On a warm October evening, in 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt stood in a baseball field in Pittsburgh, delivering an impassioned speech about passion’s improbable subject: the federal budget. “Sometime, somewhere in this campaign, I have got to talk dollars and cents, and it’s a terrible thing to ask you people to listen for forty-five minutes to the story of the federal budget, but I am going to ask you do it,” he told the crowd.
Credit supposes that which we cannot afford today will be able to be paid back by tomorrow’s wealthier self—a self who is wealthierof riches leveraged by these debts. Perhaps no form of credit better embodies the myth of a future, richer self than student loans. Under the vision of the free-market economist Milton Friedman, student loans emerged in the nineteen-fifties as an outgrowth of, which posits the self as, above all, a unit of investment.
Although most older student debtors have borrowed money for their own education, approximately one-third have taken out loans on behalf of a child or grandchild. Unlike direct federal loans, which have borrowing limits, parents can take on virtually infinite amounts of debt—up to the full cost of attendance each year—to finance their children’s education through a program called Parent Plus.
For his part, Obama’s attempts to reform the student-debt crisis have, in some ways, worsened it. In the twenty-tens, as student-loan balances hit one trillion dollars, Obama expanded income-driven repayment options, a relief program that began in 1993. I.D.R. allows borrowers to reduce their monthly payments to a percentage of their income, rather than in proportion to the total balance; after twenty to twenty-five years of payments, the loans are eligible for cancellation. In theory, I.D.R.
Student Debt Student debt is the eternal albatross about the neck of the poor and Middle-class of America just as leg irons around the ankles of the enslaved or transported inmates. It was created to keep less affluent Americans who academically aspire captive.
LIGE_NJUKI I don’t understand how she did that. I had a pretty big student loan in that same time frame and it was a 10 yr loan and I paid it all off in 10 yrs. People who take an open ended loan have no common sense, when it wasn’t necessary to take that type of loan.
ctuckerprof MUST READ….
The article should read. In 1983 Trump made her classrooms inequitable,then the sly bastard forced her to take out loans for college,next he forced her to work for next to nothing so she couldn’t pay off those loans With help from Russia,This process was repeated over and over
I am often told that if you pay money and use platforms for getting likes, nothing good will come of it. I recently saw a platform called INSTAshop. What do you think about it? Has anyone used it?
Do not take on student debt
Failing to plan or planning to fail? We need more financial planning education
So, in other words, she never made a single payment or attempted any other way to resolve the problem, and we're to feel sorry for her? BTW, the only way to turn 29K into 330K of debt would to let it ride for forty years.
They're making $ off your Brain-Mortgage Fed student loans for undergraduates currently have an interest rate of 4.99% for the 2022-23 school year; graduate students have interest rates of 6.54% or 7.54% for unsubsidized loans or PLUS loans, respectively.
So, a middle-aged public school teacher decided to borrow $30K, take some law courses, then refuse to make a single payment for four decades? Such a hero.
focusing on the outliers is propaganda
And she personifies all that is wrong with our world today.🤬
How much did she pay on the loan? You know, New Yorker, that might be important, because I get the feeling she paid NOTHING. Who takes out a loan and pays back NOTHING over 40 years and thinks the loan will just magically disappear?
No educational loan should have an interest rate higher than 1%. No bank should be able to offer a credit card with an interest rate that’s more than 5% higher than the corresponding savings account interest rate that they offer. No home or car loan should be over 3% interest.
Wait, what does law school have to do with basket weaving and lesbian dancing?
1) show your math. 2) if she has a law degree, why didn't she practice law and pay it off? 3) how is this MY problem?
loansharks
Wait. So she didn't make a single payment? 39 years 6.4 percent interest is about 329,500 dollars.
She should have taken a personal finance course to go along with the law degree because this is foolish and irresponsible of her. I taught my son what an amortization schedule is when he was in Middle School. They're not hard to find or understand.
Insanity!! I guess they're right, 'ignorance is bliss'.
Total irresponsibility!
Read the article. No context given. Just “trust us, she’s deeper in debt”. I smell fakenews
I too started law school in 1983. I borrowed about $18,000. I paid it off in 1995 or 1996 without the benefit of a high paying job.
Why are you hiding comments? Don’t want people to say the obvious, why did she take on large amounts of debt at 51 when she already had a good career? Am I supposed to feel bad for her?
DemCastOregon MSNBC SRuhle please explain this
I need to see some recipes on this claim.
