I had direct knowledge of the forgiveness program for teachers, and I can tell you that it sucks. You have to work 5 continuous years in a particular area of teaching, such as science or special ed., and when it's all said and done you get a $17,000 credit against your loans. If you fail to work continuously in the area(s) that qualify you for forgiveness, the clock starts over.
What I took exception to is when I was finishing up my education degree the college and school systems pitched this really hard, which I think is an ethical issue, as the odds are against you in my opinion. Dangling a carrot like this in front of a bunch of tapped out 4th year college students with +$40k loans hanging over their heads is just wrong, IMHO. In my cohort of 15 people, I only know of two who are even close to qualifying for this. And they both still have 3 years to go to qualify. I am pleased that Sallie Mae closed the loophole that allowed people to default on student loans, however. Too many doctors and lawyers (present company excepted, of course) bailed on the system and left us taxpayers to settle their debts. Dan (with a fairly good sized Stafford loan that should be paid off around the time I retire. --- On Fri, 8/28/09, Donald Snook <dsn...@mtsqh.com> wrote: > From: Donald Snook <dsn...@mtsqh.com> > Subject: Re: [MBZ] Just back from Boston > To: "Mercedes@okiebenz.com" <Mercedes@okiebenz.com> > Date: Friday, August 28, 2009, 8:07 AM > Wonko wrote: "$50K? I sure hope > that was Harvard. You can get a private, tight > teacher/student ratio small university in Iowa for only > $35K, with lots of financial assistance." > > I had $92,000 in student loans once I finished law school > and took the bar exam. Most of that was for Law > school, but about $30,000 of it was from undergrad. > AND this is with fairly significant scholarships in law > school. The cost of education (especially any kind of > graduate school) is getting out of control. > > Back in 2000, I was accepted to the University of Michigan > Law School (one of the best in the country). After > scholarships, the cost of Tuition was going to exceed > $15,000 per year (regular rate back then was $30K per year). > In grad school a student can only borrow $18,500 per > year. So, I would have to borrow that much just to > cover tuition and have nothing to live on. > > Needless to say, I didn't go to Michigan for law school. My > student loan payment is about $750 a month (and that is > consolidated at 1.9% interest on the extended plan). I > have friends who went to medical school who have $200,000 in > student loans. Even the new public service > program for forgiveness of student loan debts requires years > and years of payments. I don't have an answer, but I > know it's a problem. > > > Donald H. Snook > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > <http://okiebenz.com/pipermail/mercedes_okiebenz.com/attachments/20090828/d67566b9/attachment.html> > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
