Student Loans, or NONE LIKE IT POOR!

           For the longest time I believed myself and my friends to be members of Generation-X, mostly due to the fact that I heard this term flying around frequently when I was young.  A few years back, I found out that I am Generation-Y, aka a Millenial.  You know what else I found out?  That Millenials, in every sense, are screwed.

            The economy is still slow, and likely won’t pick up until people start spending again.  And the age range that traditionally spends the most, on everything but healthcare, e.g. cars, houses, furniture, etc, has no money to spend on these things for a number of reasons.  We have been forced into a number of Ponzi Schemes, namely Social Security and Medicare.  I say forced, because most Ponzi Schemes obtain members by stupidity or greed.  For us, it doesn’t matter if we are one, the other, or both.  What little money we have left is almost certainly going to student loans.  Why you ask?  Because parents drill into our heads from early on that you have to go to college and get a degree.

            I believe this to be a good course, but I believe too many people go and get degrees that are nearly useless, i.e. history, political science, art.  Or people major in whatever seems to be popular on TV, e.g. CSI lab tech, or use one of the aforementioned useless degrees to go on to something they watch on TV, e.g. lawyer.  I will take this time to disclose that I am an attorney, but took the time to become an engineer first.  Disclaimer, The Big Bang Theory did not exist until after I graduated, so there wasn’t a show glamorizing being a nerd, nor did any shows glorify the “patent attorney.”  Alas, while I feel I help advance the culture through bringing new technology to the market, I, like so many others carry student loan debt.  

            Law School, Medical School, and Business School are all very pricey, and I knew this going in, so I brought this on myself.  However, my point is that many colleges charge the same as Medical School, which will create someone licensed to save a life, for a degree that might get you a job as a waiter, if you are lucky.  Even the useful majors struggle these days to find that first job.  So the debt keeps piling up due to compound interest.  When will the student loan (non-dischargeable) debt bubble burst?  At what point will the job makers cut over-head to the point that the Millenials can no longer hope to pay off their student loan debt, and the original lenders can’t squeeze another penny out of them, or resell on the secondary market?  

More importantly, what will happen when the bubble does burst?  Will the current debt be forgiven?  Will lenders cease providing educational loans before then?  Will schools start going under because no one can afford them?  Or will they just become more reasonable with their tuition?  Will this lead to a reversion to the way we see things that we no longer tell our children they must go to college?  What will happen to the banks holding all these IOU’s that they can never collect on?

At this point in my life, I am starting to think that the best thing a high school graduate can do, especially in NJ, is to go be government employee from age 18-38, then retire with a pension, then get another job from 38-58, then retire with a second pension.  Avoid college and student loan debt.  You can still go to the parties, and you will actually be able to buy things that you want, in addition to those you need.