Yeah. My wife's doctorate cost $130k. She had a full ride to undergrad, as did I, so that's all the debt we got. Putting it on deferral for 12 months pushed it to $220k. So that's $100k in debt the "government" (more on that if asked) earned just by letting us get on our feet. We consolidated into an income matching program, the payments of which do not keep up with interest. By the time we hit Payment 360, at which point it all gets forgiven, our initial $130k debt will have ballooned to $2,600,000. But fuck you, we will have paid $163k. Fortunately she's in an "essential profession" which means that 360 payments gets cut to 120 payments half of which we've made. Here's the funny thing: the financial institutions we bank with consider that $2.6m income for purposes of banking. And I doubt we're the only ones. We've still got a house with renters in it up in Seattle. We refinanced from a 30 to a 15 and managed to keep the payments nearly the same - win/win. It's gonna be near-pure income right about the time my daughter starts looking for colleges. So we run some calcs to see how much 4.5 years of private school education is expected to cost when she's ready, and how much we need to set aside right now to get her there. The answer? "$2 million dollars" and "$1200 a month." Now, maybe there will be an education worth $2m in 2030. I doubt it. Even if there was, I'd be a lot more likely to buy my daughter a half-dozen Starbucks franchises and say "follow your bliss." And I can't be the only one looking at those numbers and deciding the system isn't sustainable. I think as they stop being kids they start looking around and realize just how badly they've been scammed. A 24-year-old kid living with his parents? He's startin' out. A 30-year-old kid still living with his parents and making 10% more than he made at 24? That kid's got a reason to be angry. I have a one month old, so I was recently looking at the projected price of college in 2034, and fuckin a if it won't make you choke.
nd the school thing can't continue. For one thing, Obama poked a big fucking hole in it through debt forgiveness. Some fun facts from my own life, excuse me for oversharing: