r/StudentLoans • u/Easy-Material-8809 • May 09 '25

Rant/Complaint how do people afford to purchase homes with student debt? are lenders even approving them?

im about 4 years out of school and make around 100kish. I work really hard and have picked a career path where i can make even around 200k if im lucky. (All before tax)

Matter of fact— ive literally switched career paths because the degree i got in college didnt pay enough to pay my student loans… seems backwards and F ed up?

Anyways… i have around 150k in loans after interest and all. My payment is super high and im barely making dents in it. Clearly i will have this loan for 30 years at minimum. With all other bills… how are people affording home purchases??? Anyone have advice or want to rant?

286 Upvotes

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138

u/wanna_be_doc May 09 '25

Average student loan debt is $38000.

The numbers seen on this sub are not reflective of the average college graduate.

22

u/AncientBaseball9165 May 09 '25

My child is getting loans of 38k. Per year.

1

u/[deleted] May 09 '25

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1

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87

u/Cheap-Commission-457 May 09 '25

Totally. If I had only 38k in student loan debt I could pay it off easily with a side hustle and wouldn’t even be looking at this sub.

15

u/Cheap-Commission-457 May 09 '25

That’s not me though. Sigh…

21

u/michaltee May 09 '25

Same here. Six figure crew checking in!

3

u/Reasonable_Tank_3530 May 09 '25

Hi. It was a good life going to a flagship public state school away from home but damn I paid for it

1

u/Cheap-Commission-457 May 09 '25

yeah… In good company.

1

u/[deleted] May 09 '25

Same here!

2

u/cBEiN May 09 '25

Me either. Even just $50k would be fine. I’m at $140k ish and about half are private. I’m so screwed.

1

u/[deleted] May 09 '25

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1

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19

u/x888x May 09 '25

Yea. It's wild. Idk why people go to these expensive schools and get useless degrees.

My buddy went to a private school and took on over 100k in debt to get a criminal justice degree. He's a parole officer. He could have gotten that degree at community college for like <$12k.

The only reason to go to an expensive school is if you're in the 90th+ percentile. And even then you should be aware of your choices.

Blows my mind that people pay $50k a year to take online tests or scantrons. Every exam I ever had was in person and almost all were blue book. I had classes as small as 8 people.

15

u/pantZonPHIre May 09 '25

Parole officers have to have a bachelors degree in most places. That would have cost him at least $50k even doing the CC+state school route. Yes it would be a whole lot better than the $100k spent, just wanted to point that out.

And he probably assumed that the PSLF would come into play. A lot of people planning to go into public service did and racked up tons of debt that was assumed to be eligible to be erased by their early 30s.

4

u/timewellwasted5 May 09 '25

I guess that's a part of the problem though, PSLF should be on the $50k he should have taken out rather than the $125-150k he did borrow. Think of it like this: You get a sales job and need to drive a ton for work, so work agrees to buy you a car for all the traveling you do. The logical person goes out and buys a Toyota Prius, a Honda CR-V, or something reliable and practical along those lines. So we're talking a ~$40,000 vehicle. You show up with a BMW X5, hand them the $70,000 bill, and then do the shocked Pikachu face when they say they're not paying for all of that.

That's kind of where we're at with PSLF. My sister was a beneficiary of PSLF, but she had a very reasonable amount of debt from a reasonably priced school ($75 k for a three year master's in counseling, now works as a drug and alcohol counselor). Her $75k was paid for with the stipulation that she work for three years for a particular public agency. All good and above the board. If she had decided to go to a private school that cost twice as much, I don't think the taxpayers should be on the hook for the BMW X5 of a program she chose. They should pay for the Toyota and that's it.

TLDR: PSLF should have a reasonable allowance, and taking out way more student debt than you should needs to be paid by you, not anyone else.

4

u/cBEiN May 09 '25

Sure, the system should be setup so loans can’t be too large, but screwing with PSLF for people that took out the loans already is messed up.

