Here is a good resource that breaks student loan debt down by race.  Here are some of the opening points.  The one in bold was already mentioned by Deuce (and I have seen exactly this happen with others too) and it is a joke:

Black and African American college graduates owe an average of $25,000 more in student loan debt than White college graduates.

Four years after graduation, 48% of Black students owe an average of 12.5% more than they borrowed.

Black and African American student borrowers are the most likely to struggle financially due to student loan debt, with 29% making monthly payments of $350 or more.

54% of all student loan debt is held by White and Caucasian student borrowers.

Asian college graduates are fastest to repay their loan debt and the most likely to earn a salary that exceeds their student loan debt balance.

https://educationdata.org/student-loan-debt-by-race

I think loan forgiveness is idiotic, which is probably why it will happen.

What we really need right now is more spending and higher costs on everything.  Sounds like a definite recipe for success.

8 minutes ago, Randy Parker said:

I think loan forgiveness is idiotic, which is probably why it will happen.

What we really need right now is more spending and higher costs on everything.  Sounds like a definite recipe for success.

I guess this is a tangent topic (at least in my brain) but I have listened to a couple of "money people" state that it will boost inflation.  Here is what one group said about it:

Given the current state of the economy, we estimate cancelling all $1.6 trillion of student debt would increase the inflation rate by between 10 and 50 basis points (0.1 to 0.5 percentage points) in the 12 months after repayment is scheduled to begin. This would represent a 4 to 20 percent increase relative to the median inflation rate forecast.

https://www.crfb.org/blogs/cancelling-student-debt-would-add-inflation

Education is a bottomless pit of spending, which is a huge reason why we are where we are.  High-paying Administrative positions & perpetual construction of unnecessary amenities cause budgets to get bloated and the cost gets passed off onto the student.

Another reason is that subsidizing student loans have allowed tuition costs to increase at astronomical rates over the last few decades.  

At one point, a college education was justifiable because it would pay for itself.  I'm not sure that's always the case anymore.

35 minutes ago, Randy Parker said:

I'm not sure that's always the case anymore.

It's not, and hasn't been. Employers are "requiring" Bachelor Degrees for jobs that don't even pay $20/hr. 

If there's ever been a time to go to a trade school it's now. A  four year degree is grossly overrated. 

37 minutes ago, Randy Parker said:

Education is a bottomless pit of spending, which is a huge reason why we are where we are.  High-paying Administrative positions & perpetual construction of unnecessary amenities cause budgets to get bloated and the cost gets passed off onto the student.

Another reason is that subsidizing student loans have allowed tuition costs to increase at astronomical rates over the last few decades.  

At one point, a college education was justifiable because it would pay for itself.  I'm not sure that's always the case anymore.

Big Education!

Just now, TheDeuce said:

It's not, and hasn't been. Employers are "requiring" Bachelor Degrees for jobs that don't even pay $20/hr. 

If there's ever been a time to go to a trade school it's now. A  four year degree is grossly overrated. 

I agree, the funny thing about "trade school memes" is they are 100%!

1 hour ago, theguru said:

 

Four years after graduation, 48% of Black students owe an average of 12.5% more than they borrowed.

 

When you really think about it, it should be criminal. People pay $400 a month for four years and owe MORE than what they borrowed. That is theft, at a minimum. 

35 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

If there's ever been a time to go to a trade school it's now. A  four year degree is grossly overrated. 

I agree on trade schools.  I would add it's time to go to Community Colleges if you're looking at a four-year degree.  

This entire discussion is on my mind lately since Junior Parker will be a senior next year.  We've had some discussions about what the goals of college are.  I listened to her discuss her goals and then I told her there should really only be two: 1) Get a degree in a practical field of study that you have a passion for--something you can see yourself doing for the next 30-40 years. 2) Do it as cheap as possible.  The other stuff that most students are interested in can wait until after graduating.

41 minutes ago, theguru said:

Big Education!

People often accuse me of being anti-education.  I see myself as pro-student & pro-teacher.  Too much education money doesn't go to either of those folks.

2 hours ago, theguru said:

Black and African American college graduates owe an average of $25,000 more in student loan debt than White college graduates.

Four years after graduation, 48% of Black students owe an average of 12.5% more than they borrowed.

Black and African American student borrowers are the most likely to struggle financially due to student loan debt, with 29% making monthly payments of $350 or more.

I want to say those are alarming numbers, but "alarming" isn't a strong enough word.

56 minutes ago, Randy Parker said:

People often accuse me of being anti-education.  I see myself as pro-student & pro-teacher.  Too much education money doesn't go to either of those folks.

I'd probably be lumped into that anti-education group as well. I do not have a degree and I've been in Management in the past two jobs I've had. There is plenty of money to be made even without a degree. I do wish that more and more employers would lessen the weight of a degree to obtain a job. With training, a degree is meaningless, IMO. 

4 hours ago, Randy Parker said:

Education is a bottomless pit of spending, which is a huge reason why we are where we are.  High-paying Administrative positions & perpetual construction of unnecessary amenities cause budgets to get bloated and the cost gets passed off onto the student.

Another reason is that subsidizing student loans have allowed tuition costs to increase at astronomical rates over the last few decades.  

At one point, a college education was justifiable because it would pay for itself.  I'm not sure that's always the case anymore.

When pretty much anyone was suddenly able to qualify for a student loan, two things happened...

One was that there was suddenly an emphasis put on having a college degree.  "If you don't have a degree, you won't be able to compete in the job market..."

And the second thing was, that schools suddenly saw the ability to line their pockets with all this fresh-found money.  So, tuition prices went up, up, up.  This was not about supply and demand.  This was a strict money grab. Pure, unadulterated greed.  Used car salesmen get a bad rap for their tactics.  College administrators should be right there next to them.

Having either one of those events occur would be bad...having both of them happen has got us where we are today.

 

4 hours ago, TheDeuce said:

I do wish that more and more employers would lessen the weight of a degree to obtain a job. With training, a degree is meaningless, IMO. 

I want to give employers freedom, but I am with you here.  A degree, to me, means you know the job.  It doesn't mean you can do it.  And it certainly doesn't mean you can do it well.