off having children for five to ten years.

Good luch with that. Really if you do not have the money, do not go bother with college.

These local for profit trade schools are not college. You are not going to college if you attend one of these schools. Just the fact that they call themselves colleges should be a hint that they are just in business to make money - not help students with their futures.

Second - look what they teach. Many if not most are teaching low paying jobs skills that during the good times many jobs would train you on the job for. Even if they offer a needed certificate, that is just a beginning step in employment. A person has to pay thousands of dollars, risk their credit rating etc for a low paying job where they start at the bottom and assume all the risk.

These places are in business just to enrich themselves - not to help others.

There is nothing wrong with trade schools except that most employers will prefer to hire a cheap illegal or Juarez commuter who will do a shoddy job, rather than pay minimum wages or the going wage to American workers.

El Paso will always suffer as long as the border remains open but too many here want the Aztlan crap, they insist they want to make this just like Mexico and they're doing a great job by insisting on all this immigration crap.

The economy will bounce back. Government spending created many jobs in the Great Depression, Hoover Dam for example. Some paint that as socialism, others as a wise public investment -- saw a cool site; Balkingpoints ; incredible satellite view of earth

The cost to go to these schools is $25,000.00 for one year! No, it isn't a typo, its really $25,000 per year. I know, I went to get information and was amazed how much these schools charge. This price tag is for an LVN certificate at Anamarc and CCC. To advance to an RN, its an additional $25,000. These people take out loans to cover the costs of these classess and graduate with such a hefty debt that its nearly impossible to recover from. They pay more money to go to these trade schools than it would cost to go to a university. Its a total rip-off. There are alternatives to attending school and getting a meaningful degree than to go to these trade schools. They get paid whether you attend or not because you are the one who is responsible for the loan debt. That's why they are in default: these students went to these schools, pulled out outragous loans, and do not have a career that will pay them enough money to pay back the debt owed. If you know ANYONE who wants to attend these schools, please tell them DONT DO IT!

Oh, I feel so bad about the private, for-profit career college not being able to extract enough money from the desperately poor in a sinking economy. Poor them! We need standard consumer protections, including bankruptcy, to be returned to student loans, so that such places can tank if they're found to be useless. Further, every qualified student should be entitled to a free university education and/or vocational training; this system of punitive, mafia-like loans (you will pay!) has to stop. As do the people who use this issue to lash out at the vulnerable among us.

A viable hard-skilled trade used to be something whose good hard common sense was impossible to argue with. The best thing about it was that it offered real qualification to all those people who could never hope to compete within the real academic community. Thereby streaming plumbers and electricians away from the lawyers and accountants,(and the accompanying grief of trying to be an academic fish out of water...check out existing university dropout rates!)
All this being said...in today's economy, too many people fall into the clutches of educational providers who will not deliver the neccessary qualifications for gainful employment. This is happening straight across the board - but is especially hard-hitting for those at the bottom of the heap...and I would question the credibility of these "trades" they're supposed to be learning.
Those debts aren't acquired as the result of foolish spending sprees in retail outlets - they're taken on by people making an honest attempt to better their lives.
We need to take a good hard look at what's really going on, and tackle it responsibly as a society.

I work in the educational field (major university)
and I see the stress every day at work.
Too many hardworking students are playing against a stacked deck, and a fixed system.