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Comment by dba7dba | Hacker News Reader

I personally know someone who went to a state college AND a private, expensive private law school (not top tier). All while getting loans/grants. That is 7 years of borrowing. Not graduating from a top tier program meant the lawyer job with really high enough income was out of reach.

I just remember hearing that individual amassed about a quarter of a million of US $ in debt. And he will be paying about $2000 - $3000 a month to repay the debt, till he reaches 40ish, provided there is no hiccup in employment. That's enough for mortgage for a really good house in most parts of US.

Was it worth it? I think not personally. Not with that kind of loan.

And yes, people in mid/senior management spend non trivial time doing non-work related activities on computers behind closed doors of the private offices. I've seen it as a help desk guy.

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It is a depressing state of affairs.

To add on to your point about people playing around behind closed doors: something I've found quite surprising is the remarkable skill and effort that is involved in playing around. I know people who are extraordinarily talented at making themselves look busy and/or productive, but in reality are merely a drag on their company and the wider economy.

In one sense, this is a type of fraud the market is supposed to self-correct (i.e. identify and remove). This fraud seems to be increasing.

I'm often reminded of certain types of deceit which increased in the Great Depression. It was not uncommon for a husband, say, to dress up and go off to work in the morning, and return home as if he had had a normal day on the 'job'. In reality, he was unemployed, and either looking for work or wasting his time doing something else. This would go on for 1-3 years as the family savings was gradually depleted to nothing, while neighbors and family members thought everything was fine. Then, when the deceit couldn't be sustained, the husband tried operating a mini-golf business (doomed from the start) out of the front yard.

I went to LS later in life, at an expensive third tier school, one of my classmates had already amassed $200K in loans at the same school to get her poly-sci undergrad degree.

(I went to school at night/part-time so I could keep my tech salary rolling in to pay for it.)

I can't imagine what her final total was -- I was offered over $80K in loans each year even though I had a $100K+ tech salary included in my "financial contribution" in the financial aid formula. I accepted about 10% of the offered loans.

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