MSU Red Cedar Message Board

Yes it will. Probably soon too

This may create a further division between the rich and the poor. My parents couldn't even afford to send me to MSU, let alone grad school. Without loans, grants, and scholarships, I wouldn't be where I'm at today. If they start limiting funding for professional schools, only the rich are going to be able to send their kids.

Or schools can lower their prices.

Easier said than done, I'm sure, but they should start cutting the liberal arts programs with hardly any job prospects. If you want a degree in philosophy then go to some small liberal arts college.

Loans for professional school aren't going to go away. Those loans always get paid back.

With healthcare they claim there is a shortage of providers for the poor, but really it is a problem with access to care. The government needs to set up more state funded clinics, and for those who need excessive amounts of loans, simply require that they work at one of these clinics for five years upon graduation. Other option would be to get a military scholarship.

they already do this. My brother is about to graduate from a private D.O. school. He is applying to work in an underserved area, and in return the government will help him pay back some of his loans.

I thought that textbooks had gotten out of control with so many schools apparently needing a completely new ancient history textbook every other semester.

1) 2yrs Community College
2) transfer to 4 yr U.
3) Collect underpants
4) ?
5) profit

What kind of loans are we talking about? Private loans or government loans? Surprisingly, between me and my Vietnamese wife, we have about $150,000 or so in federal loans alone. Some of these loans are under Income Based Repayment. At the current rate we're paying, it doesn't even cover the interest. So the principle is getting bigger every month. But, under the IBR, if you've been paying for 25 years (20 years if you're taking out loans in 2012 I believe), remaining amounts are forgiven. This could be a huge amount of money that is forgiven. Especially since, according to IBR's rules, your payment can never exceed the standard 10 year repayment amount. So, even though you're making bank in year 10, that amount your paying doesn't make up for the capitalized interest from years 0-9.

I'm not sure when that program began, but take that year and add 25 years to it and there's your answer. Although, I do think the amount of borrowers choosing the IBR has been somewhat low. Likely due to not knowing about it, but I would expect with the recent announcement by Obama of the payments being capped at 10% of AGI and loan forgiveness after 20 years for loans with disbursement dates of 2012 or newer, to see more people signing up for it.

The biggest problem I see is universities not getting a good handle on their cost of attendance figures. This, in turn, allows private and government loans to be approved in an amount that vastly exceeds what the student really needs. So you've got students taking out more than they need and buying things that aren't related to school expenses. The approval process for student loans consists of you applying for an amount, the loan provider contacting the school to make sure it and the other loans don't exceed the cost of attendance, then approval as long as it's below that figure. If you look at your stuinfo site, it will give you a total cost of attendance number. In many cases, that's way out of proportion with what it really costs. For instance, they have about $1200/month factored in for housing expenses. Unless you have a mortgage on a pretty nice house, you're not actually paying that much while you're in school.

As for private loans, you're already seeing that bubble burst, although I'm not sure what impact, if any that will have on the market. Those loans are required to be paid back even if bankruptcy is declared (there are some provisions for forgiveness or partial forgiveness, but for the most part, you've still got to pay them). So, it will ruin the student's credit, but they are still pretty safe loans for the lenders because they will get paid back at some point.

Simple solution, stop allowing loans to be subsidized to all of the BS for profit schools that are charging $30k a year for an online degree. I am guessing half if not more than half of these people who enroll in these places are barely MAC level quality. The world needs ditch diggers too!

If you work hard enough, you can accomplish anything whether you come from a privileged background or not. Don't worry what others have or don't have. Focus on creating your own happiness.