My federal loans covered about 1/8 of my tuition.
The vast majority of college students only have Federal student loans.
>unless you're at a state school or community college
Private colleges enroll about 15-20% of students. If you don't want $100k in debt, go to a public school, or go to a top tier school like Harvard that has very generous financial aid.
If you can't get into a top tier school with excellent financial aid (or your parents make too much money to qualify), you have to decide whether $100k in debt is worth it.
It's not society's job to pay for private college.
There is. You pay back 10% of your disposable income. Disposable income is income above 1.5x the Federal poverty level.
If you make less than that, you pay $0.
So education is more expensive, student loans are more expensive, student loans can't be cancelled, and job prospects and real income are worse.
No you are completely incorrect. For public sector jobs the loan forgiveness happens after 10 years. Under the income based repayment plan anyone who makes payments for 20 years will have the remainder cancelled.
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/understand/plans/in...
Everyone who has federal student loans (90% of all loan disbursements) qualifies for income based repayment plans if the plan will lower your payment.
*PLUS loans your parents took out don't qualify, but you won't need those if you're going to a 4 year state school.
>20 years for something that didn't work out is still a pretty awful deal
Didn't work out meaning can't make much money. For a family of 4 making $50k (about the median household income), you'd pay back around $100 a month.
If you are a felon, once you are released from jail, you can still qualify.
The only people who really can't qualify that I'm aware of are non residents, people who have been convicted of drug offenses that occurred while accepting federal financial aid, and people who already have degrees.
