re: "Life after college did not go as Ashley Dreahn planned." that might be understating it.

She has enough money to get at least that shitty ankle tattoo and could afford enough calories to keep herself over the 200lb mark (and that's being conservative), was smart enough to get a Bachelor's and two Associate degrees but not smart nor solvent enough to keep her student loans in check?



That math ain't math-ing.

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College is expensive BECAUSE (in large part) government backed student loans. If you are a business whose "customers" can get a loan, regardless of financial status, credit history, etc, allowing you to get paid in full regardless of if you fully deliver your service/product (i.e. the customer graduates) why wouldn't you continue to raise the price of your goods/services? There's no risk and no real competitive marketplace because the government makes sure you (the college) gets paid in full even if the loan holder can't pay back the lender/government.

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it's actually kind of shocking how few people understand this simple mathematical explanation. libs will go into absolute acrobatics to try to tell you that this isnt true, but it obviously is.

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She was over the weight limit for the company's safety equipment.

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God damn, how fat is this bitch?

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I’d like to see this lady

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You have misplaced the negative that most assuredly belongs in this statement.

One of the problems of higher education (where I have spent 20+ years of my career) is that somewhere along the way, college went from 80% transactional to 80% relational in the marketplace.

Look at any college - doesn't matter if its SEC or small liberal arts. They are spending millions on things to make the college experience better (dorms, food, student life, etc.) rather than the education. And because of government backed student loans, there has been zero pushback from the marketplace. In fact, the market is demanding more (see LSU's lazy river in the student recreation center).

I don't know if its good or bad, but I do know that it has driven costs way up. There are a handful of schools that are still mostly transactional - somewhere like South Alabama that is almost 60% healthcare students still feels mostly transactional, but they are not immune to the marketplace so you see them putting money into athletics and student life.

There is a reckoning coming though. The number of potential college students is dropping off a cliff in the next few years. Clemson just had a President quit a day after he was hired because he looked behind the curtain at their $1.2 billion in debt. Penn State had to close a bunch of regional campuses to save money and then blamed their closure on an emergency increase in tuition last week.

There are thousands of students like dear Ashley in this story. They like to blame the system, but its their fault. Don't buy the crap that they do not know what they are signing. They come from impoverished backgrounds and all of a sudden they are living in a nice dorm, eating the best food of their life, and all they had to do is sign a piece of paper that they don't have to worry about until they graduate. Nut what this story doesn't tell you is that undergraduates are capped at $5500 in loans for freshman and sophomore years and $6500 for junior and senior years. Anything beyond that, they had to seek out private loans.

Her $90k figure? She probably maxed out everything and never paid a dime back. 8% interest compounds pretty quickly.

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college went from 80% transactional to 80% relational in the marketplace.

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i agree with everything you've said in your post, but i'm not sure what "relational" means in this context (i went to A&M, so i need small words)

but

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There are thousands of students like dear Ashley in this story. They like to blame the system, but its their fault. Don't buy the crap that they do not know what they are signing. They come from impoverished backgrounds and all of a sudden they are living in a nice dorm, eating the best food of their life, and all they had to do is sign a piece of paper that they don't have to worry about until they graduate. Nut what this story doesn't tell you is that undergraduates are capped at $5500 in loans for freshman and sophomore years and $6500 for junior and senior years. Anything beyond that, they had to seek out private loans.

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YES. THIS.

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I find it extremely difficult to believe that no one along the way informed her that student loans cannot be released via bankruptcy, in fact I find it damn near impossible

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There are a lot of low IQ people that don’t understand how the world works

If she’s working at a prison, she probably qualifies for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. It would allow her to make income based payments for 10 years and apply for forgiveness of any remaining balance after that.

LINK

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i agree with everything you've said in your post, but i'm not sure what "relational" means in this context (i went to A&M, so i need small words)

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I guess what I mean is that students are looking for a relationship with their college. They want to love it. SEC schools are good about creating those relationships with their students that when they become "Former Students,*" they come back to campus, they donate to causes, etc. And when they are sold on the relationship or the experience, they are blinded to the cost.

Some schools are more transactional. Get in, get a degree, get a job, and its a means to an end. Where'd you go to college? Midwestern State, Mary Hardin-Baylor, Lamar, etc. They don't go back on weekends to watch football. Students at these schools can certainly get into debt, but they are less willing to justify it. Who loves Stephen F. Austin Bearcat football that much?


* - not alumni at A&M.