I don’t know whether or not it used to be the case, but the above was correct when I took out my student loans, and I am almost sure it is still correct today. I suspect the character described in the OP is working on the assumption that if he never returns to the UK (to work, at least) and does not declare any income to the Student Loans Company, they really have no way of pursuing him for the money. This does not mean it is legal, of course - I strongly suspect that it isn’t, but on the other hand it’s not likely to be something that the SLC can spend resources tracking down.
To answer the OP, no, I wouldn’t, for all the reasons mentioned by those of a similar mind. Having said that, currently the interest on the loan is higher than what I pay off each year, so it could well be that I never pay it off in full.
I have to disagree. Integrity is not about the other party, it is about the person. Agreed that the bank and most businesses would walk away from a debt or screw over the other party for 10 cents. But just because they are low-lifes doesn’t mean one has to join them. I understand that upholding your end of the bargain might be disadvantagous to the individual. That is something one has to think about when one enters into an agreement. Making a decision to stay or walk away is about how the person views him/herself, not whether there is an extra dollar in it.
I admit I have never been in that situation so I can’t say for sure what I would do. But I have been in the situation where I had to think about the consequences. Didn’t like the possibilities and didn’t go there.
People, you have to catch your breaks where you can find them. In fact you should be actively seeking them out, no one else will do it for you (except maybe your family).
That’s exactly what I mean. It isn’t a word of honor situation, you’ve just been duped into thinking it is. You aren’t borrowing from a friend, or an investor as a business partner who has a real interest in your success. You are borrowing from an institution that will not hesitate to throw you out of your home, take everything you own, and leave you on the street to collect on your debt. It is a business deal and should be treated as such. A good faith arrangement is only ethically binding if both parties are in it in the same manner. As others mentioned up thread, the bank isn’t getting screwed really, they get the house back and will sell it. They probably lose out in the long run, but at least as the power partner, they can absorb the loss, while damn near everybody else cannot personally do the same.
I’d also add that, at least when I was paying them off 10 years ago, the college loan industry had managed to influence Congress to include a stipulation that you can only re-finance the debt once. Found this one out the hard way, as I was locked in around 8% as interest-rates plummeted to near-zero levels. Fuck those assholes.
I can’t believe I’m the first to ask, but: How did you do it in your case?
A bunch of old farts who didn’t incur a tenth of the student loan debt that today’s students have to incur are wagging their fingers. Hilarious.
I find it incredible that I could get gambling debts discharged in bankruptcy, but not student loans. With the loans guaranteed and non-dischargeable, is it any wonder that the price of higher education has skyrocketed?
My total was around $30,000 and now that I’m 50 years old they are finally paid off. At the time I began paying them I was making $24,000 a year and the payment was $260 a month. I also was paying about $450 a month for child care.
Speaking of higher education costs, state schools, especially community colleges, are still a fine bargain.
I’m not sure what the cost of education has to do with it - when you take out the loan, you know how much it’s for, and you know you’re going to have to pay it back. You can choose to use them to pay for your education, or choose to fund it some other way, or choose not to go to school at all. I’m still not convinced that just shirking the debt seems like a valid choice.
Part of the reason this irks me is that I have worked really hard to get scholarships and worked full time all summer to pay for 75% my education (my parents paid the other 25%, if they had not I would have had to take out a small loan for that bit). It annoys me to think that other people are treating the student loan as a free ride - tuition is paid for you, then you just skip out on paying them back. I admit that this is my problem, but it is irritating.
It’s supply and demand. In a country where blue collar jobs have been shipped overseas and even the most basic of jobs requires a college degree, college has become a necessity. The demand for a college education has increased. The higher education industry, being an industry just like any other industry, has raised their prices in response to the increase in demand.
And why not? Student loan financing has been virtually assured for anyone who wants to attend college, and non-dischargeability is a significant factor that explains the easy access to credit. Thus, there’s little downward pressure on tuition prices, and little recourse against schools and graduate programs that misrepresent the true costs of attending (not to mention the employment probabilities). The government is guilty too, because they’ve consistently punted on the question of what kind of economy is actually best for the citizens of the US; it’s far easier to endlessly claim that higher education alone is the answer, and leave individuals with the burden of trying to figure out how they’re supposed to fit into a constantly shifting economy. That wouldn’t be so bad if there was a way to get out from under the cost of figuring this out, but it’s easier to call the individuals irresponsible or lazy, or blame them for studying the “wrong” subjects.
Many people (not all, but many) don’t have a problem with homeowners taking a steely-eyed realist’s view of the financial logic of continuing to pay their mortgage when they’re upside-down on the loan, so why would you have a problem with a student borrower doing the same?
Sorry to skew your data, but I’m a 23-year-old who graduated in 2009 with roughly 40k in loans.
Per your later post - how are these schools misrepresenting the “true cost” of attending? I know I received an itemized bill, every semester, along with a specific breakdown of what aid I had (ie, x amount from a work-study job, y amount in loans, z in grants), as did most of my friends at other institutions. And if you’re foolish enough to attend a school on the basis of a promise of guaranteed employment - well, perhaps college isn’t for you in the first place.
Are you still working as a cashier? I’m not attempting to denigrate your employment situation at all, but if you incurred $40k in student loan debt only to end up a cashier, then you’re not nearly as angry as you should be.
I disagree with this. There are are still jobs in the trades that pay well. A plumber or an electrician can earn more than most office workers. How much does a mechanic earn? A generation has been led to believe that college is a necessity but that really isn’t the case.
How much does it cost to get an AA from a community college?
As Caffeine.addict points out, there are still many jobs out there that don’t require higher education. In 2007, only 27% of Americans had a bachelors degree (per the US census), and the others must being doing something, so college is hardly a necessity.
Anyways, I’m not sure that ‘everyone needs a college education these days’ equals ‘they forced me to go to college, why should I pay!’. I agree that tuition is high at some schools, but it’s not like you don’t know what the tuition is going to be before you go - you should have a clear idea of how much your education will cost and what the repayment plan will involve. I’ve been in school almost 10 years, and there was never a time when I was not getting an itemized breakdown of the costs of everything.
I’m not an American, so I’m not sure of the details of this, but weren’t mortgage problems one of the causes of the recent US recession? In that case I’m thinking people maybe *should *have more of a problem with this attitude.
I’m in no mood to get into a long discussion of the many ways America is being turned into a banana republic, least of all with someone whose parents made up the difference in paying his tuition, but I will comment on this:
That’s exactly the wrong view. To grossly summarize, the financial industry has booked a paper profit much larger than reality would indicate that they are entitled to. Nonetheless, they are doing everything in their power to realize that profit, and people are fighting back.