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Comment by cletus | Hacker News Reader

Good. If nothing else, maybe it’ll help instill values of financial responsibility (I watched a report on crippling student debt where a woman went $150k in debt to get a theatre arts degree from NYU and now works as a waitress).

There are actually lots of options to get a good education without breaking the bank. Transfer from community college is just one. Another is becoming a state resident for good state schools (eg UT Austin). This may require delaying college for a year but that’s not so bad either. Yet another is ROTC.

I’m all for people asking “how much will this cost and how much will it improve my economic prospects?”

At the high end I’m kinda sick of hearing FAAMG SWEs complain about not making ends meet because they can’t afford a 5 bedroom house in Palo Alto as well as pay $400k per child to send them to a top tier private school so it’s not like the need for learning financial responsibility is limited to the middle class.

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It's hilarious how many weird outbursts I've seen from people who probably consider themselves middle class talking about how they barely have any money at all after they pay their rent in Manhattan, send their kids to private school and max out their 401ks, and make payments on their investment properties. It's like alright buddy lol

>"Good. If nothing else, maybe it’ll help instill values of financial responsibility (I watched a report on crippling student debt where a woman went $150k in debt to get a theatre arts degree from NYU and now works as a waitress)."

Shouldn't that be values of financial "viability."?

Most people don't want to becomes dead beats on their debt.

Unfortunately here's a whole system in place that encourages 18 year olds to take on hundred of thousands in dollars in debt in order to purse a degree which has very few professional prospects of earning enough to pay that money back to the lender(s.) Practically speaking it's debt-peonage.

To contrast to other forms of loans - if I earn $30K a year and apply for a mortgage for a house costing $800k I likely will turned down by the lending institution since I lack the means to meet those mortgage payments. In other words I am not a good risk.

However the same lending institution will gladly allow me to borrow $260K for 4 years of NYU tuition in order to obtain a degree in Drama that I will have almost no chance of being able to pay back.

Sorry, FAAMG SWEs?

Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google Software Engineers.

Honestly, I can't understand how people can sympathize with college students going into crippling debt any more than a proverbial Chinese teen who sold his kidney to purchase an iPhone (this news story from a couple of years ago probably was fake anyway). Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Try empathizing instead of merely sympathizing.

I was unable to "empathize" with people early in my career who were complaining about "crippling student loan debt" that were sitting right next to me, making the same amount I was when I went to an unknown state college and graduated with no debt.

It especially makes no sense to me for a resident of GA to ever go to a private college when you can get free tuition via the HOPE scholarship to go to well known public schools like GA Tech. If you get accepted to GA Tech, more than likely your grades and test scores were high enough to qualify for HOPE. If they weren't, you shouldn't be spending money going to an expensive private college anyway.

I don't know what it's like in the US but in the UK there is a relentless pressure on students to go to University and take on huge debts. There aren't many people at age 18 who have the ability to ignore what every adult around them is telling them and say no.

I'm assuming an 18 year old has parents that should be guiding them.

It's hard to blame an 18 year old for their parents advice.

I can emphasize with anyone, up to Hitler. (Full disclosure, have several Holocaust survivors in my family). Doesn't mean I will sympathize with them.

>"Honestly, I can't understand how people can sympathize with college students going into crippling debt ..."

Because they are 18 years old and lack any life experience when they agree to take on this debt. And they are assured by smiling loan officers and their college's financial aid office that "everything is fine."

Would you please stop doing flamewars on HN? This isn't thoughtful discussion and it just leads to low-quality sniping.

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