Do you owe Sallie Mae or other student loan companies

[greenbriar]

Poll question: Do you owe Sallie Mae or other student loan companies

Much has been discussed today about Student Loans


We owe a good chunk to Sallie Mae..

the sickening part is that we didn't need to borrow, it just made our lives easier while we were in college

[noamnety]

1. requested option

I paid off my student loans (without the qualifier that it was "with ease")

[greenbriar]

3. did it for you

:)

[noamnety]

6. thanks

for me personally, it was kind of with ease - but only because my parents paid it off, which for them meant delaying their retirement for quite some time.

And now, I'm paying for my daughter's ... so it's a cycle of debt and obligation passed down, or up, depending on how you look at it.

Very aware of privilege here, in answering this, because it's the result of previous generations' access to education and employment that I'm able to pass that access to the next generation, but I couldn't really say it was paid with ease, since it had a direct effect on my parents' lives, and now on mine as I do the same.

[petronius]

2. In total, we owe less than my annual salary, but I'll stilll call that a fortune

I'm in the same boat as you - a bit more effort and maturity back in the school daze and I could have avoided most if not all of my loans...

[uppityperson]

4. I borrowed only a little and paid it back fairly easily. My child though...

[greenbriar]

5. we were married and had little income..had pell grants

but decided we didn't want to drive 50 miles to and 50 miles back each day so we opted to take loans and move into married student housing

:banghead:

[uppityperson]

8. Jr is already in debt for close to $4000

1 yr of college. Not much, but it is hard to impress on him how much that is, how he needs to save his workstudy money to pay this back. We are having a long talk soon, figure eventually we will bail out part of it for him since we can chip in more, but want to impress on him the seriousness of borrowing money. Pell grants are good.

[MissB]

36. $4k isn't that bad.

Multiplied by 4 it still isn't that bad. It is wonderful that you're willing to chip for him!

[knitter4democracy]

7. We still owe a ton for Hubby's med school loans.

The private ones through the school should be paid off next year, but the other ones are the bigger chunk. We owe more than we do for the house.

[Iris]

9. What do you consider a fortune?

[greenbriar]

12. we owe over 60 thous and that is a fortune

to me


but that is hubby and I undergrad and my masters too

[Iris]

13. yes. I'd say that is a fortune.

But it is 3 degrees - 20K per degree. Probably pretty good by today's standards.

[greenbriar]

14. hey I like the way you look at that...makes it seem not so bad

thanks

[Iris]

15. Yeah. I'd still rather say I owed 20K on a degree rather than as an indistinguisable

lump sum credit car debt!

[Worst Username Ever]

10. I'm in them for $100,000

4 years of college + 3 years law school ain't cheap

[nadine_mn]

26. Same here - over 100k

stupid college, stupid law school.....should have drank less and applied for scholarships more

[smtpgirl]

11. Paid those loan sharks and will NEVER get a student loan again

Pay as I go.

[AZBlue]

38. I am still paying but would never consider another student loan. Ever.

I've had to finish my degree realllllyyy slowly because of it, but I don't care. Not another dime.

[juno jones]

16. Voted for Mr. Feb

He owes for a graphic art/ multimedia degree for a 'college' that folded a year after he graduated. Employers laugh at his 'credentials' and he can get no employment in that field. But he still has to pay. At least he did it in the 90's and isn't as screwn as those coming up in the 'oughts'. Oh how I hate Sallie Mae.

[teenagebambam]

17. Over 200K...

...between my partner and I. Seven degrees between us. As mentioned by others already, we were stupid and lazy and just wanted to make things easier on ourselves.

The worst part is that we both have terminal degrees in the Performing Arts, and are pretty much locked into jobs in Academia, which pays squat.

[librechik]

32. my story too, very nearly

got the MFA but no jobs in my field in my state. Settled for an administrative job cuz of the benefits. The salary just about covers my supposed loan payments, which I have managed to stave off for 10 years. We have a mortgage too!

What do I do when I'm seventy?

[mike_c]

18. I'm in for $75K, been paying for years, and the principal has hardly budged....

I'm really interested to see what will happen when I retire. I'll retire in about 12 years and the loans won't be paid off by then.

[JDPriestly]

22. You never get out of them.

Even indentured servants eventually were freed. You will never be. They will take it out of your Social Security. You cannot declare bankruptcy on student loans.

One of the most deplorable provisions of the new Bankruptcy Act broadened the definition of "education loan" to include a lot of loans that were not previously included.

Student loans are yet another way that the class with inherited wealth uses to keep its advantage -- from cradle to grave -- and to keep the rest of us down.

