Student loan | Even the rich and famous still have <b>student loan</b> debt - MarketWatch |
- Even the rich and famous still have <b>student loan</b> debt - MarketWatch
- Will you ever pay off your <b>student loan</b>? - Phys.org
- FACTSHEET: Making <b>Student Loans</b> More Affordable | The White <b>...</b>
- The New Proposal That Could Get Your Employer to Pay Your <b>...</b>
- <b>Student Loans</b> are Worsening Inequality, with Thomas Piketty | Big <b>...</b>
| Even the rich and famous still have <b>student loan</b> debt - MarketWatch Posted: 27 Mar 2015 08:18 AM PDT Soon, disclosing how much student debt you have may be as commonplace as talking about where you went to college. "Whiplash" star Miles Teller made headlines this week when he told New York Magazine's entertainment site, Vulture, that he still hasn't paid off his student loans, despite starring in blockbuster films like "Fantastic Four." And when Texas Senator Ted Cruz introduced himself to voters as a presidential candidate Monday, he included a nod to the $100,000 in student loans that he said he recently paid off. He follows in the footsteps of President Barack Obama, who told an audience of college students during his 2012 reelection campaign that he and Michelle Obama had only finished paying off their student loans eight years before. With about 40 million Americans saddled with student loans topping $1 trillion, demonstrating an understanding of — and particularly an experience with — the issue has become a way for celebrities and politicians to connect with normals. "It's the new bootstrap declaration," said Jeffrey Williams, a professor of English and literary cultural studies at Carnegie Mellon University, who also writes about student debt. Williams notes that in the past, politicians and other celebrities who wanted to appear grounded would talk about working their way through school. But in an era of skyrocketing college tuition, those days seem like a bygone era. (Unless you're lucky enough to be related to Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, who's planning to give away most of his fortune after he pays for his nephew's college education.) This new generation of public figures is more likely to be personally touched by student debt than their predecessors so it's likely to come up more often, Williams said. "There was a shame attached to debt" that made people more hesitant to talk about it, Williams said. "Now the shame has gone away because people have realized almost everybody has debt." Film Clip: 'The Salt of the Earth'(1:47)Watch a clip from the documentary "The Salt of the Earth," which details the adventures of photographer Sebastião Salgado. Declarations like Teller's, politicians incorporating their loans into stump speeches and news stories about celebrities helping to pay off fans' loans have helped to push the issue of student debt into the mainstream, but the strain of student debt isn't realistically portrayed in television and movies. "I don't see it as much as I wish I did," said Stefanie O'Connell, an actor and founder of The Broke and Beautiful Life, a personal-finance site geared towards young people. "There's this narrative of being broke and not affording rent that we've been perpetuating in pop culture and entertainment." But that TV and movie cliché rarely touches on student loans, which in reality are often a major reason why young people struggle to pay their rent or afford nice things. She cited a recent plot line in HBO's "Girls," where Lena Dunham's character (spoiler alert), Hannah, goes to the University of Iowa for graduate school and then drops out. "She's talked about the money thing so often" on the show, O'Connell said. "And then she goes to a master's program, which is horribly expensive, and then she just walks away and there's no talk about the implications." Even when famous people do bring up the issue of student debt, it's grounded in their own experience, which can sometimes be misleading for average Americans struggling with loans. Teller cited advice from his business manager ("the interest is so low, there's no sense in paying them off") as the reason he hasn't yet paid back his loans completely. "As great as it is to have a celebrity to relate to, giving people an excuse not to pay off their student loans as aggressively as possible is probably not a good thing," O'Connell said. Still, as an aspiring actor, O'Connell said Teller's statement does make her optimistic for the 98.6% of theatre artists who have taken out student loans, according to a survey from the Theatre Communications Group. "If he did it with his $100,000 in student loans, there's hope for the rest of us," she said.  |
| Will you ever pay off your <b>student loan</b>? - Phys.org Posted: 25 Mar 2015 12:41 PM PDT Mar 25, 2015Would-be participants of higher education must be given full and transparent advice before they accumulate debts as students that follow them into the workplace, according to a report published in the International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education. Deborah Figart of the School of Education, at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in Galloway, says that there is a dearth of pre-loan and post-loan counseling for undergraduate students using student loans to help finance their higher education. She has devised an assignment that can be adapted to a wide range of courses to help educate students about debt before it becomes a serious problem that can stay with them for life. "The average student loan debt for a US graduate of the Class of 2013 was $28,400, according to the Project on Student Debt," reports Figart, "Each month, young adults are burdened with 25 to 30 percent or more of their net pay dedicated