[tkahn6]

This woman has some major balls to blame her shitty choice in a major and subsequent debt on other people.

She made a poor choice and she needs to pay for it. This is a systemic problem and the only way to cure it is to enforce personal responsibility.

[DilipJ]

She was young when she made this choice. To suggest that she should be liable for the rest of her life for this decision is crazy. Student loans should be dischargeable under bankruptcy, or should be debt that one can negotiate with the lender. There's something wrong with allowing mortgage and credit card debt to be discharged by people who buy McMansions or go on vacations, but not to some poor girl wanting to get a college education. If the law were changed to allow student loans to be discharged, then it would have the effect of lenders having to verify that the borrower would have a reasonable chance of paying the loan back. This would involve looking at the tuition costs and the expected salary that the degree in question would provide. If that were the case, there would be no way any lender would allow this girl (and the thousands of others like her) from pursuing such a degree at such a high cost. As a result, she (and others) would not have been able to attend college, thus decreasing enrollment nationwide, resulting in universities decreasing tuition in order attract sufficient students.

Supply and demand should be what determines the cost of any degree program. As long as the demand side is subsidized by the government through loans and debt that cannot be negotiated/discharged later on, then tuition costs will continue to rise and young lives will continue to be ruined.

[younata]

or, they could choose less expensive colleges. Like a state college. CSU Stanislaus is $5,000 / year or so last I checked (September 2009). $20,000 probably wouldn't have required a loan at all. Because she's paid at least $100,000 or so of it. 50k / year * 4 years is 200k, and she owes 97k, so most likely she got some scholarships that helped a lot.

[herdrick]

For how long do you think she should be paying for that poor choice?

[noonespecial]

The question you are actually asking is when should we start paying for her poor choice.

[dmor]

I'm sure the regulators in this country will see to it that those of us creating wealth and value start paying off the debts of those who don't in no time.