[radfringe]

19. had to go with a student loan when I went back to school

too "rich" to qualify for grants (pell etc.) and too "poor" to pay for it out of my own pocket

after 20 some odd years in human services ending with a reagan-bush economy which cut the program funding and I ended up without a job.... By then I was pretty burnt out with human services and decided to go back to school for something else - ended up doing 2 years at ITT tech in Framingham for CAD-Drafting.

The only way I could pay for tuition was through student loans. My prior earnings put me over the top to qualify for Pell, despite the fact I was no longer employed and had just a checking account and nothing in savings left, and unemployment was running out. I did pick up a part-time job as a residential worker in a home for retarded adults - this gave me enough money to barely live on, my parents would throw me a few dollars here and there to help out.

By the time I got out of school, Clinton was in office and turning around the economy. For the next 8 years I was able to make the monthly payments, then smirk-boy and his tinkle-on-down crap started, and it began to get more difficult to make the payments to the point where I've had to ask for a forebearance on 4 occassions... and am at the point right now of asking for a 5th one

[JDPriestly]

23. Doesn't interest continue to accrue?

That is what is so criminal about it.

I feel very sorry for people from poor areas who borrow money to go to fly-by-night schools for technical training that prepares them to do jobs that don't exist.


Trust me, I've seen the complaints in federal court. The lenders sue the students for payment of these loans.

And there is no way out -- no exit -- from these loans.

[radfringe]

25. yes it does

but it's either accuring interest or letting the loan go into default

regarding ITT Tech - I don't think it's a fly-by-night tech school.

The education and training I received was good, I've been employed as a CAD drafter since graduating, many of their programsschools have been accredited for degrees (Associates and Bachelors). My experience with their job referal/placement has also been very good. They also seek out internships for students. I have no regrets about attending ITT Tech.

[JDPriestly]

29. I did not mean to imply that your school was fly-by-night

In LA some poor people borrow money, however, to attend schools that are fly-by-night.

[etherealtruth]

20. I owe, I owe ...

Its off to work I go (from now until I'm 90)

[JDPriestly]

21. I have paid them a fortune over the past ten years

and I still owe more. It is a racket.

[Blue Belle]

24. OTHER: I'm still in school...

And while I do owe Sallie Mae money, I'm trying to get as many scholarships and grants as possible so I don't have to add to my debt.

[nadine_mn]

27. What about option "I owe my first born child"

Ha - so there Sallie Mae, I refuse to have kids! You may have won this round (and up until I am 70) but I still have my dignity!


Although I am willing to sell it to Paris Hilton, who apparently needs a bit of dignity.

[SeattleGirl]

28. Paid my loans off about 14 years ago. Had ended up defaulting

on them, because of financial difficulties, but then I got a better-paying job, and managed to pay them all off. Thank God I got a full scholarship for my Junior and Senior years. I went to a private college which is rather expensive. Only had to take loans out for my first two years.

[sandyd921]

30. I'm due to finish paying

off my loan for grad school (Sallie Mae) when I'm 64 (unless I come into some money between now and then :rofl:).

[tammywammy]

31. I never took out loans for college

My parents helped pay for tuition and books, but I went to an in-state state school. I paid for my own rent, etc and I worked full time as well.

[Firespirit]

33. Never had any student loans... BUT

I had a scholarship for grad school that was contingent upon my enrollment in a specific federal program, purportedly for good students with interest in computer security who would be interested in jobs with the gov't after graduation. My professor turned out to be -- I kid you not -- a crony of several White House officials, threw me out for political activity, and had the government bill me to repay the scholarship (since I didn't get the degree), so I'm in the hole for several thousand nonetheless.

[distantearlywarning]

34. I owe quite a bit on my student loans.

However, they are locked into an absurdly low interest rate. They're in deferment right now, but after I graduate, the monthly payment will be less than we spend on gas every month. Truthfully, I have been strongly considering never paying them off, just basically making min. payments until I die, because I can make more money investing what I would otherwise use to pay them down.

I'm not that worried about them. They're no drain on my lifestyle at all. But I feel for people who owe as much as I do with interest rates 6-7 points higher. That's a serious bummer. :-(

[MissB]

35. I have 4.5 more years of payments before the loan is paid off.

The interest rate is very low, so there isn't any reason to increase my payment amount significantly to pay it off sooner- I can earn more than I pay in interest by investing the extra I'd consider putting towards the principal. I don't feel terribly screwed, and the monthly payment is very reasonable.

My niece, on the other hand, will end up owing nearly $100k when she graduates in two more years. She insisted on going to a private college (with little financial help) to earn a degree to become a public school teacher. Dh and I tried to suggest other alternatives that wouldn't leave her in so much debt that she'd never be able to live without roommates or buy a car, but she wouldn't listen. We even crunched the numbers for her. I feel bad for her, but we tried.

[aikoaiko]

37. 45K but my first raise covered the yearly payment.

Although ever year I hope to pay it down quicker other bills come up and take priority.