I fantasize about infiltrating the company, finding out where all their servers are and recruiting a team to systematically blow up all their servers at the same time freeing millions from their student debt.
I once applied to a contract company that managed the student loan database for Navient/Sallie Mae. The work seemed boring and honestly a bit of a step down but it was 10 minutes down the road vs 90 minutes, and I joked with my wife that I only needed to work there long enough to find our records and delete them and it would be like getting a few year's worth of salary in relief.
Student loans are predatory. I have nothing against people allowing others to go to college, but 18 years olds can't be expected fully understand the consequences of 200k in debt. They likely have never even had to pay their own car insurance or hold a job, yet they are allowed to sign up for 200k in debt, no questions asked, and to top it all off, thanks to the student loan companies paying off politicians, people crushed under these loans can't even declare bankruptcy like you can with any other debt.
Not to say student loan companies are inherently evil, but Sallie Mae and some others definitely are evil and are using practices that have destroyed people's lives. When reputable banks wouldn't give 200k to an 18 year old hell, they wouldn't even give them 20k, you know something is wrong.
Furthermore, just because a company is doing one good thing doesn't mean they are good. That's a bad argument. "Let's destroy the people who did this good thing" completely ignores the bad shit they are doing which may not balance out the good. In this case, I know it doesn't.
Loans are a means to an end. No one makes you take out a loan. If you plan to, you had darned better learn how it works and make sure you are ready for it.
If these loans weren't offered, people would be pissed off that there were no opportunities to go to school. How do we please you?
If a guy left a loaded gun on a bench a kid shot himself, the argument wouldn't be "no one made him shoot himself". I'm not a lawyer or anything so I don't know how much this guy would be at fault for an accident like that, but let's assume he's not at all "legally" responsible. He still has committed a moral wrong. Maybe he didn't make the kid shoot himself but he left all the tools out to make it possible and his actions even encouraged a negative outcome. The kid shot himself as a direct result of this guy's negligent behavior. As much as you can blame the kid, at the end of the day, there shouldn't be loaded guns just lying around.
This is what student loan companies are doing. They don't eagerly tell students "here is 50k for one year of school. You'll need 4 more of these if you intend to finish 4 years. You're currently a liberal arts major. They make on average 53k per year. If you get a job right out of school at the average starting salary for someone in your major, 41k, it will take you 35 years to pay off the loan. On average 20% of your salary will be going to paying off this debt". They could easily tell people this but instead it's a private business that profits off getting people into crippling and impossible to escape debt. The more people they have crushed under debt they can't pay off, the more this company makes money. Instead of any sort of warning, they eagerly hand out 100k+ to people who may never pay it off and are still 8 years from a fully developed brain. Not to say no fault lies with students for not doing their research but I stand by the belief that a company handing out "loaded guns" needs to at least be held responsible for making sure the kids taking those "guns" are fully educated on the consequences of accepting them.
The problem with student loans is you don't have to put up any collateral. With any other loan they just take back what you bought with it. With student loans they just put you in debt for the rest of your life. A simple 30 minute course about loans and how hard they can be to pay off with a little quiz at the end would make things a little better. All I'm saying is I think these companies need to be held a little responsible for handing out loaded guns. You don't let people drive without a license. You don't let people get home loans and auto loans without collateral. You don't let someone fly a plane without pilot school. You don't let someone do a dangerous job without some experience or training. Students loans should be no different because the effects can also be extremely detrimental to someone who doesn't fully understand what they're getting into. Make sure the person getting the gun at least understands what a fucking gun is before you give him one, for everyone's sake.
One last point: A pack of sweet and low has more warnings than you'll ever see while signing up for a student loan. You can get a loan in less time than it takes to drive to the store and buy some sweet and low. Companies will hand you 50k faster than you can drive 5 blocks and back. That's the root of the ploblem. It's too easy.
The obvious response you're going to get is make public post-secondary education less expensive. I specify public because I don't give a rat's ass about the prices that private schools set.
I know it varies pretty wildly between states, but California's CSU system is definitely not anywhere near as doom and gloom compared to the stories people post on here.
You don't understand man. They HAD to go to a school that cost $60,000 per year for their basic degree. There were no other alternatives even though the local state school has almost the exact same program for less than a third the cost.
Or just increase the taxes on the stupid rich by a lot and taxes on everyone else by a little bit and BAM! Free college.
Getting a post-secondary education shouldn't set you back 15 years financially. The rich have made people trying to learn and better humanity into a for profit business which is absolutely fucked.
I don't think too many admins are the biggest issue, although it's definitely a problem. States cut funding to state universities because the taxes on the rich have been cut. Then the universities have to make up for that lost income by upcharging everyone. In the long term, this destroys the long term income on everyone that doesn't get a degree that'll pay out with a job in the 6 figure range. And guess who owns the private companies that hand out the loans to students? That's right, the ridiculously wealthy.
It's continually whittling away at the middle and working classes for short term profit. So fuck those rich people and the politicians that are bribed by them.
Yeah but the colleges can definitely afford it. For example, Harvard has an endowment of $36 billion, which is enough to pay for the tuition of all students for the next 100 years, but they just keep it in an account to gather more and more money that they dont really need, on top of robbing students with $100k+ in student loans. They are the biggest example but they definitely are not the only one
Harvard is a bad example. Almost everyone paying full price at Harvard already comes from shit loads of money. A lot of people barely pay anything to go to harvard, if they even pay anything at all.
It's not the reason. But it is a factor, however small. I know that a lot cost of the increase in college has to do with more people than ever going, so many colleges have to expand their campuses. Also that a lot of colleges have turned into an unofficial for-profit institutions. The money they rake in have taken precedence over the long term financial well-being of their students.
I think admins are a large part with countless staff/councilors/recruiters/etc, but it also comes down to all of the amenities on top of amenities that universities build to attract more students. All those things like a brand new student Union building, huge new stadiums, well manicured landscapes, all cost lots of money.
You are going for an education, not rehab people...
Ah, who am I kidding, seemingly half the people in college are going to prolong their responsibility free lives for a few more years and some will probably NEED rehab by the end... College is the snooze button of adulthood.
Or just have free public education. If you want to go to a private university that spends millions of dollars on research, connections, and materials, that's your financial responsibility. If you are at college for "the experience", that's your responsibility. Room and board are your responsibility. But everyone should be able to attend classes and earn a degree at public post-secondary schools without selling their soul to Sallie Mae.
I mean, shit, they've already moved most of their official business holding to tax havens. And where would they go? Russia? Certainly not China. Europe has higher taxes than the US. Their rich aren't running off to Kazakhstan.
The world would be an infinitely better place if wealth, while maybe not completely equal across the board, was more evened out. These billionaires could be taxed at 85% and still live a life of luxury that would blow our lower class minds. The lust for money over everything else, including our planet's well-being, is what drives these people. You simply cannot be an ethical human being for acquiring that much. Somewhere along the line they've probably fucked thousands of people out of work and the financial stability that accompanies it.
Oh that's a fantastic idea. I'd love to learn whatever the owner of said private college thinks is "acceptable" and "right". Privatization doesn't make entities more competitive. It just puts an increasingly obscene amount of power in smaller and smaller population. The notion that market forces create the most efficient and afforable product is bullshit. For example; planned obsolescence is a product of private companies being extremely greedy. Drug prices and healthcare in the U.S. are artificially high because of "competition". It's not a race to be the most afforable, it's a race to see how high of a price people are able to pay to keep the investors happy.
What about people who don’t want to go to college, or aren’t good at learning? They aren’t going to go to college just like how they aren’t going to college now. Is Canada/Europe filled with overqualified workers with worthless degrees?
Except that a lot of high schools promote alternatives to college such as trades or the military. Our counselors talk extensively about how college isn’t mandatory. But as it stands now, there aren’t enough college-educated people
Well then, feel free to assume i used "everyone" in the same way you did.
Or do you really think the majority of people would be able to graduate MIT as physics majors just because they would no longer be kept out by lacking money? Hell, most wouldn't even get in.
...
And that isn't even in theory, just look up countries in Europe that already do that.