This what making a minimum payment does to your balance, it always goes up! Credit cards payments are designed this way too. It's simple accounting and yet no one seems to know.
The IRS needs to attach her assets to recoup some of the money we're losing because of her.
This article is ridiculous. A grown, gainfully employed woman decides to chuck her career and go to law school. Doesn’t say if she finished, passed the bar, or even tried to get a job.
Oh bullshit
That's a verbose way of saying she made a bad decision.
Who is the victim? The person who borrowed 29k and never paid it back? Or The people who loaned the 29k and never got reimbursed? Also, that math is wrong. Even including late fees it wouldn't reach a 30% interest rate over 39 years not to mention default long before.
Not the type of person you want educating our children.
She chose poorly. Not my responsibility to pay for her disastrous decisions.
Wait, how did borrowing $29,000 become a $329,309.69 debt? Is that New Yorker math or Democrat math?
What did she do with decades of earnings?
This article is primarily a evidence of people maintaining debt because proper debt service was not required. Strangely, the math is never explained. It does not fit the narrative.
Sounds like she made some horrible life choices. I feel bad for her predicament, but this is an indictment of nothing more than her bad decisions.
Man if only they taught this in high school...like before people go and take out loans to pay for more school? 😒 But damn...the government wouldn’t go for that cause then they wouldn’t have entire generations of people that relied on them for everything. That sucks.
I barrowed $250,000 in early 2000s for med school. I paid it off years ago.
Irresponsible vs brain damage.
So she didn't pay a dime on the principal nor did she even make the most basic of payments?
Must have been pretty bad as a lawyer that she couldn't pay off a $29,000 loan and letting it get to $329K
Big story line just to tell everyone this lady is a democrat. 'Critics say' maybe she should have at least tried to make 'one' payment, but in typical democrat fashion, she went hard after full default.
My wife took out $45k in loans for optometry school and we paid them off in 18 months.
Why are you highlighting this deadbeat? She is scum.
Did she put everything on a credit card? The maths don't add up here.
It's a good argument for doing something about the interest on student loans. Maybe have the universities pay off the interest from their massive endowments, and then freeze interest on loans.
LOL
Life is full of choices and consequences. Most of us live by those.
Basic. Math. Try it.
She’ll die and default.
ICarrollJ I can’t phantom anyone saying America is the land of opportunity. Not with students loans of this kind, no universal healthcare, no maternity leave, and the cruelty of racism… America could be great, but people don’t want to change and yet they pay such a price…
So, she made stupid decisions and avoided the inevitable consequences?
Also worth noting that when she does her loans are written off and not attached to her estate.
That’s what happens when interest accrues on debt you don’t pay back. Are we supposed to be sympathetic?
She is irresponsible. It's that simple.
What a crock
So our own government is in the loan sharking business 🇺🇸
Makes no sense, an educated lawyer with high earnings potential and ignores the loan. What PA does that.
So, she never made any payments. Got it. Now explain to me why I’m obligated to make her payments for her.
Thanks for this. This makes me feel good that I did pay back my loans, even if it was very difficult. Next up: saving for my first house in my 40s.
Did she never make a payment? That would be the only explanation and no I don't feel sorry for her. Interest and late fees can compound rapidly over 40 years.
This is outrageous. She's going to die never having paid a penny on her obligation, apparently.
Really surprised that she let the dent get away from her. Unless she stopped paying to make a point.
She must not have Ben a very good lawyer.
Legend. I hope she never pays it back. None of us should pay it back. I didn't. You can threaten me with violence and I still won't pay it back
Good , so you people ar the New Yorker care so much about this person, start a go fund me… don’t make me foot the bill with more federal taxes you bcunts
A grown woman voluntarily borrowed double the allowed maximum for law school student loans (I know this because I borrowed the maximum of $5,000 per year), and was so derelict in paying it back that $300,000 in interest accrued. I'm not seeing the inequities.
I have $250K in debt on a $90K loan I paid back $126K on and I'm 55.
In 2012, as a teacher, I took out $15k in student loans to assist in my administrative degree. On a teacher salary, I paid them off in full by Dec. 2014. I moved on.
Every student loan should have a cost benefit analysis sheet. ie you will lose $120,000 in income during the 4 years of school. You will owe $60,000 in school loans making college a negative of $180,000. What will your income be? How long will it take you to pay off your loan?
They don’t explain how interest works to 17-18 year olds if you’re part of the Poors. They just say “go to school, get a good job, bootstraps and American flags talk” 🥲
And this is my fault because...?
