[Workaccount2]

College definitely has historically paid off, people have just been impatient with the return timeline. The fruits of a degree don't start to really manifest until your 30's, assuming you got a practical degree. They become undeniable by your 50's.

Going forward though, I think the combination of AI and extreme degree dilution (everybody has a degree) are going to absolutely railroad a bunch of gen-z kids down the line.

[toomuchtodo]

It is not the timeline that is the problem, but the volatility. Getting a degree is no guarantee you will be able to obtain a job that will allow you to pay off the loan while maintaining a quality of life somewhere near "basic needs met." So you're throwing yourself at a credential that businesses use as an application checkbox and hoping for the best. That's a lot of debt to incur the name of hope.

[dragonwriter]

> Getting a degree is no guarantee you will be able to obtain a job that will allow you to pay off the loan while maintaining a quality of life somewhere near "basic needs met."

With recent changes to the income-based repayment terms on federal loans, and if, like the vast majority of loan-dependent students those are your only loans, its pretty close (and, at worst, if yo can’t the repayment won’t cost anything.)