[zeroCalories]

That's pretty good, congratulations.

I don't mean to suggest you did the wrong thing, but I want to share a perspective from one of my friends. She has a similar amount of debt, and is simply choosing to make minimum payments for the rest of her life, maybe even default at some point. She says that spending her money on herself while she is young enough to enjoy it is more important than living frugally for decades to end up old without any money anyway. But she has also considered marrying, then being a stay at home mom or working under the table jobs so that she can default without getting her wages garnished. I'm not burdened by debt, but I would definitely be thinking of something similar in a case like that. Also reminds me of the credit-maxing meme. While I generally like market incentives, I think student loans are becoming extremely high risk investments. I'm lucky enough to have a well paying job, but I'm still worried about what paying for my child's education will be like. Should I make them take on hundreds of thousands in loans, or should I delay my retirement for a decade? The future seems bleak if we don't get the cost of education under control.

[testbjjl]

> But she has also considered marrying, then being a stay at home mom or working under the table jobs so that she can default without getting her wages garnished.

This is not what I would be looking for in a partner. If you brazenly break contracts you willingly entered one day what’s to make anyone believe their contract with you is nonnegotiable.

[testbjjl]

“babe, I love you it’s okay to default on your loans.” A week later, “what do you mean my deposits aren’t insured, it’s because of lazy people who steal public services. All that spam they steal has to be at least 1,000 times what my wife’s liberal arts education student loan she’s defrauding.” Your friend needs to acknowledge shitty human behavior and accept that as she accepts the non validity of her student loan contract.

[paxys]

A contract that you were pressured into as minor without even understanding the full consequences should not weigh you down your entire life.

[testbjjl]

Really, no one has heard that college is expensive over the last 30 years? I think this is a different argument.

[zeroCalories]

Dunno about that. Many people have a hostile view of large institutions. They view scamming them as getting what they deserve.

[testbjjl]

Yet and still, the person that keeps their word is more likely to continue doing so, than a person who considers their word amendable because big corporations.

[jancsika]

> But she has also considered marrying, then being a stay at home mom or working under the table jobs so that she can default without getting her wages garnished.

The denial of emotional toll here is shocking. She has limited her options to decades of a) un-remunerated childcare or (and?) b) being a tax resister.

To drive this home:

* imagine the difficulty of "changing jobs" in either scenario. Especially if you have an abusive boss.

* imagine four years living with your parents, trading chores for ability to work and pay off debt. That's less of an emotional toll because at least there'd be an end-date.

[D13Fd]

> marrying, then being a stay at home mom or working under the table jobs so that she can default without getting her wages garnished.

~200k in student debt or other debt? My understanding is that most student debt in the US is non-dischargeable in bankruptcy, so defaulting and destroying your credit doesn't do you that much good.

Also if it's student debt, seems like a bad plan to incur it in the first place if the plan is not to work.

If it's not student debt, then I don't see how it is particularly relevant to the conversation here.

[zeroCalories]

It is student debt. She doesn't make enough money to pay it back without living very frugally for over two decades. She has already had her interest rates lowered because of this. Her plan is to stop making taxable money asap so that the government won't be able to get the loan back. Risky? Sure, but she really just needs to find a husband okay with a stay at home wife and she's set.

[willcipriano]

Encourage them to get a trade.

[zeroCalories]

And if they want to go to college we're back to the original problem. Either help them, or leave them to fend for themselves.

[willcipriano]

They probably want to eat candy for dinner as well.