to student loan debt." Anecdotes about telling horror stories of alumni with tens of thousands of dollars in interest-accruing debt earning minimal wages. Law graduates precluded from obtaining a license to practice despite passing the necessary bar exams because of a bad credit record, restaurant school graduates hoping to become chefs but earning a fraction of their debt peeling potatoes. Most worryingly, Figart adds that the average student has around 8 to 10 loans and the total student debt far outweighs the nation's total credit card bills. Figart has taught financial and economic literacy to students and teachers, covering subjects related to budgeting and consumer debt. And, while some states oblige courses to include a component related to budgeting and finance, too many students are "falling through the cracks", she adds. She points out that the federal "Know Before You Owe Private Student Loan Act" does not go far enough in several ways and so also fails to protect students from debt. Figart urges that students must be counseled in such topics as loan repayment options, average salaries for a wide range of jobs, suggested debt-to-income ratios, and the likely consequences of defaulting on loan repayments. "In an economy where job security and job quality are increasingly elusive, students pursue higher education as an investment, not simply a means of personal fulfillment," she adds. While financial counseling may dash the dreams of some or at least postpone those dreams, it could nevertheless save thousands of students from a fate worse than debt.
More information: Figart, D.M. (2014) 'The teaching commons: is student loan debt good or bad debt?', Int. J. Pluralism and Economics Education, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp.401-406. More from Social Sciences Related StoriesStudent loans take emotional toll on young adults
(HealthDay)—Student loan debt is a major cause of stress for young adults, a new study finds. Debt anxiety among students differs across international boundaries
To what extent do international boundaries impact on anxiety around debt amongst students? Do national attitudes about repaying loans mean those students from different countries treat their debt differently? What can University ... Obama calls for more rights for struggling student borrowers
Issuing a clarion call to Americans saddled by student debt, President Barack Obama urged student borrowers Tuesday to stand up for their rights, and announced a medley of modest steps to bring some order ... Middle-income students at higher risk for student loan debt than their poorer peers
Young adults from middle income families are more likely to rack up student loan debt—and in greater amounts—than students from both lower and higher income backgrounds, finds new research to be presented at the ... Study: Loan debt can shape students' college years, experiences
An Indiana University study found that college students' experiences are largely shaped by the debt they accrue, with debt-free students more likely to live the "play hard" lifestyle often associated with the college years, ... Architect of student loan system unconcerned by record debt levels
The architect of Australia's student loan system has poured cold water on a report highlighting record levels of student debt, saying he would not be surprised if a fifth of all student debt was never repaid. Recommended for youEconomist probes the high cost of health care
When Zack Cooper arrived at Yale as assistant professor of public health and economics, he gained access to a first-of-its-kind dataset. Working with the non-profit Health Care Cost Institute, Cooper and ... Cell phone 'bill shock' warnings can leave consumers worse off, says new study
Policies that push cellphone carriers to alert customers when they're about to exceed their plan limit are supposed to make things better for consumers. A healthy public domain generates millions in economic value—not bad for 'free'
It's frequently claimed that copyright law should be made more restrictive and copyright terms extended in order to provide an incentive for content creators. Cash remains king in Chile but its days could be numbered
For more than a year now, Chileans have endured a crisis of cash access. Despite global moves toward new forms of payment such as contactless and mobile transfers, the crisis in Chile highlights the continuing ... Ultimate Fighting Championship should save heavyweight fights for pay per view
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a mixed martial arts league, has experienced large growth in popularity and economic success in recent years. UFC has achieved this success by marketing to fans who attend live fighting ... Earthquakes caused by natural gas extraction generate house price decreases
Earthquakes in the northern parts of the Netherlands generate notable house price decreases. In a new study, economists Hans Koster and Jos van Ommeren from VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands, have analysed the negative ... User comments : 2Adjust slider to filter visible comments by rank Display comments: newest first TopherTOnot rated yet Mar 25, 2015 10 years of monthly payments later, I literally just repaid the last of my student loan yesterday. I always joked it felt like I paid for a sports car I never got to drive once. MR166not rated yet Mar 25, 2015 Hummm, this debt couldn't have anything to do with tuition skyrocketing by multiples to the rate of inflation could it? Naw, just keep paying off the useless credits you will find a full time job some day. Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more Click here to reset your password.Sign in to get notified via email when new comments are made.
© Phys.org™ 2003- 2015, Science X network   Mar 25, 2015Would-be participants of higher education must be given full and transparent advice before they accumulate debts as students that follow them into the workplace, according to a report published in the International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education. Deborah Figart of the School of Education, at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in Galloway, says that there is a dearth of pre-loan and post-loan counseling for undergraduate students using student loans to help finance their higher education. She has devised an assignment that can be adapted to a wide range of courses to help educate students about debt before it becomes a serious problem that can stay with them for life. "The average student loan debt for a US graduate of the Class of 2013 was $28,400, according to the Project on Student Debt," reports Figart, "Each month, young adults are burdened with 25 to 30 percent or more of their net pay dedicated to student loan debt." Anecdotes about telling horror stories of alumni with tens of thousands of dollars in interest-accruing debt earning minimal wages. Law graduates precluded from obtaining a license to practice despite passing the necessary bar exams because of a bad credit record, restaurant school graduates hoping to become chefs but earning a fraction of their debt peeling potatoes. Most worryingly, Figart adds that the average student has around 8 to 10 loans and the total student debt far outweighs the nation's total credit card bills. Figart has taught financial and economic literacy to students and teachers, covering subjects related to budgeting and consumer debt. And, while some states oblige courses to include a component related to budgeting and finance, too many students are "falling through the cracks", she adds. She points out that the federal "Know Before You Owe Private Student Loan Act" does not go far enough in several ways and so also fails to protect students from debt. Figart urges that students must be counseled in such topics as loan repayment options, average salaries for a wide range of jobs, suggested debt-to-income ratios, and the likely consequences of defaulting on loan repayments. "In an economy where job security and job quality are increasingly elusive, students pursue higher education as an investment, not simply a means of personal fulfillment," she adds. While financial counseling may dash the dreams of some or at least postpone those dreams, it could nevertheless save thousands of students from a fate worse than debt.
More information: Figart, D.M. (2014) 'The teaching commons: is student loan debt good or bad debt?', Int. J. Pluralism and Economics Education, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp.401-406. More from Social Sciences Related StoriesStudent loans take emotional toll on young adults
(HealthDay)—Student loan debt is a major cause of stress for young adults, a new study finds. Debt anxiety among students differs across international boundaries
To what extent do international boundaries impact on anxiety around debt amongst students? Do national attitudes about repaying loans mean those students from different countries treat their debt differently? What can University ... Obama calls for more rights for struggling student borrowers
Issuing a clarion call to Americans saddled by student debt, President Barack Obama urged student borrowers Tuesday to stand up for their rights, and announced a medley of modest steps to bring some order ... Middle-income students at higher risk for student loan debt than their poorer peers
Young adults from middle income families are more likely to rack up student loan debt—and in greater amounts—than students from both lower and higher income backgrounds, finds new research to be presented at the ... Study: Loan debt can shape students' college years, experiences
An Indiana University study found that college students' experiences are largely shaped by the debt they accrue, with debt-free students more likely to live the "play hard" lifestyle often associated with the college years, ... Architect of student loan system unconcerned by record debt levels
The architect of Australia's student loan system has poured cold water on a report highlighting record levels of student debt, saying he would not be surprised if a fifth of all student debt was never repaid. Recommended for youEconomist probes the high cost of health care
When Zack Cooper arrived at Yale as assistant professor of public health and economics, he gained access to a first-of-its-kind dataset. Working with the non-profit Health Care Cost Institute, Cooper and ... Cell phone 'bill shock' warnings can leave consumers worse off, says new study
Policies that push cellphone carriers to alert customers when they're about to exceed their plan limit are supposed to make things better for consumers. A healthy public domain generates millions in economic value—not bad for 'free'
It's frequently claimed that copyright law should be made more restrictive and copyright terms extended in order to provide an incentive for content creators. Cash remains king in Chile but its days could be numbered