If you pay the total interest payment plus a small amount of principal, say $5, you would be able to pay back the loan and it will not become 6 or 7 figure loan. This is true for all your loans including credit card payments, house mortgage, etc. The HS Math class taught this.
Note: interest rates were high in early 80s. Q’s. (1) unsubsidized loans? (2) How long was she in school? (3) After going to law school, did she practice law (make income) (4) did she understand amortization tables before, during or after taking loans?
What I don’t understand is why do these “under debt” students don’t pay the full interest on the loan. Yes the min payment due is always there but that is never equal to the full interest. The remaining interest gets added to the original principal borrowed.
I'm guessing this is just horrible journalism, because this doesn't make sense... Or this person just never went back to work...
Student loans should not be automatic. When you go to buy a house you have to prove to the bank that you can afford the house, with annual income and credit history. The same should be done with Student loans, prove your degree can pay the loan and your grades are up to par.
This teacher, obviously didn't do her math first. If she wanted to fight inequality who were far more cheaper and productive ways to do so
This is so beautifully written, and heartbreaking 😣🤧
Should have enrolled into an accounting program.
Was she as terrible and irresponsible a lawyer as she is at paying debts?
looks like she livin the high life
Worst Teacher Ever
Reminder to all the Fascist fiscally ignorant Democrats thinking cancelling student loans is a good idea - Since 2010, the Democrats made student loans by the federal government because they needed the interest to pay for Obamacare. You're being lied to.
BREAKING: Woman takes out loan, doesn’t make payments on it, her debt keeps growing. News at 11:00.
....and?
Moral of the story: don’t borrow money you can’t pay back.
🙏🏾💛
Proving you don’t need to be young to make bad decisions
She is the one that made mistakes and did not pay off her loans…like I did. The rest of us are not responsible for her poor decisions and her refusal to have a life style that would enable her to pay off her loans. Cry harder.
It seems like most of you need to refinance with a private lender. I paid $80,000 in student loans in a little over six years. Also - tell your kids to work while they’re in school and at least make interest payments until they graduate. It makes a big difference.
There is no way in hell this teacher used the term 'inequity' in 83 when it only became a thing in the last 4 years And that math doesn't make sense unless she didn't pay a dime ever You'd think a person over 50 would be more financially responsible
How is that even possible?
Crazy! Only in the U.S.A!
She didn't make a payment in 39 years ?
Why didn't she pay it back?
mehdirhasan Shouldn’t her debt have been forgiven for teaching 10+ years and making minimum payments?
1) And yet people do pay off their loans, 2) and yet it’s so bad they are still offering these loans today 3) and yet the administration as a % of student population at universities continues to explode, particularly in the are of DEI. Anyone spot the problem yet?
Her irresponsibility isn't taxpayers problem. She clearly stopped paying on the loans. Beyond that, what did she think she was going to do when she graduated from law school at the age of 55? Her pie in the sky fantasy about herself is absurd.
Lies and more lies. In 1981 she would have a gov back loan, under Sally Mae, with a low interest rate. SHE NEVER MADE A SINGLE PAYMENT AND THOUGHT SHE WOULD DIE AND AVOID PAYING A CENT. TALK ABOUT SELFISH AND ENTITLED. YOU LIE NEW YORKER.
Something is missing here. If she owes that much on a 40 year old debt, she never made a payment.
What a load of crap. A car loan for the same amount could have been paid off in 5 years. Her irresponsibility is not our problem.
TheWouston This will get spicy. If you default on your loans it affects your benefits later on in life. Social Security and tax returns can be garnished to pay student loan debt. 😬😬
Oh I see. Because you used the word inequity the other words don’t matter anymore.
Good returns.
Lol
For those wondering how someone with a law degree couldn't pay $29,000 off. . . Remember, with degreed professionals, school is only have the battle. You still have to spend a few years as an associate working 80+ hour weeks. And thats compared to a bunch of fresh 30 yr olds
LOL
Yup! I borrowed $82k. My loan is now $162k due to interest. I’m only 54 and have been paying since 1987.
These people made bad choices and now the taxpayers should pay off there loans? It makes no sense.
What am I missing, she made choice to borrow money and now she is incensed she has to pay it back? 🤣 And she literally used the money to better her situation to pay it back?
