Originally Posted by CageSage
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Isn't borrowing the money an option, for people with decent incomes that don't have hundreds of thousands in the bank?
Certainly. But ...

If a family did not have the lifetime discipline of saving for a college education, why would those same people take on debt ranging from $100,000-$200,000?

The United States has a problem facing us in the next twenty years, akin to the current concern about social security. There is currently 1 TRILLION ($1,000,000,000,000.00) dollars in debt that has been accrued to finance college educations.

Could this be the next mortgage backed security crisis? Seriously, this is 1T dollars that will provide zero value to the economy over the next two decades. Student debt represents a mortgage for graduating students without owning any property. Those are all middle class consumers who will not be able to participate in the housing market and more.

Think about the impact.


Interesting...just from a personal standpoint, I think we'll be ok with making monthly payments, even though we haven't been nearly as disciplined as we would've liked over the years, as far as the college funds go. I'm counting on loans to supplement what we have saved, which isn't much, when you consider $40K per year. However, with both of our salaries, we should be able to add a monthly loan payment to our bills..I hope! As always, good conversation, and interesting information you've presented here...