.

[ruxCYtable]

Lannisters always pay their debts.

 

[NickTheGreat]

this is my exact point. looking back on our personal situation it would have been a slam-dunk but who knows where 10 years will take you.

Yeah but with your time machine you'd be far better off going back 10 years and buying $50k of stock in Amazon or Apple or Netflix or . . . :twitcy:

 

[BCClone]

Guess I'm old. When I was in school.all the girls paid for school by working at the shaker joint.

 

[AirWalke]

All I can say is that I'm very thankful such a program exists. There were very few teaching job opportunities after graduating with a bachelor's in 2008, and getting a master's + loan forgiveness made for an easy decision and made her job search a lot easier once she had a master's in hand. I don't think we would have been able to afford it otherwise.

 

[Cyclonefan710]

My wife and I have no more student loans so it is a nice peace of mind. Last night we were talking to another teacher who said her loans just got paid off from the 10 year public service repayment plan. This made me think about what my wife did and how we might have set up her tuition better to take full advantage of the opportunities for public servants. What I found was basically max out your student loans and teach for 10 years.

Can someone with some financial aid experience tell me if I'm right or wrong here.

Here total cost of attendance was approx $75,000 for undergrad including room and board. Say she gets $50,000 of federal loans (which is the max of $12,500/year). With an average income of $45k per year her discretionary income based on federal guidelines (which is what repayment is based on) would be $2,300/month. Repayment plans require a 10% payment on discretionary income, or $2,734.56 per year. Pay this amount for 10 years and your total is $27345.60. After 10 years, because she is a teacher, the rest is forgiven with no tax consequences. Basically she would have gotten $22k of loans forgiven.

We left free money on the table. Yes, numbers would slightly change as she makes more money and we may have delayed marriage for a few years to reduce household income, but the point remains - if you're going to become a teacher - max the heck out of those federal loans.

I would rather pay the loan off and get rid of the debt in year or two vs letting it hang around for 10. I'm also not a big fan of being lazy and letting the government step in an clean up my mess.

 

[besserheimerphat]

I would rather pay the loan off and get rid of the debt in year or two vs letting it hang around for 10. I'm also not a big fan of being lazy and letting the government step in an clean up my mess.

It's not a "free lunch," it's an incentive program. The gov't and community gets the benefit of young, enthusiastic teachers committing to put time into a school that really needs their energy. How much is 10 years of teaching worth the the community and society? Assuming 30 students per class in elementary school, that's 300 kids you are affecting over 10 years. In a junior or senior high where each teacher has 6 different classes, that's 1800 kids.

 

[everyyard]

Somebody is always worried someone else is getting a better deal. That or they are trying to game the system. The point was to encourage people to go into teaching...a career well known to underpay and which has a disproportionate loan burden to income ratio. It would be a great idea...if real people didn't suck so bad.

 

[Doc]

It's a great program. It's not just teachers, public defenders benefit from this. We need public defenders cause of the 6th amendment, but it sure does suck to get paid 65k a year to work 50+ hours a week defending some child molestor.

 

[wonkadog]

So after the debt is forgiven do teachers still get to whine about their salaries or did we finally figure out that wasn't valid after around 2000?

 

[Cyclonesince78]

Sounds like something Bernie Sanders came up with.

LOL was just going to...

 

[agcy68]

You have to qualify for those repayment programs and far from everyone will qualify. What happens when you don't? You're ****ed.

You stash away a good chunk of the money you saved just it case...

 

[ISUCubswin]

I believe it's a government thing. I am a teacher and I am also able to do this.

- There are some rules. It doesn't just pay of your loans, no questions asked.

There is also an annual $4,000 scholarship provided for teachers, but they must work in a high poverty area to get it.

 

[cyIclSoneU]

it's been in place for decades.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) was created in 2007.

I absolutely don't think it's smart to put all your eggs in the PSLF basket while in school and max out your loans then, but once you've graduated and land a PSLF-eligible job that you see yourself staying in, it makes sense as a plan.

 

[cyIclSoneU]

Also, what is the income limit to get a PD? Many drug dealers in mtown have them listed because I'm sure their "official" income is poverty level. Kind of irks me.

They are being idiots then. If you are accused of a crime, you don't want a PD. If you can afford private counsel, you get it. PDs are overworked now as funding for them does not keep up with required staffing levels.

 

[CywinLannister]

Lannisters always pay their debts.

That's what we're known for!