Leave it to this propaganda rag to find the weirdest outlying case imaginable to justify truck drivers paying the loans of law school graduates. Pathetic.
can anybody from the us explain the math to me? i cant for the life of me figure it out and i dont see interest rate listed in the article
so basically a thief?
kimtopher22 So she failed then.
Law school is 3 years. $29,000 is modest debt for law school. The only way she owes that much is due to penalties and fees from paying nothing and going into default, along with the interest rates of the 80s thanks to Carter, eventually fixed by Reagan.
TheWouston I wonder how much they have received in interest payments on that debt. Certainly by now the principle has been paid off.
That’s an outright lie. Plain and damned simple.
She should have gotten a finance degree instead.
The interest rates are criminal
She definitely needs more than $10k. This is the case with so many people. The loans should be cancelled entirely and a new system put in place.
How come the author doesn't ask to see or publish the amortization schedule? I'm convinced that a many of the people who defaulted on their loans, did so in hope of debt cancellation.
In 1983 student loan interest rates were 8%. The monthly payment on a $29K 30 year loan would be $212. Per BLS, the average weekly salary of a lawyer in 1983 was $612. There's more to this story than the article suggests
This is the student loan story. It's not borrowers trying to get out repaying. It's the privitization of student loans that are legalized loan sharking.
😆😅🤣😂 bad decisions result in bad consequences
Perfect example why govt shouldn’t be involved in loans…thanks..
I took a loan of $15,000 and bought enough cases of water to fill an Olympic swimming pool, I then dumped them in the ocean, could someone pay off my loan?
And I’m supposed to just throw up my hands and yell, “Oh the humanity!” Because you found a 91 year old woman who is still repaying a college debt that she’s entirely responsible for? That shit doesn’t work on me. I’m not paying for someone else’s debt. Go pound sand.
Are we to celebrate this person who clearly doesn’t understand how interest works? She should have borrowed a little more and taken an economics course.
She went to Nyu.. not an affordable degree She was in her fifties She was going to work the rest of her life to pay off this loan? Plenty of affordable school choices in the city Why Nyu?
I cut my arms off at 45. Can I have one of yours?
That's what happens when a parasitic prog lawyer makes no payments. Zero sympathy except for the people that paid for the loser's default.
Couldn't have been a very good lawyer then.
In 98 I borrowed 60,000 and now owe 1.8 million dollars.
asmamk Me too. I'm 10 years behind her. It's the compound interest (i.e., capitalization, i.e. usury) that does it. Rue the day we stopped making usury a crime.
PollySpin Did that at least get her away from harming the kids in her classroom?
These arguments for Biden's 10k handout to wealthy young Democrats are weak. So very weak.
The Higher Education level today is a Loan Shark with promises of a good future doesn't want to tell you if you get dream career or any goal you'll be in ground still owning for it. I wouldn't wish Loan debt on my worst enemy
Aline_Carr It’s inequality
asmamk There are even more home-loan debtors. What is your point?
Well good luck getting all that money.
Telling people that they will find a high paying job with that degree is also irresponsible.
The only this happens is if she stopped paying it. That is what we in the old country call Tough Shit.
dabernathy89 Wow!
She borrowed $29,000 in ⭐️federal loans.⭐️ Today she owes $329,309.69 in ⭐️student debt.⭐️ She is 91 years old. More disingenuous language games.
donwinslow I love the pic of the guy next to a $60,000 pickup truck and $300,000 home complaining about his student debt. And a $29,000 loan on a Lawyers salary and it grows to $329,000 Gold help anyone she represents.
This is so silly. People buy cars for more on 5-7yr notes without the balances rising. This woman did something wrong. This is not the system, this is borrowers using every avenue possible to delay payment.
This sounds very much like my son’s situation. He borrowed 30K and still owes 60K. He’ll finish paying when he’s 75.
You choose poorly.
If my math is right she made an avg payment of $55 a month on a 29000 dollar loan! Assuming a 7% interest rate.
Notice how every “Conservative” profile is so financially responsible that none of them have debt? Or they pay off their debt in a year? Or they ride bikes to work? Or they raised 15 kids while working at night with only a GED because they refused student loans? “Malarkey!” 😁👍
The perfect woman is one that loves you for your money, but is terrible at math.
She can go work for Trump, he needs lawyer's. Lots of good ones to keep him out of jail just a few more years until he is dead.
Bummer for her.
Wow. That is an absolute disgrace. Predatory college costs, predatory interest rates, woefully inadequate minimum wage rates, and terrible, impenetrable payment documentation and administration. This mess is not the fault of the loan payer. The whole system is broken.
