And I have news for you: A music degree from an top tier school (or Julliard, Curtis, etc) will not pay if you have to lever like this to do it. The odds are if you did not already have or qualify for a substantial scholarship based on your abilities, your earnings power is predictably nil in that respective profession. As a classical musician, degrees matter less than who you know and what you actually are capable of. Generally school years just buy time for the musician to make these necessary connections for their career. I think there is some wisdom to suggest that degree funding should only be provided to college attendees based on the viability of them paying off the loan. Ie, give med students loans, but only provide minimal funds to generally economically unviable majors: comparative literature, etc al. We underwrite mortgages and insurance; why not degrees? I think an underwriting methodology like this would act to reduce the general supply of funds towards universities would help reduce tuitions as well, as the market would bear less and disincentivize people to attend school in otherwise useless specializations. Maybe it would once again revalue a college degree if fewer and more brilliant only possessed it. Lets take it further: Why not create an agenda to give scholarships for degrees we need (engineering, geology, science, medicine, etc) on a national level.
He should've done what many of us have...gotten a marketable degree or job, and worked on his Masters degree and passion in his off-hours. I have little sympathy for him. Somehow that $160K will be paid or written off by someone else. In either case, it's not a desirable outcome.
What about, "...You can get into $150,000 worth of credit card debt and you can declare bankruptcy and you can go on with your life. But with student loans, you're being punished for being a better person...." Why is it OK to hose the credit card company? The borrower got the money and spent it. He owes. He should repay. Period. Perhaps we should bring back the concept of debtor's prision...
If you want a debtor's prison, I want a creditor's prison too. Howzat? To hell with the money lenders.
No we just need a little better "collections". More juice won't hurt either. Deadbeats should pay the loans back. Whether it was for booze, whores or a higher education.
This is a little off the topic of student loans, but I bet most debtors could avoid bankruptcy if the goddam moneylenders would just be more flexible on the repayment terms. They could call the delinquent accounts and offer lower payments, or a payoff amount to close the account. Hell, even if they continue lending out money recklessly and with predatory practices, they could still recoup most of these delinquent accounts by working with the debtor, but they rarely do. The creditors themselves are mostly to blame. Almost no one wants to run up debt and then head to bankruptcy court. But with inflexible lenders, they have no choice. It's been forced upon us that paying back debts is the honorable thing to do, not paying debts is disgraceful. There are no cultural standards, however, for the scumbag money lenders. The money lenders are the source of the problem. If you've ever read the book The Richest Man in Babylon, a book about creating wealth, the money lenders are portrayed as wise and honorable. They aren't. It's a lie.
Hell, look right here in this thread! Did anybody deride the lender for lending $160K for a music degree? No, but they deride the stupid borrower. It takes two to tango, and both of them screwed up.
USD$160K $10 K Practice accounts $30 K Set up $120 K Fund trading account Well its all about choices we make....
the lender deserves to lose money. they're retarded for lending that much to a music major. it's probably the same underwriter who approved the $250k mortgage to the mcdonalds chef who claims to make $80k annually and who has a fico of 600.