Dwain Northey (Gen X)

I am so tired of the trolls from my generation and before crying in their beer about a small measure of student loan debt relief. The winy baby’s cry, “I paid off my student loans” or “you should take out loans if you can’t pay it back”. This is the biggest line of BS I have ever heard because I am willing to bet many of them have filed bankruptcy or never went to college and even if they did in the 80s and 90s a student that didn’t have wealthy parents could work and make enough to pay rent and still go to school. I have a college bound kid right now and I am here to tell you that ship has sailed.

In the 1989-90 academic year, tuition at the average public 4-year institution was $1,780 a year. The national average rent was under $500 a month for a 2-bedroom apartment. The tuition currently average cost of attendance for a student living on campus at a public 4-year in-state institution is $25,707 per year or $102,828 over 4 years. Out-of-state students pay $44,014 per year or $176,056 over 4 years. Private, nonprofit university students pay $54,501 per year or $218,004 over 4 years. The cost of rent for a 700sqft apartment ranges from $1300 to $2500 a month. These are unsustainable at the wage of the normal college age person being for $7.35hr to $13.00hr.

So, if we continue to tell our kids to go to college you can get so, you can have a career that will pay enough to survive and potentially raise a family, but they are saddled with $100,000 in student loan debt that seems insurmountable for many. The other option for many is to take a fast-food job or retail that only pays poverty wages and not be burdened with college debt. Oh yeah then when they complain about not getting paid enough the righteous will tell them that they have entry level jobs, and they should get their degree if they want to get a better job. Seem like a no-win scenario.

Let’s talk about the predatory leading practices of banks lending money for student loans. The rate for student loans is from 5% to 15% and I am sure you can guess the rate for a student that comes from lower income earning families. I can buy a car for under 5% and also take out a mortgage for the same rate but my son is looking at student loans at 13%. Currently if I took out a car loan or a mortgage and the world took a shit on me, I could file bankruptcy and walk away… yes, my credit would be screwed for a few years but no harm no foul. The current law will not let you include student loans into a bankruptcy. I said that to someone, and their rebuttal was if you file the bank can take the car or the house, but they can’t strip the knowledge from your brain. I was horrified by that, and they said I suppose if the bank can rescind the person’s degree and ban them from ever using the knowledge, they learned in college then maybe the law could change. WTF, that is the most loathsome shit I have ever heard.

Bidens student loan relief is $10,000. My son is looking at school that is $20k a year that’s $80k for a 4-year degree which semi-reasonable in today’s market, that degree at an annual interest rate of 13% is $9,500 a year in interest alone. The $10,000 student debt relief is one year of interest, the bank isn’t losing a penny in fact they are still making money because that $80,000 loan will in all likelihood take 15-20 years to pay off.  

In 1990 you could have graduated with less than $8000 in student loan debt, that isn’t even possible for a 2-year community college degree today.

This is a prime example of the ridiculousness of education cost. The average cost of going to school to become a Medical Assistant is between $15-$20K and it is an 18-to-24-month program and the average income for an MA after $20,000 and 2 years of education is $19.00 an hour. So that person now making $19hr has $20k in student loan debt at probably greater than 12% and almost certainly has a car payment and insurance and rent. This lucky person is bringing home around $650 a week that equates to $2600 a month… WOW that’s great but let’s not forget that rent could be upwards of $2000 a month not including utilities and food, car payment, insurance. Cell phone and god forbid they are a single parent.

So, stop telling Millennials and Gen Z to suck it up because you paid off your student loan debt for 30 years ago. We have made the system that is nearly impossible for many to attain the meager existence that we were able to pull off, I don’t know about you, but my hope was always for my son to do better than I have.

Thanks again for reading my rant, feel free to comment.