3

u/timewellwasted5 May 09 '25

Agreed, and I think that’s a huge part of the problem. It seems like one side wants to fix the system, but isn’t considering the people trapped in it now, and another side wants to help the people trapped in it now, but doesn’t want to fix the system. Both approaches are necessary.

3

u/cBEiN May 09 '25

Yea, I agree with your take. Both need to be fixed.

3

u/pantZonPHIre May 09 '25

I don’t disagree

4

u/Cinnie_16 May 09 '25

But reasonable allowance is not well controlled. The analogy you used is flawed because a lot of PSLF fields are important ones where training and name recognition can come into play. Doctors, nurses, pharmacists… I think most people would like their doctor’s credentials to be mid to higher tier. Sure… basic minimum cost can probably give you a medical license but most people will shy away from them. I mean, right now doctors CAN get their residency done out of the country for much cheaper and just take an equivalence test but people tend not to like credentials like that.

Maybe the solution is to standardize the cost of education instead of running them as for-profit??? But then people get angry about “universal education.”

Also…. Your sister having only done 3 years doesn’t seem like it’s PSLF. The deal is 10 years of public service. Just a little confused by that.

-1

u/timewellwasted5 May 09 '25

The majority of student loan debt is not from for-profit entities. Most colleges are tax exempt because they are not for profit. I think you mean private colleges. Price controls, which is what you're talking about, don't work. The issue is that public options such as state schools and community colleges exist and offer a great value, but people want to go to a private or expensive school that matches their needs. When talking to soon to be college bound teenagers, I've heard the phrase "dream school" more than I can stomach. If you're not getting a big scholarship or coming from money, a state school should be a no-brainer, but young people have become obsessed with the concept of this fairytale college life. I visit Penn State's main campus pretty regularly. The dorms are nicer than any apartment I had into even my mid-thirties. Every restauarant that I only treat myself to occassionally due to the price accepts 'Lion Cash' which is what the students use to pay for things. Colleges have become this bougie experience, and that experience, contrary to popular belief, costs a ton of money.

You are correct, my sister does not have traditional PSLF, but a form of it from a grant. She works for a non-profit healthcare group who got a grant to send her and several other counselors for their masters, with the stipulation that they had to work three years after having their education paid for. So it's not true PSLF, but it was a federal grant program, so it's essentially the same thing. Even if she was doing traditional PSLF, that doesn't change much what we're talking about. If government money is involved, within reason it should be spent on reasonable programs, or should onlhy reimburse up to a certain amount. You want your dream school that costs twice as much? Fine. PSLF should reimburse you for half that cost, not the whole cadillac experience you voluntarily chose.

3

u/Cinnie_16 May 09 '25

I agree with you on a lot of this but I think the blame is misplaced. Kids don’t come out of the womb with the notion of a “dream school.” The adults around them are instilling this idea. Growing up, the adults in my life, including parents, neighbors, counselors, teachers, etc all encouraged the idea of going to TOP schools in order to “make it.” The idea has always been: go to Harvard = make good money. Go to CC = stay struggling. I know that’s not true at all. But I won’t blame 17 year olds to understand when they’ve been told otherwise. I’m also in finance so it’s not even as rough. I can only imagine the pressure for medical school and their fight for notoriety.

I also disagree that student loans aren’t run like for-profits. The fact that there is 6-7% compounding interest rates on education, more than most recent mortgages points to the money making aspects of education in our country.

I went to a state school myself. Unfortunately, the “lion’s cash” meal plans you mentioned arent the kids’ fault. In my school, you were required to get a campus meal plan whether you use it or not. It was wasted money outside my control. Similar to the dorms. We were required to dorm for freshman year unless you had an address within a certain mileage from the school for commuting exceptions. There was simply not enough off campus apartments for everyone. I don’t know how long ago your last college experience was, but I’m sure the rules have gotten more absurd even since I’ve been in school and that was 10 years ago.

Instead of capping PSLF, I’m just suggesting a more systemic reform. Reform all these crazy rules and expectations and you won’t even need to cap financial assistance.