How can the interest be more than the loan? I’m other cultures that’s not even conceivable! It’s a horrible legal scam!
All student loans should be 0% interest. It's an investment, by the government, in a future largely-intellectual community able to be legitimate leaders of the world. GOP doesn't like intellectual majorities, we ask to many legitimate questions.
Yo, you wanna get educated? We got EZ credits for student loans at Bada Bing Student Loans. EZ terms, low vig, your lifetime guarantee.
I think that if we make graduates from the military academy to give 5 years and risk their lives in exchange for their education, some type of public service should be required for this student loan forgiveness.
It explains a lot about the state of public education.
And you're not blaming the federal loan system? Amazing blinders you've got there.
Nobody made her take those loans
Well, this is a prime example of a goverment program that has worked out well. 🙄 As a society, we need to look at this differently. Perhaps, instead of a student loan program, we need to peg public university tuition to the minimum wage and subsidize the schools accordingly.🤔
The problem isn't student debt, it's the cost of a university education in the US
OK. No interest on student loans going forward. Problem solved. But it’s disgustingly unfair for people who never went to college, or for anybody else, to pay for other people’s student loans. Will students pay someone else’s mortgages?
So, not smart.
So irresponsible. Don’t be like this lady. Make better choices and pay your bills.
Loans for law school are repayable in service. Work in a high need area in a law clinic or public assistance office. No excuse to owe the money.
I think she now only owes $319,000
Ah! So this the the banks fucking problem. People don’t have to pay it back so banks get fucked. Good help us, cause they’re gonna get their money lol
Needed 29K to go to law school in '83?
So she never paid it back and this is somehow not her fault? responsibility
Many lawyers are terrible at personal finance. Sounds like she’s no different.
So... She either made minimum payments or never made a payment? 1983 was almost 20-year before the Fed got in on the predatory loan game. She could have had it paid off no later than the min-90's on a teacher's salary.
Did you actually verify this? I mean, teachers get loans dismissed after ten years of payments, so, a bit hard to believe.
Sounds like she made a horrible financial decision
Guessing she didn’t pass the Bar.
Terrible. The $10k per person does ZERO to stop this & future loans from being predatory. Biden’s move is only expensive. Real change? Cap the interest rates. Take on loan companies. But can’t do that, that’d go against donors. Biden simply bought votes. Prove me wrong(good luck)
Wtf America must do better
Law school is way more than that even for the 80s.
She would have paid off her loans if she didn’t stop for Starbucks.
Weird because I had 20k in student loans and managed to pay it off in 5 years. I would think someone going to law school would have a better grasp on finance. I assume she never actually worked as a lawyer.
Sounds like a grown woman, an educator, made a series of bad decisions. Those have consequences. Who cares if they die with debts? At 91 her children are long grown and hopefully learned from her example.
Accrued interest and penalties can add up. She obviously skated by in her contract law class.
Is this like making the minimum payment on your credit card? Sure, payment is made, but the credit card doesn't get paid off
Something smells fishy here. Took out $29k in loans (total) and owes over $329k Because of interest? BS. She must have just not made any effort at paying it back.
Go to community college. They cost less and you can get a great education there. You can also work and pay it off as you go. You can continue that route all the way up to a bachelors degree at a state college.
A lot of oddities here (I’ll call it that). The interest rate even with capitalization is extremely higher than any DOE student loan I’ve ever seen let alone, based on occupation as of 1983 it’s assumed the loans are post grad. The ’s 3,9,2 are repeated, indicating a made up .
i hope her descendants can pay that off quick. i need some more free stuff
She must be an awful lawyer if she couldn't pay back 29k
Proof positive that age =/= wisdom.
Not a very bright teacher or lawyer .
Did she ever make any payments on her loan?
Doesn’t say what she did for work after her degree and what type of payments she made. But perpetual students that keep deferring loans get into this mess a lot.
Her house look nice and can fetch 500k in the market.
Student loans were dischargeable in bankruptcy until the mid 90s when Clinton (with Biden's assistance) made them otherwise. And this teacher had a $227 per month payment (29K at 7.1% for 20 years) starting in 1984.
Solution is STOP GIVING OUT LOANS TO PEOPLE WHO HAVE NO JOB NO CREDIT AND NO ASSET TO REPO!!!!
Throw her in jail
Don't pay it, student loans are forgiven if the borrower dies.