For more than a year now, Chileans have endured a crisis of cash access. Despite global moves toward new forms of payment such as contactless and mobile transfers, the crisis in Chile highlights the continuing ... Ultimate Fighting Championship should save heavyweight fights for pay per view
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a mixed martial arts league, has experienced large growth in popularity and economic success in recent years. UFC has achieved this success by marketing to fans who attend live fighting ... Earthquakes caused by natural gas extraction generate house price decreases
Earthquakes in the northern parts of the Netherlands generate notable house price decreases. In a new study, economists Hans Koster and Jos van Ommeren from VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands, have analysed the negative ... User comments : 2Adjust slider to filter visible comments by rank Display comments: newest first TopherTOnot rated yet Mar 25, 2015 10 years of monthly payments later, I literally just repaid the last of my student loan yesterday. I always joked it felt like I paid for a sports car I never got to drive once. MR166not rated yet Mar 25, 2015 Hummm, this debt couldn't have anything to do with tuition skyrocketing by multiples to the rate of inflation could it? Naw, just keep paying off the useless credits you will find a full time job some day. Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more Click hereto reset your password. Sign in to get notified via email when new comments are made.
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| FACTSHEET: Making <b>Student Loans</b> More Affordable | The White <b>...</b> Posted: 09 Jun 2014 04:55 AM PDT The White House Office of the Vice President For Immediate Release June 09, 2014 President Obama declared 2014 a year of action – vowing to use the power of his pen and phone to help ensure that hardworking Americans have the opportunity to succeed. And this week will be no different. With a focus on supporting hardworking Americans and upholding our country's commitment to provide a quality education for all of our students, the President is again taking action. Today, he will deliver remarks at the White House, announcing new executive actions to further lift the burden of crushing student loan debt, including a Presidential Memorandum that will allow an additional 5 million borrowers with federal student loans to cap their monthly payments at just 10 percent of their income. A fact sheet detailing these new steps is below. Tomorrow the President will do a live Q and A with Tumblr, answering questions directly from consumers across the country about this crucial issue. At both of those events, and throughout this week ahead of their upcoming vote, the President will use every opportunity to urge Congress to do their part by passing Senate Democrats' bill to help more young people save money by refinancing their federal student loans. From reforming the student loan system and increasing Pell Grants to offering millions of students the opportunity to cap their monthly student loan payments at 10 percent of their income, making a degree more affordable and accessible has been a longtime priority for the President. But he knows there is much more work to do and that's what this week is all about. FACTSHEET: Making Student Loans More Affordable A postsecondary education is the single most important investment that Americans can make in their futures. Higher education results in higher earnings and a lower risk of unemployment, but for too many low- and middle-income families this essential rung on the ladder to opportunity and advancement is slipping out of reach. Over the past three decades, the average tuition at a public four-year college has more than tripled, while a typical family's income has barely budged. More students than ever are relying on loans to pay for college. Today, 71 percent of those earning a bachelor's degree graduate with debt, which averages $29,400. While most students are able to repay their loans, many feel burdened by debt, especially as they seek to start a family, buy a home, launch a business, or save for retirement. The President and his Administration have a long track record of taking steps to make college more affordable and accessible for families. And as part of his year of action to expand opportunity for all Americans, the President is committed to building on these efforts by using his pen and his phone to make student debt more affordable and more manageable to repay. Today the President will use the power of his pen to help millions of borrowers afford their student loan payments. He will sign a new Presidential Memorandum directing the Secretary of Education to propose regulations that would allow nearly 5 million additional federal direct student loan borrowers the opportunity to cap their student loan payments at 10 percent of their income. The Presidential Memorandum also outlines a series of new executive actions aimed to support federal student loan borrowers, especially for vulnerable borrowers who may be at greater risk of defaulting on their loans. Today the President will also reiterate his call for the Senate to pass legislation that could