So now it's you won't cry a river? The original post was that you won't feel sorry for anyone with student loans.
I'm not asking anyone to cry me a river. Hell, I'm doing pretty OK. Doesn't mean the situation doesn't still piss me off.
I feel a TON of sympathy for people who graduated recently and who are struggling to get by because the cost of education hasn't kept up with starting wages. I can't even imagine what it was like to start college in 2006, 2007, 2008, and then graduate into the shithole that was the economy 4 years later.
Yeah... that would be me. It's been really fun stuff. My DH has a master's degree (I just have a BSBA) and makes basically the same amount I do. He can't find a job anywhere that will pay him what he is worth (and he is looking into doing a phd program... *-)). It's kind of absurd really to think about how little we make. We're doing just fine, but our respective levels of education are not reflected in our salaries.
We're considering moving back to DH's home town because we can't afford to own a home or start a family where we live.
ETA: After reading through the whole thread... I'm not even necessarily knocking the student loans I have. I didn't take out all that much because I was fortunate enough to have scholarships and parents who could contribute. DH has none, in large part because of his parents. But it is pretty crazy to me to hear people talk about how the onus of the decision is on the student. My parents didn't know what I know now about my student loans. They didn't realize the job I would get straight out of college could have been done without my degree. They didn't know I wouldn't be able to find a job that paid me enough to make going to college worthwhile, especially not a private one. In hindsight, I would have stayed near home, gone to an in-state public university, and hoped to walk away without the student loans and with a similar salary to what I have now.
I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me. I made the decisions I made and I generally enjoy my life. It does make me really sad to think about leaving where we live though. Unfortunately, we just don't make enough to afford a decent house. And even if we did buy a house, we wouldn't be able to afford daycare for future kids. We would both need to work full time to pay our bills and the "leftovers" each month are decent, but not enough to handle an increase in mortgage payment plus daycare costs. It's more that it sucks to hear about people less than a decade older than me who have everything they want because they graduated into a decent economy. Again, not looking for sympathy. Just adding my thoughts to the conversation that's evolved through this thread.
I was talking to H about this yesterday. I feel like we are being punished for doing the "right" thing. Banks are making money hand over fist on my federal student loans, with their 6.32% interest rate. ON A VIRTUALLY RISK-FREE INVESTMENT! Meanwhile, people are getting mortgages at 3% AND get to write that interest off on their taxes. I get to write off a measly $2500 of my student loan interest. But I can't afford to get a damn mortgage because of said student loans. And last I checked, it wasn't the student loan crisis that sent the economy into a downard spiral. Had I graduated a year earlier and been able to consolidate my loans then, they would be multiple percentage points lower. I did what I was "supposed" to do - I went to a good professional school, I worked hard, I didn't buy a house I couldn't afford, and I pay more in both loan interest and taxes than someone doing the exact same job as me who happened to have been born 2 years earlier. Forgive me if I think people in this situation deserve a little sympathy from time to time.
I would just like to give you a standing ovation for this. (high5)
The difference between 2005 and 2006 interest rates astounds me. I was able to consolidate at 2.5% and my friends a year behind me were at 5 & 6% on their loans. It's terrible.
and on the 150K front, I went to the T2 school in my area (only other one is a T4) and because of that I have some friends making 6 figures (low 6 figures) because there are a few decent size firms around here. Most are lucky to be making 60-70K, if that.
I would just like to give you a standing ovation for this. (high5)
The difference between 2005 and 2006 interest rates astounds me. I was able to consolidate at 2.5% and my friends a year behind me were at 5 & 6% on their loans. It's terrible.
and on the 150K front, I went to the T2 school in my area (only other one is a T4) and because of that I have some friends making 6 figures (low 6 figures) because there are a few decent size firms around here. Most are lucky to be making 60-70K, if that.
I graduated in 05 and consolidated at 1.65. I can't even begin to say how lucky I am that they are this low, or I would be even more bitter than I already am. My student loans are manageable for me because of that.
In my area, we have a ton of law schools in every single tier, including Columbia and NYU, so when the bigLaw firms were downsizing a few years back, I had to compete with them for crappy jobs. I lost a job that offered 85k year to a Fordham grad who was at a larger firm. So it's very hard to compete from a T2 here unless we were at the very top of the class. I do have classmates at big NYC firms but they are absolutely the exception.