New ideas for future students
Once again, Michelle Singletary is thinking of student loan problems (those of future generations, anyway).
She outlines an idea propounded by former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich: "What would you think of a program in which people attending graduate school would pay back a small percentage of their annual salary over a 10- or 15-year period? Everyone would pay the same percentage regardless of his or her income.
All the money would go into a general student loan fund and then be loaned to others going to graduate school. Private lenders could provide the loans, which would be guaranteed by the federal government." What do you think? Would something like that have helped us?
Oh, and here's another article on our indebted generation from the Christian Science Monitor:
"Trying to get by. Those four little words echo plaintively around the country as young adults struggle to get established and stay afloat. Saddled with record-high college loans and credit-card debts at a time when wages are stagnant and the job market is tight, they may be the most indebted generation of young Americans ever."
Interestingly, the article gives advice on negotiating lower interest rates with creditors, it fails to mention that you can't do this for student loans once you've consolidated.