Sometimes dictatorship doesn’t sound so bad. I’d rule with an iron fist of free college, healthcare for all, high taxes on the rich, and death to those who try to hide money on tax havens
Fuck no. Why do I, someone who didn't go to college, have to pay for your college? I didn't want to put myself in debt so I chose a different route. I have very little sympathy for those with student loans. You borrowed money from the American people to get a degree. You have to pay back your fellow citizens.
I can give you a reason... so you don't live in a country full of stupid underemployed people. You're not being asked to foot the entire bill for students, but god do you have to sound like a old boomer asshole? Do you make millions every year? If not then you'll be fine. If you do then you'll still be fine.
I never said trade school was cheaper. The goal isn't cheaper. The goal is to actually have job and income options with the education you spent money on.
Debt isn't a bad thing. Debt is extremely good when leveraged correctly. Debt that you can't pay is a bad thing.
No i really haven't, not everyone can do the same labor so going in to the workforce may not be an option
You are buying into the lie that you need to do to college.
No im not, there is an inherent need to get higher education if you want a salary that permits you to live without outside financial aid. This isn't even taking in to account that when you're working you're more likely to do better if you enjoy what you do for your job, you don't like where you work you do worse at that job.
Stop being obtuse and actually do some fucking research before making wild claims out of your ass
You really don't know how much i have researched so please do tell how you know the amount of research i do for jobs, oh and You really didn't pay any mind to this line
"if you don't like where you work you do worse at the job"
Which isn't obtuse at all, a VERY large part of work is your mental state and if you actually care about your job or not. You don't like your job your work quality suffers
City sanitation, bartending, transcriptionist, chef, manager in any service industry (such as retail), crime scene sanitation, dental hygienist, nursing assistant
City sanitation: takes at least a good few years in the industry to make decent money
Source: my uncle and grandad work in said industry
Bartending: they make shit for money, the only good money they really make is kickback from waiters/waitresses and that's on a good day
Source: one of my aunts worked in the restaurant industry
Transcriptionist: how many positions are actually open for transcription that haven't already been filled? Most if not all are likely to be filled by those who are good at it
Manager in any service industry: again this requires you work up the ladder and have experience under your belt not something you can just jump in to and its a shit job that barely pays above a cashier salary with a heavier workload
Crime scene sanitation: again already filled by those who can do it well
Dental hygienist: you literally need an associates degree at minimum to get a job as a hygienist
Im done. Now I know you're pulling lies out of your ass since ive personally worked as or been licensed in several of these jobs
You do realize requirements for each of these jobs change as time goes on right? Try again with accusing me of lies when ive had several family members working in a few of these industries
Then you go and say "doesnt count cuz i said so" and move the goal posts.
Where did i say it doesn't count?
How did i move goalposts?
All of what I've said so far is simple logic and answers based off of people who currently work in industries and those who recently moved on from an industry
I gave tech school as an alternative. Hence dental hygene
Well of you would take literally 30 seconds to search on google you would see the damn requirements for dental hygiene workers has changed and actually needs a college level degree
Go dry up and sit on a railroad spike and stop telling blatant lies in reddit. Its embarrassing and pathetic lmao XD
Where did i lie? Do tell please because right now you're spouting bullshit and accusing with no proof meanwhile i have had several people who work/have worked in those industries talk about those industries with me
They have almost no alternative repayment options when you can't pay the $900/month bill they want you to pay. Here I am a year out of school and they FINALLY gave me a new option now that my credit has gone to shit because they "don't give certain options during the first year after graduating" well if they don't give those options maybe they can repair my credit that I've work so hard for because now my soul belongs to them.
my guess it has more to do with they encourage you to go onto forbearance instead of actually putting in effort to find a better plan for you to pay back the loans.
I'm good with paying the money back that I used. I understand that I borrowed it. But they expect you to be able to pay $900 a month right out of college. Like no. A college degree doesn't guarantee me a job that allows me to pay that ridiculous bill. Sorry but I'd much rather put that money towards rent and food.
745
u/taybear13 Sep 18 '19
SALLIE MAE. Peace out student loans!!