lack of student aid

[kelley]

At 01:33 PM 6/27/02 -0700, joanna bujes wrote:
>At 04:23 PM 06/27/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>>So, I'm truly curious, given that you taught at a state college during the
>>time i was going to college, how I could have swung 40k worth of loans? I
>>thought the max was 2500 for undergrads?
>
>My figure of $40,000 came from discussions I had with a number of 
>undergraduates. I would guess that this represents about the most debt 
>that undergrads toted up. I remembered it because it depressed the hell 
>out of me at the time. Most of these kids had very poor skills and were 
>headed for a middle-management job at Sears in the best of possible 
>worlds. I just didn't see how they could pay off their debts with those 
>employment prospects.

but again, how do you get a loan for more than the max of $2500 a year. 
obviously, one can, since i hear of people with humungo debt burdens. i 
just don't get the math. if you got out the max undergrad loan and the max 
grad loan and took 10 years to finish, then it would be 90k. but you're 
saying that undergrads had 40k of debt. how, if the limit was a loan of 
$2500/year?

i'm curious because the kid will be going off to college in four years and 
if there's a way to swing that kind of money, i probably will. i'd do it 
for my kid and also because i'm in a position to do it for him. i wasn't 
for myself--and didn't perceive myself to be in such a position, not when 
you're a two income couple and we made 25k. even then, i thought 30k a year 
was RICH. but i'm making more than that and there's something about being 
willing to sacrifice for your kid that you can't justify doing for 
yourself, particularly when your family isn't supportive.


>The people I know who are paying back educational debt do so for a very 
>long time....like ten years or so.

well, i'm lazy, but back when i was trying to get food stamps, i 
renegotiated it down to 60$/month to pay back 4k over 30 years! heh. so, 
you can get even longer terms! sheeeeeIT. 30 years. i could probably pay it 
off in full right now, but i've been a lazyass about it.

i'm just trying to figure out how it was the door slammed in my face back 
then when it was $2500/year which made anything but a state school off 
limits. clearly there are other ways of getting a loan that i was and 
continue to be unaware of!

kelley (can't play anymore....)


>Joanna