Seriously, you think we believe this is true? I know student debt is real, but from 1983 Get real..
The good news? She's 91 and will die... And!... You'll never get your 300K you parasites!
Sounds like the federal government offered her a predatory loan that would be illegal for any other lender. There is your problem, now let's fix it.
It seems like rather than just forgiving 10k they should solve the actual problem that allows for this to exist. Like maybe a cap on interest that can accrue? How about pass actual laws to help people.
That’s a made up BS story!! Fakenews.
Stop negative amortization on school loans if you wanna help!
If we can forgive SCOTUS Justice Kavenough for mistakes he made in his 20s, there is no reason we cannot forgive 20 YOs in the 90s for not knowing about predatory and for-profit student loans.
LOL
Why? Really this doesn't make any damn sense and this is really stupid. That person shouldn't be around kids.
Perhaps she should have paid her debt instead of being another freeloader. The Democrat slogan should be, 'Something for Nothing'.
40 years as a lawyer and she can’t pay off the equivalent cost of a pickup truck?
Deadbeat
Did she sign for the loans? If she went into NFP and Public Service they'd be forgiven. Something about this story doesn't add up at all
There will be no justice until every one of us is forced to help pay it off.
Why didnt she pay it back when it was $29000? She decided to NOT pay it back for 40 years. This was fraud. SHE IS A VILLAIN, NOT A VICTIM.
Ummmm pay them back 🤷🏼♂️
ShannonFreshour Maybe get your JD from somewhere more reasonably priced? No disrespect to this woman or her travails, but you have to do the math on your future earnings before you borrow money, for anything. That's the problem - too few do.
This is the story of so many Americans POTUS how can you leave these people behind? CancelALLStudentDebtNOW CancelStudentLoans studentloanforgiveness
Nice
Tonya_Aria Holy Cow!!
Why did she pay so little all these years….the interest wouldn’t have built up if she paid on principal.
Isn't it interesting Obama still lives in Washington, DC? A former president hadn't stayed on in the capital in nearly a century.
She kicked the can down the road and probably worked for legal aid vs a law firm. No sympathy.
Shouldn't have taken out a loan
sbarrett670 WTF
that's just stupid
Eliminate all student loan debt or at least interest
Shocking she didn’t understand how interest works, given her education. Having over 300k in student loans at 92 is indicative of a larger problem. Hope she doesn’t pass it on to her kids if she has them, but I’m not hopeful.
She obviously isn’t paying it! Or ever going too do WGAF
Who writes the banks laws? Politicians, who finance politicians political campaigns? Bankers.
The banks and politicians. That’s the reason. Get a $30,000 loans they charge you $10,000 interest. Open a bank account with 100,000 on it and u get $8 of interest every year.
Must not be a good lawyer...
Inequity. 😂
MichaelSalamone All these comments are the worst
Is this an argument for debtors prison?
This reportage stinks on ice
40 years of not paying her loan? Other guy got a degree in order work an assembly line while posing at the door of his 50 thousand dollar truck.
Plus if she was a lawyer why didn’t she make enough to pay that amount off. This sounds like total BS to me but?
It’s the interest that’s really the issue, not the borrowers. When the loan relief hit I saw a lot of stories of people who had borrowed and then paid back double the principle. If a GOP crook/traitor like MTG can have her PPP loans forgiven, why not student borrowers.
These numbers don’t make any sense. If you buy a car for 30 grand it is paid off in 6 or 7 years. Hasn’t anyone of these folks thought paying extra to the principal. These don’t seem like good business decisions.
Ten dollars extra a week towards principal can make such a difference.
OK. Sorry, I don’t feel a bit sorry for her voluntary decision to finance a degree at a high interest rate and then make insufficient efforts to repay it.
Did she ever make a payment?
Thts freakin ridiculous 300k in interest WTAF Is wrong with the system.!
Well that was dumb.
Her fault.
I get why The New Yorker wraps this all up as a social justice story, but this is really a story about people who entered into loans that they did not understand. If Congress eliminated Dept of Education loans & allowed bankruptcy, many of these loans would never have been made.
Don’t take loans you can’t afford to repay
This is why the most common sense solution is to cap the total interest, as a percentage of the amount borrowed. After that’s met, all payments go toward principal.
She should have known better, being an educated women of maturity.
Choices and consequences!
If this is true, shouldn’t the share this with POTUS?
School loans shouldn't be lifetime debt! This is predatory price gouging. Shame on America
Principle amounts don’t rise if you’re making reasonable payments. This is the result of making bare minimum payments, and/or deferring years on end. Why are economics so difficult for one political party? You owed the price of a Honda Accord for a Law degree. Figure it out!
Student loans of $300k on $29k borrowed 40 years ago smells fishy. If this wisened teacher took out more loans to be a teacher than a lawyer, perhaps we can agree that schools should not be allowed to charge so much for degrees that offer so little in pay
The disdain for people in service professions is really something. Capitalism is oppressive. If you hate teachers, non-profit lawyers, & social workers, then you likely worship greed over community. We shouldn't be condemned with crippling debt.
she did what?
Meaning she never attempted to pay it or never will. Lawyers make a lot of money.
If the borrower’s payment is calculated at 10% of discretionary income and Biden reduced that to 5%, he is enslaving more people to even greater debt? Is that the way it works?
There is such a thing as make a payment on your loan?
Relax. It’s only $319,309.69 now.
Two avenues of hope are: the latest, or fifth, income driven repayment will shelter $31,000 AGI for a single person (which works out to be more w/ social security recipients); April 19, '22 memo maybe counts more months since 1983 in the 25-year cancellation. She may be done.
This is not the convincing story you think it is.
JayThurberShow Sorry Jay. I’m 100% behind Biden’s student loan forgiveness. 100%. But this doesn’t help going forward. Bad article. Holes the article How much did she borrow in 1983 to owe $300,000 now?
I guess the law school she went to didn’t have and financial courses.
Thank God she got out of teaching.
I guess it’s a good thing she stopped teacher then if she wasn’t smart enough to budget paying off a small loan.
Sorry, but that's hilarious
Not a very smart person at 52.
Life in the United States of Pyramid Scams.
Federal student loans should not have interest.
So she never made payments ? That’s just irresponsible.
oceanclub WTF
AllisonPearson Something tells me she won't be paying back that money = = Tell Joe Biden.
Seems like she made a bad investment in herself. I hope Sallie Mae gets the first crack at her life insurance.
Basic economics and finance should be a high school graduation requirement. It's not rocket science.
Bring your library book back on time. That’s how things work.
This is an old Rodney Dangerfield joke. He said he borrowed $50 from a 'shylock on the street' in 1957, paid back $100/week ever since, and now owed only ten grand.
Maybe she should have focused on economics
So that was a bad financial decision? That's what I'm getting at least
I bet her kids appreciated it
Is this a TRUE story? Or something the Capitalist media pulled out from their a**? How will that measly 10000 help her? Oh Just to vote for the Dems in Nov...
Read the article. She made the decision to go to law school and then work for a non-profit for close to minimum wage. This is not the 'gotcha' that the New Yorker would like it to be.
How did someone finish all those years of school and not have any demonstrated understanding of compound interest? Jeeze.
WHAT
That’s too bad. Not my problem
Just “write a book”… like Marco did… POOF!!!! Problem solved!
No this can’t be… Ted Cruz and company keep saying university students are just a bunch of lazy burnouts with useless degrees… can Cruz be wrong 🤷♂️?
A lot of people commenting in this thread about how they graduated 20-30 years ago and have huge debt now. I'm betting that NONE of them skip family vacations, dining out, buy used car, etc. Why is their bad $ management MY problem? I graduated in '88 and paid debt in 10yrs
Piss poor planning on her part does not constitute a crisis management situation on out part.
Why didn't she pay it with her law degree?
mehdirhasan Two things I bet they still don't teach in U.S. high schools and universities: -- POLITICAL ECONOMY was removed from U.S. high schools in 1892, thanks to an initiative led by history prof. Woodrow Wilson (yes, that WW).
Then she never made a payment. Otherwise it would have been paid back in 1998.
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. Good.
Why is this my problem?
Incredibly irresponsible of a 52 yr old to not make payments on her loans…let me guess you’re insinuating she gets relief?
shannonrwatts Did she get her student loans at a pawnshop?
Whole generation of ppl having epiphanies about the time value of money and how compounding is, like Ben Franklin said 300 years ago, the ninth wonder of the world.
It's the debt that will be paid by her estate.
I suspect that most of these stories in the comments are lies, BUT if true, it is astounding to me the number of college graduates that don’t understand basic finance. This is the problem (among others) we need to be working to solve.
Which is why debt relief is dumb. The fed shouldn't be in the business of guaranteeing student loans or profiting from providing those loans.
