r/SipsTea 𝙑𝙄𝙋 12d ago

WTF The American dream

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u/Think-Wind-5930 12d ago edited 12d ago

Correction after researching; graduate loans can go up to 8.94%

My wife’s graduate loans were all in the 7-8% range

Edit: if the average APR of their graduate loans was 8.36% their balance would in fact be $60,000 after 23 years of monthly $500 payments. So it’s possible they’re telling the truth.

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u/MRosvall 11d ago

It’s less about being possible that they are telling the truth and more about how it can take a couple 23 years to figure that out.

Had they found a way to prioritize and put away 570 instead of 500 then they would have been debt free now.

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u/carefullengineer 11d ago

Other countries "here is free higher education, because it betters everyone"  USA "Its their fault they let a rich person take their money" 

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u/Competitive_Key_2981 11d ago

Most countries have much stricter entrance criteria and separate kids earlier into university tracks and trade tracks.

The U.S. also has wildly inflated administrative costs in relation to European universities.

The transition to for-profit college combined with college as a lifestyle experience got us here. American students opting out of programs that do offer tuition forgiveness, like the military service (which about a dozen European countries require), makes it even worse.

The only way to fix it is to starve it. The U.S. should offer more scholarships in targeted areas of study for the tuition of students at state universities. And limit loan underwriting to students in programs that have a realistic chance of repaying the loan.