help an estimated 25 million Americans refinance outstanding student loans at lower interest rates, the same as those available to federal student loan borrowers taking out loans this year. This move could save a typical student $2,000 over the life of his or her loans. The Challenge of Student Debt: The challenges of managing student loan debt can lead some borrowers to fall behind on their loan payments and in some cases even default on their debt obligation, with such consequences as a damaged credit rating, losing their tax refund, or garnished wages. Because credit ratings are increasingly scrutinized in making employment offers, financing a home, or even opening a bank account, a damaged credit rating can further reduce borrowers' ability to repay their loans. Today's actions build on the Administration's significant progress in creating flexible repayment options for borrowers and raising awareness about the steps borrowers can take to responsibly manage their debt. Capping Student Loan Payments at 10 Percent of Income: Today, the President will direct the Secretary of Education to ensure that student loans remain affordable for all who borrowed federal direct loans as students by allowing them cap their payments at 10 percent of their monthly incomes. The Department will begin the process to amend its regulations this fall with a goal of making the new plan available to borrowers by December 2015. With legislation passed by Congress and signed by the President in 2010 and regulations adopted by the Administration in 2012, most students taking out loans today can already cap their loan payments at 10 percent of their incomes. Monthly payments will be set on a sliding scale based upon income. Any remaining balance is forgiven after 20 years of payments, or 10 years for those in public service jobs. However, this Pay As You Earn (PAYE) option is not available to students with older loans (those who borrowed before October 2007 or who have not borrowed since October 2011), although they can access similar, less generous options. No existing repayment options will be affected, and the new repayment proposal will also aim to include new features to target the plan to struggling borrowers. This executive action is expected to help up to 5 million borrowers who may be struggling with student loans today. For students that need to borrow to finance college, PAYE provides an important assurance that student loan debt will remain manageable. Because the PAYE plan is based in part on a borrower's income after leaving school, it shares with students the risk of taking on debt to invest in higher education. Many student loan borrowers are working and trying to responsibly make their monthly payments, but are nonetheless struggling with burdensome debt. For example, a 2009 graduate earning about $39,000 a year as a fourth year teacher, with student loan debt of $26,500, would have his or her initial monthly payments reduced by $126 under the President's Pay As You Earn plan compared with monthly payments under the standard repayment plan and would see a reduction in annual loan payments of over $1,500. Doing All We Can to Help Students Repay their Loans: The President today will also direct the Secretaries of Education and the Treasury to work together to do all they can to help borrowers manage their student loan debts. Specifically, the Departments will:
Additional Actions to Reduce Indebtedness and Promote College Affordability: Helping Students and Families Access Education Tax Benefits. In addition to helping borrowers manage their student loan debt, the Department of Education and the Department of Treasury will also work together to educate students, families, financial aid administrators, and tax preparers to ensure that all students and families understand what education tax benefits they are eligible for and receive the benefits for which they qualify. In 2009, the President created the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC), which provides up to $2,500 to help pay for each year of college. But the process of claiming education tax credits like the AOTC can be complex for many students, including for the 9 million students who receive Pell Grants, and hundreds of millions of dollars of education credits go unclaimed each year. To help address this complexity, the Department of Treasury will release a fact sheet clarifying how Pell Grant recipients may claim the AOTC. |