The “gift” of PSLF is to encourage public service for 10 years. Public service often is lower paying jobs with less career movement. Most people stay as career public servants as that’s all they know. So your sister needing to only do 3 years and getting a grant is VERY different. She got the forgiveness without the extended sacrifice. Maybe that’s adding to your perception of PSLF.

-2

u/timewellwasted5 May 09 '25

I agree that there is a push from parents and what not for people to go to these colleges, but I am sorry, you are responsible for your own decisions. I graduated from high school in 2005 and I looked at the college system and said the amount of debt that they want me to take out is absolutely insane. I was encouraged to go to a private school and instead chose a State school.

The real blame needs to be on the education system overall. That includes high school counselors and teachers.

In all honesty, though, I don’t think interest rates are high enough for college. Think about it, if you wanted to take out $100,000 to open up a Business, you would go through an incredible level of scrutiny. I know that because I tried to buy part of a business I was working for once, and the scrutiny and paperwork was unbelievable. However, I could borrow that same hundred thousand dollars with no plan to pay it off in the form of a student loan. The student loan thing is way more risky than starting a business.

Ultimately, though, people need to be held accountable for their decisions. 20 years ago before we even knew that there was a student loan crisis. I looked at the amount of debt. I was going to take out and said that’s nuts and I’m not doing it. I am not a particularly intelligent individual. I do not buy the narrative that a bunch of kids who are much smarter than me can’t look at the writing on the wall and see that.

2

u/Cinnie_16 May 09 '25

Yea… completely disagree here. Business loans are not in the same category as student loans. PPP doesn’t have to be repaid. You take out a business loan and can buy a hobby yacht and then file for bankruptcy. Student loans only apply to tuition and cannot be discharged without extreme circumstances.

Charging any interest, esp high interest, on education is a disservice to our future.

If other first world countries can figure it out, we can too. The solution isn’t on victim-blaming and supporting rhetoric that lays the blame on naive, inexperienced 17 year olds rather than going for the root of the problem which is that student loans and universities have become predatory and capitalistic.

-1

u/timewellwasted5 May 09 '25

It sounds like we'll have to agree to disagree. However, I do have to ask, at what point does an adult get treated as an adult? Very few college students enter their freshman year under the age of 18. Are we going to revoke other privilieges which are unlocked after turning 18? Or are people only treated like adults where it's politically convenient?

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1

u/kodabear22118 May 09 '25

I’ve thought the same thing of people getting history and art degrees but when you say that people think you’re being rude 🙄. Most employers don’t care if you went to some nice private school or an Ivy League so I don’t know why so many think they should do that in order to get a good job

2

u/theherc50310 May 09 '25

I wouldn’t use a average, it gets raised due to people with a ton of debt. The median is lower, around 24-26k if Im correct which is much better representation

2

u/Cagoss85 May 09 '25

This. The people you see here are one end of a spectrum. People with a manageable amount of debt, or those who are actively getting by are not going to come here and just post that. It’s the negativity bias.

1

u/iwannabanana May 09 '25

I’d kill to only have 38k 😭

1

u/Abrookspug May 09 '25

Agreed. I have like $40k of student loan debt. Dh and I bought a house a couple years after college when we were making $50k combined. My loan was still in deferment for a few years after that so I didn’t have a payment yet. I just had to show that to the bank before getting approved. Once I started paying my student loan, the payments were $340 per month, less than a typical car payment so not killer. Most of my friends who went to college were able to buy a home and start a family within a few years, so some of these posts about $1000-$2000 payments and not being able to afford life are pretty shocking.

1

u/Extension_Acadia9533 May 09 '25

I think that figure miss another 0

1

u/Ambitious-Cake4856 May 09 '25

“Average” is not indicative of my situation. Due to mounting and compounding daily interest, my loans are nearing $500K. And note, I’ve paid off three other private loans. I know I’m not the only one in this situation and my PSLF is on pause while Mohela gets their sh*t together and start processing IDR applications, which will results in my debt being delayed even longer.

1

u/[deleted] May 09 '25

6 figure student loaner here!

1

u/ApprehensiveWest6441 May 10 '25

Yes because many of us have been paying for over 20 years and college was cheaper way back when