And the best part? If you have bad credit due to too many student loans NO ONE WILL HIRE YOU! USA #1!!!

Move to Canada. They value a good education. Let the brain drain begin!

@2, I'm leaning towards Britain myself.

It's just awful that people get to make decisions that affect their lives.

Story of my life. That MA hasn't helped me in the job hunt one bit, but I'm still holding out hope. I'm Still staying out of default (barely), but paying back the entirety of my student debt ranks right up there with the second coming of Jesus.

The important thing is to drop out now and start working two full-time minimum-wage jobs, so the >17% of your income you pay in state and local taxes can subsidize resident tuition at Washington's public universities for Microsoft's and Amazon's non-immigrant foreign workers, their spouses, and their children:

Bill gives in-state tuition to foreign professionals, families in Washington on visa
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2…

The bill (HB 1487, 2009, http://goo.gl/jd22u) was spearheaded by Ross Hunter (D-Microsoft), and passed with the support of our own Representative Jamie Pedersen, Speaker Frank Chopp, and Senator Ed Murray. Because otherwise, Microsoft and Amazon would have to pay higher salaries to their foreign hires so they could afford non-resident tuition, and that would have been so economically infeasible that they would move to another state that gives resident tuition to foreign workers on non-immigrant visas, like Oregon, except that they would never do that because Oregon has an income tax, and to Microsoft and Amazon owners and executives, state income tax is like sunlight to vampires.

But anyway, drop out and work hard to subsidize resident tuition for foreign workers taking Washington jobs, and three cheers for our Democratic legislation who are doing all they can to keep Washington a company state.

@ 6 - I wonder if this other legislation that Microsoft wants will come to be:

Microsoft calls for $5B investment in U.S. education
The new spending would be paid for by new fees on H-1B and green card visa, under Microsoft's plan

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/p…

But here's the thing: if you borrow federally guaranteed loans, there are so many options to avoide default now. It is easier to get an economic hardship forebearnce or deferment and they have income-sensistive repayment plans. When I graduated almost 20 years ago, the interest rate was higher, you pretty much had to have no income to get a hardship deferment (I was making $6 an hour and taking care of my sick mother, and they wanted me to pay $350 a month on my loan), and they didn't consider your income when setting your payment amount. It sounds terrible, considering I was once in default myself, but I have very little sympathy for people who default on federal student loans right now. I know. I could feel my bleeding heart scabbing over a little bit even as I typed that.

The real problem is loans from private lenders, who aren't as charitable. On that account, students do have my sympathy. Private lenders are predators, plain and simple.

What @8 said. The government direct student loans are so flexible it's Crazy not to get those instead of rocket loans if you can.

And as someone who works in the tech field around here, I can say confidently that foreign workers are not stealing American jobs in this field. We turn away people of all nationalities, and salary is not even a variable we consider when evaluating a candidate. There are simply a lot of foreign candidates.

You're not going to get into Amazon, Microsoft, Google, etc. on a liberal arts degree- at least not for most of the positions. If you have a degree in the STEM field, and a solid interview performance, then there are jobs available for you. If you are mediocre in those, though, then don't expect your citizenship is going to give you bonus points- it won't.

Students in college in a STEM field are well advised to stay in if they enjoy it and are doing well in it. Even if you can't find a position right out of school and have to suffer through it for a while, the economy is not going to be in the doldrums forever, and you'll be better positioned in the recovery than most of the folks who dropped out.

So don't go to school unless your parents can pay for it? Awesome

@10, wait, isn't that what Romney said?

I'm 2 months from starting repayment or attempting to defer. Or trying to defe some, and pay off some. Still trying to figure out my options. I'll be paying these loans until I die. Fortunately my kids can't inherit them. I hope.

@ 11 Yes it is, I was just stating that it getting to that point which isn't good

I only took out dept. of ed. loans, no private bankster loans, and was able to defer them or put them in forbearance when I was unemployed and having a hard time.

They're now on income based repayment, which is great, although it also means I'll be paying them off until the gov't finally just drops the remainder after 20 years (there's no way I'll be able to pay off the full amount unless my salary dramatically increases).

The problem is, I'll never be able to get married, because then I'd have to file a joint return and my income would be at a new point that I wouldn't be able to afford the payments (unless my hapless wife chipped in).

It sucks.

@13 oh my god I never realized. My partner might be happy that I'm about to stop bothering him about marriage (ha), but that's pretty damned disturbing. I don't have to figure any repayment stuff out until January, so I've been sticking my fingers in my ears and pretending I'm debt free instead of mapping all the ins and outs.

@1 and @2 tied for Most Insightful.

@11 don't be so sure about the kids.

It's time to raise interest rates on student loans to compensate for the default risk.

Deferment and forbearance options are good, but no solution for the underlying problem - young people should not have to incur tens of thousands of dollars in debt to get a four-year degree from a public university. (As a professor of mine used to say, "Education is not a public good in the state of Washington.") There is a great DC-based advocacy organization, Young Invincibles, doing work on this issue and I recommend checking them out and supporting them.