Such an irresponsible person! Why did she pay back her loan like millions of Americans did.
Never made a payment. You have to pay back what you borrow from others.
Broad should’ve payed her bills.
Amazing how the tuition hiking colleges seem to be getting a pass. They're the ones profiting from this tuition inflation
That’s Mafia level shit!
JAndiBold1 I borrowed 25k as a young 22 yo single parent working full-time and putting myself through college. Today, I still owe 100k. I attained a BA in psychology and a BSN. I have given passionately of myself to health care with those degrees. 😧😬
RexChapman The heartlessness of the current Democrats is palpable.
I urge you to really read the examples. Loan payments of $100, $250, and $500 per month are described as crushing debt. Wages are always described as dwindling. Minorities with advance degrees describe struggle for employment despite pressure to hire them from Gov. Is this real?
But giving her 10k would be helping the rich?
That's a lot of avacodo toast.
docrocktex26 Did anyone ask why she wasn’t able to pay of $29k before it got to be so much? 1983 - 2022 is a long time to hold on to a small student loan, as the interest wasn’t always high. So is this private or federal loans, big difference.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that she didn't teach math.
The stories in these this thread. 😳 How did you all rack up such high principles while making payments? Did you only make the minimum payment? That's the only way so much could be added to the principle.
donwinslow The lenders never took into consideration your future ability to pay back the loans because they had no risk of the borrower defaulting.
Debt = slavery. Always has, always will.
Should she be grateful that she s getting 10k canceled or no?
The interest applied to these loans is obscene.
I'm guessing she did not become a successful lawyer.
what type of law does she practice
donwinslow $29K at 10% (surely rate wasn’t close to that) over 30 years is still only $254 monthly. Assuming decent health to work, how the heck did this person not pay some principle on a $29K loan?
And?
I borrowed about $72,000 to go to law school at William Mitchell, 95-99. Moved furniture, worked security jobs, during and after law school. Did my first trial for $160. But eventually the pressure of the debt got to me and I relapsed, started drinking heavily....(more)...
donwinslow What happened that we set up a loan repayment where not only was no principle payment required, but payments did not even meet the interest accrued since the prior payment? Even credit card companies set payments up better than this!
Such an easy fix - POTUS SecCardona UnderSecKvaal - allow FFEL Spousal Consolidation loans acces to the Direct Loan Consolidation Program. You allow other FFEL loans access to the DLC. This will provide them with access to your expanded IDR and PSLF initiatives.
She went into law school at a later age in life expecting to do non-profit lawyering. In 1983, interest rates were over 10% and I’m sure the student loan was fixed rate. I’m surprised the number isn’t higher.
Holy shit
'Until she retired a few months ago, Betty Ann spent the last thirty years working full time at a nonprofit for near-minimum wage.' Did I miss something?
LockHerUp
You don’t only have a student debt problem in the US. You have a usury problem.
I defaulted in a 1980 loan ..22k ballooned to 35k by 2003. DOE was going to court and I was able to settle for 25k. I waited to get sued to settle. Collection refused to modify anything.
I don’t think advertising that you didn’t pay your bill for over 35 years is the flex you think it is.
ShannonFreshour This is a shame, but the bottom line is that she borrowed money at a high rate and never paid it back.
I know a very similar story to this.
I don’t think reneging n your debt
nycsouthpaw I… don’t recommend straining to pay that back.
Did I read that correctly? Betty Ann worked thirty years at a non profit for minimum wage? Would that have anything to do with her dilemma?
ShannonFreshour I borrowed $80K and began repaying those loans in 1991. Never defaulted. Today I owe $140K and should be retiring in 6 years. I will die owing more than I borrowed and my kiddo will see nothing I worked for if something is not done.
KayeSteinsapir Yet there are people belly aching about loan forgiveness
cmclymer My student debt solution would have solved that. 'Convert all Federal Loans to 0 interest (why does the Gov't need extra money) & pay back all the interest to everyone who paid interest. Students can use that interest to pay off/down their loans, & those who paid it off win too.'
Ten years after that I graduated law school with a higher student loan debt than she had. I paid it over the next several years. Now I owe zero.
Just ignore the pay it back I worked 2 jobs to go to college they are the women should keep their legs crossed and just comply crowd
My friend borrowed 30,000 40 yrs ago to go back to school, obtain a Master’s degree, and today she owes 160,000. She’s 65 now. She’ll never be able to pay the loan off. It’s ridiculous and change must be made to this predatory lending.