There’s this podcast called “Reveal” out there. It’s probably my favorite podcast right now. And the number of podcasts I listen to has BALLOONED in the past year+. Reveal is from the “center for investigative journalism” which I admittedly don’t know much about…but I do know that investigative journalism is one of the singularly most import parts of a free society…and I also know the the types of stories they feature on this podcast shed light on issues that give people a platform they wouldn’t otherwise have.
This week’s…or maybe last week’s…I’m not sure. I haven’t been too up on my podcasting, actually. Anyway, it was on student loans. And what a festival of fuckery they have become. It made me realize how fucking lucky I was to have gone to college where I did, *when* I did. Both were undoubtedly important, but the timing of it really feels like the biggest factor in my luckiness.
See…I graduated in 2006. The credit crisis began in 2007. The. Skin. Of. My. Teeth. I remember tuition hikes were already starting to happen, even for the state universities, which is what I went to. The hike in price from 1996 to 2006 was probably…50%. The price hike from 2006 to 2016 has been somewhere in the range of 400%. AND when I was a student, interest rates for student loans was at an all-time low. My student loan is at 4.5%. That same loan nowadays is 8.5%. HOW FUCKING CRAZY IS THAT?
Well, what’s even crazier I learned today, is how much profit the banking industry (and the federal government, albeit to quite a bit less extent) is making off of these student loans. Loans that the MAJORITY of borrowers aren’t able to afford to properly pay off, and so they’re stuck in a repayment cycle that won’t ever actually end. That happened to me. I’ve been paying my loans for six and a half years. Two and half years I was too poor after graduating to pay them. But once I got a better job, I started paying. By that time, though, even my measly 4.5% had accrued enough interest added to the principal balance, that I have not paid it off since. That’s right…I’ve paid my student loans now for 6 1/2 years ever month…somewhere in the range of $10,000.00 on what was originally a $21,000.00 consolidated loan…and I currently owe $23,000.00 on that loan. AND I AM ONE OF THE LUCKY ONES. My loan amount is *tiny* compared to most. And my interest rate is *unheard* of. And my loans are FEDERAL loans that the private company who owns it can’t fuck with and do shady shit to. Still! I haven’t made any headway on my payment plan in six and a half years. What the fuck right?
It’s become a racket, you guys. College prices go up and up, the colleges get richer, the banks (I learned today from the podcast) incentivize actual Financial Aid officers to sell students on their loans…loans which have high principals and high interest rates…and then everyone sits back and collects on the money while the students, US, struggle to make ends meet. It’s the worst with the private colleges, and the private student loans. It’s like a fucking credit card!
So…stick to the state schools kids, and get your federal loans. Direct Federal loans. the ones where they can’t fuck with your shit. The state tuitions will be more reasonable…still horrendous, but more reasonable…and your loan will at least have the lowest interest rate you can find, and the most flexibility in terms of allowing you to defer once you graduate…because you will. No fucking BS or BA graduates into a job right away that’s going to fucking pay for a $50,000 student loan. You WILL defer that shit for at least a little while.
I can see why Bernie Sanders is so hot to want to crack down on this system. These banks are literally making BILLIONS of dollars on these loans…these loans that were SUPPOSED to make college AFFORDABLE, under the theory that more education meant better paying jobs, which meant a bigger middle class, which meant more homeowners and business owners, and more money for everyone…well that’s not what’s fucking happening. And I’m not okay with it. And neither should you. Public funding for higher education has contracted nationwide 350 billion dollars (I think that was the figure, anyway, maybe 250) in the last 40 years. That is almost EXACTLY the amount of current student debt in this country.
Huh. Makes you think, doesn’t it? See why I think it’s the private businesses that are more likely to fuck us over than the government, dad? Private businesses aren’t account able to me, they’re only accountable to the market…and when you’re selling something that people NEED, you can basically do whatever the fuck you want with the marketplace. My VOTE is my only weapon against that.
Yours too.
Artwork tonight is from John Harris.