Pluggers by Rick McKee for July 22, 2015

Poor guy. Makes me now wonder how are student loans paid off once the student has passed on.

If he were a billionaire, that wouldn’t be a problem.

had MINE paid in 10 years!

After receiving a settlement for a serious car accident in 1997, the first thing I did was call the student loan people. I explained that I’d come into some money and asked, “How much will it take to never hear from you again?” This was during the time when the interest was not deductible, at least if you made too little and didn’t have enough in deductions to itemize.

It took me 10 years to pay off my undergrad student loans. That’s why I paid for my grad school tuition as I went, so I could get my diplomas free and clear.

Fortunately, I never had to get a student loan. I worked my way through college; of course back then at the U of Minnesota, the tuition for up to 15 credits was $98 plus incidentals (@$25), plus books! Don’t ask me why, but I still have most of my college textbooks.

My how things have changed in 50 years…

When I graduated from high school in 1962, my husband and I bought a house and two cars within the next few years, on what he was making on a job he got right out of high school. Most of the guys I graduated with did the same. I didn’t work, few women did, and those who did actually chose to do so. Now, it isn’t really a choice for most women, unless they don’t mind living in poverty. When I decided to become a teacher, my first quarter’s tuition at a state university was $79, and we rented any books we needed for $20. Anyone could go to college with just a part time job to pay for it.Since that time, the GNP has skyrocked and the American worker is acknowledged to be the most productive in the world. But, all of the value they are producing is going to the top 1%. The Middle Class standard of living is declining, and a college graduate hasn’t anywhere near as easy a time as we had with just high school. We produce the highest quality goods on earth, and we can’t afford to buy them.A young person told me a while back that I couldn’t really understand why their generation was so angry. What I actually don’t understand is why they aren’t rioting in the streets.

I graduated from high school 9 years after you and chose to go to state college. I worked 3 jobs to support myself and graduated 3 years later. I didn’t need to take out a college loan as I didn’t want to start my career in debt. There were kids demonstrating then too, but it was against the war in Vietnam. Get a job, go to a school that you can afford, and then find a career you like and stick to it.

Now to start paying off the kids studen loans!

“Back in the Day” it was only $1,500 a yearroom board books and tution. A goodsalary for year was $12,000. I think things have gotten out of hand. Four years for six grand…

We both graduated from high school without ever even knowing anyone who went to college. Got jobs, got married, lived within our income and retired @ 60 with everything we own, including our home paid in full. I wonder if any future generation will ever be as fortunate.

In 1953 my tuition was $75 a semester. Usually had 18 hours a semester. In 1955 it went up to $90. Univ. of Wisconsin Chem Engineering.

My son was the first person to attend and graduate from college in my family’s history……we just plugged along not knowing any better