| The New Proposal That Could Get Your Employer to Pay Your <b>...</b> Posted: 19 Mar 2015 09:01 PM PDT A Colorado state representative proposed legislation that would give some employers tax credits for making student loan payments on behalf of some of their employees. The bill introduced by Rep. KC Becker (D-Boulder) could give qualified workers each up to $10,000 a year in student loan payments from their employers. The employer gets a tax credit equal to 50% of the loan payments (so $5,000 on a $10,000 payment), up to $200,000 total per tax year. Those qualified workers come from a limited pool of graduates. If you want your employer to make some of your loan payments under this proposed bill, you'd need to have an associate's or bachelor's degree in a science, technology, engineering or mathematics field (STEM) from a Colorado college or university, graduated no earlier than Dec. 31, 2010, make less than $60,000 a year and have a STEM-related job. Of course, you'd need to work for an employer in Colorado, as well. The credit applies only to new hires who are retained for at least 12 months. The bill is one of several workforce-development bills progressing through the state's legislature, focusing on attracting and retaining educated, talented Colorado workers. One way to look at the employer tax credit is as a good deal for everyone involved. "It's good for employers because it gives them a competitive advantage for attracting new workers," said Patrick Pratt, program manager of the Colorado Manufacturing Initiative at the Colorado Association of Commerce & Industry (CACI). "It's good for employees because it helps alleviate their student loan burden, as well." And then there's the state of Colorado, which gets to hold on to graduates whose skills are in high demand. One of CACI's missions is to increase the number of skilled, educated workers in the state, and this proposal aligns with some of those goals.  Check Credit Before Paying Down Student LoansGet your free Credit Score & personalized Action Plan. See where you stand & learn ways to better manage your score before paying down your student loans. Free and updated every 30 days.Get Started Now » The average monthly student loan payment in this program is estimated to be $224, totaling $2,688 a year, according to Pratt, which is well under the $10,000-per-employee limit. That means workers who qualify for this program may not have to make student loan payments out of their own pockets for as long as the program continues, if the bill becomes law. It still has a long way to go in the legislative process, but if it is approved as is, the program would run from Jan. 1, 2016 through Dec. 31, 2019. In a small survey sent from CACI to its manufacturing members, most respondents said they had a favorable opinion of the legislation. (Pratt sent the survey to 400 members, and about 30 responded.) Only one person who had a negative opinion of the bill explained why: "This is a solution that exacerbates the problem," Pratt quoted from the survey response. He said the comment went on to say that the problem was the high cost of education. The average student loan debt of a 2013 graduate from a Colorado college is $24,520, the 16th lowest of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Project on Student Debt. That's below the national average ($28,400), but the Colorado default rate is 15.3%, higher than the 13.7% national average. Default can seriously damage borrowers' credit for years, not to mention the hardship that comes with wage garnishment and debt collection, as a result of default. If you want to get an overview of how your student loans are affecting your credit, you can see your free credit report summary on Credit.com. More on Student Loans:
Image: iStock Sign up for our weekly newsletter.Get the latest tips & advice from our team of 30+ credit & money experts, delivered to you via email each week. Sign up now. Christine DiGangi covers personal finance for Credit.com. Previously, she managed communications for the Society of Professional Journalists, served as a copy editor of The New York Times News Service and worked as a reporter for the Oregonian and the News & Record. More by Christine DiGangi |
| <b>Student Loans</b> are Worsening Inequality, with Thomas Piketty | Big <b>...</b> Posted: 25 Mar 2015 08:22 PM PDT Student loans are intended to provide everyone with equal access to education, but the staggering amount of student loan debt that Americans currently hold — estimated at over $1 trillion — is retarding economic growth and entrenching wealth inequality. Or at least according to the exhaustive analysis of French economist Thomas Piketty, whose academic treatise, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, became a popular success and carried with it the cultural weight of a work by Adam Smith or Karl Marx. The central observation of Piketty's work is that money works differently now than ever before. Invested income has grown at a rate outpacing the rise in wages, meaning the rich get richer and the poor stay about the same (or get poorer relative to inflation). And as college tuition has grown, the loans required to sustain it become more burdensome.
Having to pay back hefty loans while looking for your first professional experience is a mentally taxing experience. It can cause undue stress and depression, which makes functioning well in a professional environment all the more difficult. It also makes you more likely to accept positions that do not take full advantage of your qualifications, because you need a paycheck now, and complicates starting your own business, which requires difficult periods of cash-poorness. At what point can we say that the deal has gone south for Americans who owe large amounts of student loans? Some students attending for-profit universities have publicly refused to repay their loans, arguing the services they received did not match what they paid in tuition. |
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