It's really unfair, illogical and disgusting that this happens to people. I pay student loans, too. I am thinking I'll never finish paying, either.

How is this legal? Reading about all these student loan horror stories makes me glad I didn't went to college in US, and makes me extremely worried thinking about when my now 8 yo will go to college.

How the hell are these monthly payments calculated in the US? In Europe, each monthly payment consists in one part interest and one part loan. The proportion between interest rate and base loan changes as the years pass, but you actually pay back a portion of the loan starting with the first payment. You can't actually owe the same amount that you loaned, after 11 years of on-time monthly payments. This is legalized theft, pure and simple. And a good way to keep you down and in your place!

Besides the system being corrupt, this is a very disturbing statement by not being clear about fees and interest percentage and total interest paid. I'm sure it's stated somewhere, but this should be made more transparant.

Highway robbery. Equal to putting a gun to your head.

Lol, excuse me what???? I never love France as much as when I read about US healthcare and student loan...

Demi Zwaan, please do us all a favor and take your negativity and immature comments somewhere else. All your comments just get hidden from all the downvotes, so you're just wasting your own time

Don't they tell you in advance how much you will have to pay ultimately? I took out a loan of 10000€ and knew I would have to pay 19000€ in the end, because I chose a very low monthly repayment.

wow

For those of you knocking an Art Degree: Look around you. This website, all websites, all marketing, all the cute packaging you get with the things you buy, all the clothes you wear, advertisements that make you want to see something, movie posters you treasure: All Art degrees. Some of you have your heads too far up your own arses to see this, thinking you can make a 'clever' joke or feel better about yourselves because you THINK you've put something down but instead you've made yourselves look like uncultured, unthinking idiots. Congrats Raul, AV7, Jeremiah Pierce, and Demi Zwaan for being such childish, idiotic caricatures to watch.

Agreed!

Same situation. Finally finished my bachelors in 2015. Over the years I borrowed the max $53,500. I was suckered by one online university. Come to find out I was completely bamboozled. The AA amounted to nothing. It's embarrassing to even put it on my resume. I now owe $115k in student loans and will never be able to pay it off in my lifetime. This was and IS a huge scam that guaranteed a revenue flow and keep us under the govt. thumb. It's criminal. Loan sharks don't charge this much.

These lenders are loan sharks and need to be stopped!

Most school loans die with you, so your not leaving them for the family.

Wait, GOVERNMENT loans have that kind of interest on them??? Christ, the US are truly and deeply fu*cked up.

Was this a choice you made?Yes it was not my choice yours.

Your a lawyer go fix it .

I really have trouble understanding how this is possible....

Full Name, I think you’re misreading it. She’s saying she has to defer, otherwise she can’t afford to pay and live at the same time. As a result, she pays instead the $50 which is probably a minimum per month.

Once the government started backing the loans isn't that when they started to skyrocket and every college and Uni course started to cost the moon and stars? Sounds like the schools and the finance companies are in un Holy alliance to squeeze the last drop of blood out of all the students.

I can totally relate to this! I have subcumed to the notion that I will die with this debt. I finally finished my BA, almost $80,000 later. Sine 2017 its almost to 110k, on deferment, and IBR. Now businesses want to hire real world experience not just that of an education. I'm in a 28k, temp job, no benefits, no PT, no Vaca, no sick pay and have 2 young children . Something's gotta give!! Talk about a double edge sword!!

A ruined life because a busted knee. That's the American dream for you, in a nut shell.

The only way that we can have a solution that will be fair to all of us is to tear this one completely down and rebuild it more in line with the needs of modern people. While taking into account the respect of all living things on this planet. We can't continue to ravage this planet in our pursuit of progress. It's the mentality that we've been taught to accumulate a particular resource that we can hoard to ourselves that allows us to obtain more than another. As humans, we just need the basics to live, and the ability to express our creativity as we seek the end goal. Being a part of the world and leaving it in a better place than when we go there. Reality is the opposite. Achieve as much as you can in disregard to r the future at their expense. They are the ones who must clean up our mess

Well You don't qualify for forgiveness simply by having 20 years lapse. you needed to be on IDR for those 20 years.

That's because the interest is compounded daily. No other loans are. It's criminal and would be illegal for any other lender.

get off income based repayment

WHY is there not a huge protest storm happening right now? This is just disgusting and illegal of the Education system in America to just rob people like that!!! I hope they end up in jail for life and that they return the money they stole from you all, by waiving these horrible study debts!!!!!! They will go to hell (and no I am not religious but I believe in karma) in time for doing this to students. Also, the question is, why don't everyone all boycott the education by not enrolling in courses? Lets see it impact the greedy business that is stealing through student loans. Never mind the few rich who can just pay upfront, there is a few of them and many more of you who are not, so time to fight back!

@Aernout Bakels Well, I can see from your FB profile that you drive an Audi and live in Amsterdam. Literally none of these stories apply to you