Are student loans (for undergrads) trashy?

Trashy is the wrong word.

I would imagine that economic events in this century likely wiped out a lot of student loan savings accounts for middle class families.

I’m planning to fund my kids college by saving money when they’re young. My parents did the same for me.


I wouldn’t call it trashy but poor planning on the parents part

Pretty much all posts with the word trashy in the subject are trashy.

It’s trashy for bs degrees. But for some it’s the only way they can pay for school. Loans for a good degree is worth it

I disagree. My parents divorced when my 3 siblings and myself were young. I was 1 year before TOPS started. Neither could afford my tuition even at $1,999.00 for my last semester in 2004. Trashy is assuming that you understand everyone’s situation. I make enough to pay my monthly payment especially at 2% interest.

No. What's trashy is the previous generations telling people that they need to go to college because they should be thankful of the opportunities that they themselves didn't have. "Be whatever you want to be". "Just get a degree."

What they fail to realize is that anyone with half a brain can get a degree and it's been that way for 2 decades or longer now. There isn't anything special or distinguishing about it anymore.

It's an investment like anything else. Take out loans if you know you will make a return. It comes down to realistic parenting. I was dumb as frick when I was 18, but I was at least smart enough to go for a money making degree. If I didn't have that sense, I would have needed a parent or someone to tell me I was being dumb as hell and to skip college if I wanted to pursue gender studies.

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Back in the day, most middle class kids had parents pay for college with college savings, or at least had a plan with the kid to combine the amount of savings and job kid got in college to pay for college.

I understand loans for grad school and professional school, but racking up significant amount of student loan debt as an undergrad seems like a significant lack of foresight and judgement from both parents and students, and is therefore trashy.

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Eh, I graduated from a top school with only 20k in debt, rest came from grants (get close to a full ride if your household income is below 100k), and now I don't need a graduate degree. Sucks to suck i.e. having to go to graduate school if you don't plan on med school. Bad life decisions.

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Back in the day, most middle class kids had parents pay for college with college savings, or at least had a plan with the kid to combine the amount of savings and job kid got in college to pay for college.

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I am uncertain if that is actually correct on its face, I will say that if you look at the raw numbers, it looks to me like the student loan rate did not rise as fast as the cost of attending college.

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I understand loans for grad school and professional school, but racking up significant amount of student loan debt as an undergrad seems like a significant lack of foresight and judgement from both parents and students, and is therefore trashy.

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That is a case by case basis and those decisions may take a lot more into account than you are giving credit for. Some may actually have the money but may want their kid to be responsible for the cost to a degree so have them take out a student loan that they can pay back by earning it when they leave college by either graduating or dropping out. And may reward the graduate with some or all of the money for the loan. Just a thought on that.

I do think many people do it without any real forethought

None of that is trashy, some may be irresponsible or shortsighted but not trashy.

Trashy is making a blanket derogatory statement about people trying their best to allow their kids an opportunity to do better in life.

And one more thing...