I'm curious too. The rates aren't particularly generous. Okay, maybe they're a bit lower than the private markets might deliver given the rates of default. And maybe they let you study whatever you want. A private lender might insist on funding economically worthwhile degrees.
The real issue isn't the loan, but the entire system. The colleges have really jacked up the price of a degree. That's the real source of the problem. The interest rates are much closer to the market rates for capital.
I don't know that I'd use the word generous but they do have to advantages relative to other types of loans:
1. A relatively low rate for no collateral. It's never the 2.x% we got on mortgages during the brief window when mortgage rates are good, but compared to other rates you get showing up at a bank with no collateral, they're amazing.
2. Almost guaranteed approval for the above. Can you imagine an 18 year old walking into a bank with no credit history and collateral and walking out with a loan for hundreds of thousands of dollars? Sure, it may be a terrible idea, but a student loan is one of the easiest to get.
But it's for life right? You just can't bankrupt out of repayment, and since its in the US, missing a payment kill your credit score and prevent you from borrowing for anything.
In the 80s-90s in my country, we imported us-style loans, 'revolving credit', that were later called 'credits revolvers' because once you've taken one, a revolver was the only way out (not a joke, I know of 3 people who died in my village from this). We had to allow personal bankruptcy, and once the law was implemented and used, interest rates on those kind of loans doubled, and now they don't exist (although klarna and co are trying).
It's staggering how much small tax changes can affect the tech world. The change the ability to depreciate software development as R&D was amazing. I saw several startups just up and quit.
Presumably the weight is there because it helps the tractors pull. I don't think the human is a small percentage. How could you reengineer the system to get the right traction without the weight?
I think the Slate 20-25k pricetag includes the 7500 tax credit, which will no longer exist when it comes out. They'll both be around 30k. Slate has announced they're no longer targeting sub-20k after the EV credit.
It also looks like their simpler EV process (ie cost saving) is basically to do what Tesla does, and use the same battery pack and platform for all their vehicles, as well as simplify the design down as much as possible. I think it'll be exciting and I hope they're successful with it
The book market is yuge and filled with many niches. There used to be more broad market offerings but the market isn't as interested lately. So it's really impossible to cover without writing 100+ reviews a week. And the AP (and their customers) can't afford that many.
Yes, a funny character and a spot-on parody of the genre, but I found it really insightful to watch some interviews with Jack Kerouac to get a feel for his personality. It's a bit different from our rosy-eyed view of that era. He was harder and harsher than we want to imagine.
The Aspen trees provide ecosystem benefits to animals other than Elk-- birds, etc. Shorter grasses allow smaller animals to live and hide.
It's not choosing species we like as much as that there was previously an equilibrium all ecosystems trend towards, and our influence (killing the wolves) lead to significant ecosystem imbalances that hurt more than just wolves.
The real issue isn't the loan, but the entire system. The colleges have really jacked up the price of a degree. That's the real source of the problem. The interest rates are much closer to the market rates for capital.
reply