It’s not the original loan amount. The trap in student loans is the initial deferment when they gain interest while you aren’t paying and taking classes for 4-6 years. One of my loans was 14k and when I graduated had more than doubled. By the time it was paid off in my 30s the total sum I had paid in to interest was over 100k. And I was paying on an accelerated cycle for the last 5 or so years to kill it faster.
I had discovered with one of my servicers that they were applying my overpayment only to interest as well so the principal would not go down and keep generating new interest. This is actually illegal now thankfully
Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Other than the fact that college tuition has become absurdly expensive, the predatory fees and interest structures of student loans means that most people who have been paying theirs to the best of their ability for several years actually still owe MORE than the original amount borrowed, which I’m guessing is the case here.
The terms and conditions that people who are usually 17-18yo and know fuck all about contract law are coerced into agreeing to in order to “ever make something of themselves” would make Franz Kafka disown The Trial for being utopian sentimentalism in comparison.
ripcord@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Are in-state tuitions not a thing anymore? I’m old but when I went to school it was the difference between something like $30k a year and $5k a year.
interrobang@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 months ago
My parent encouraged me to take out loans including housing, then charged me rent from it lol
Not all parents are helpful
Dkarma@lemmy.world 2 months ago
State university in my city is 10k a year
Stop lyin
sparkle@lemm.ee 2 months ago
Most 4-year universities in the US average around $15k after federal aid, plus rent in a city like Boston or Atlanta will probably cost you a lot more than $15k per year, not including cost of living. Interest rates for student loans can range between 4% and 17% monthly. $100,000 is a little high but very realistic.
Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Which part of “most people who have been paying theirs to the best of their ability for several years actually still owe MORE than the original amount borrowed” didn’t you understand?
10k/y for 4 years comes out to 40k and it’s not at all unusual for people to end up owing 2.5 times the original amount or more in spite of doing the literal best they can to pay it off. That’s how awful the terms and conditions of student loans are.