Borrowers brace for tough budget choices after student loan payments resume | Nightline 

Pay attention kids! This is a great lesson about cost-benefit analysis. It's not worth getting into hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt for majors that don't pay a livable wage.

So they put away money for their daughter while leaving their loan “pause”? Maybe she should have taken a course on compounding interest?

I only came here because I also have loans. Not nearly as debt as most people, but I do look forward to paying it off and feeling accomplished.

They bought a home?!!! while being on a 240k student loan. Dave Ramsey retired

$118K to $180K, a 52.5% balance increase, DAMN!!!

The 3 year student loan pause was an opportunity to pay off her loan while the interest was zero. You don't put money in 529 while u have high interest debt. Unfortunately, she chose otherwise. She was a teacher, she could have went for PSLF or Teacher Loan Forgiveness and stay as a teacher. A $400 payment would not help her pay off her loan. The balance would keep on growing at 7.5% interest. The big mistake is that most people think only about the degree not the return on investment of that degree or how much they will make once they graduate and even less how their new career will help them pay off their student loan. These are not bad human being; the lack of financial education is just a real detriment to the future and wellbeing of many Americans.

Hard to empathize when they are irresponsible with debt. Tacking on more debt when they are already indebted by that much. The pause was meant for people who lost their jobs due to the pandemic and some of these people took it as forgiveness.

Pay your debts The people who went to school to help others can't even help themselves. I'm sure they'll all be successful.

118K loan? What a stupid idea that was!

Wow! So many bad financial decisions in this report. From taking out $118,000 in student loans for a teaching degree (at an IVY League school), and building your kids college while in debt to the other guy buying a house when he's knee deep in debt, this should be a study on what NOT to do.

your daughter could pay for their loans. You need to live in an apartment not a house

He owes $240K. The only time he saw a bigger number is WHEN HE BOUGHT A HOUSE??? He couldn’t afford a house of any price! No Wonder his loans are not paid off, DUH.

Majoring in Liberal Arts degrees with a low ROI is a choice. No one forced these borrowers to incur tens (or hundreds) of thousands of debt for these worthless degrees. STEM, finance (and in some cases, Law) are the only majors worth going to college for. Idealistic "saving the world/making a difference" degrees with a low ROI is a path to financial dire straits.

Get a job and pay your loans!!!!!!!!!

These people would fail a basic finance course and clearly do not understand return on investment. Borrowing six figures to be a teacher or a social worker is financial suicide. For god sakes it is a negative return on investment. And we should stop lending money for all these stupid masters degree. Go back to taking one course at a time, getting an e,player to pay for it or getting a university to pay for it. Wise up people. These institutions took you for a big fat ride. And yes, you can go out and get an education. Just not always easily or in the timeline you wanted.

Master''s from Columbia University. One of the most expensive schools in the world. What was wrong with her state university? I'm sure she received a great education. She should of minored in Financed as an Undergrad.

Dumb to save for kids’ college when you have your own huge debt. They may not even want to go to college.

If a person signs on the dotted line for a college loan, then they can pay it back. It’s not up to the American taxpayers to pay them. These people with such huge student loan debt bit off more then they can chew and now it’s “cry me a river” time. Hustle and pay it people. You signed for it, you got it, now you can pay it back. I have no sympathy for these people. I took out student loans and I eventually worked my tail off to pay them off. These new borrowers can now do the same!!

Your first mess up was thinking getting a 118k loan for a masters degree was financially responsible.

Yes. It was very challenging for me too. But, I paid my student loans off. Took me a long time and had to negotiate my payments. I didn’t expect other taxpayers to pay my loans off because I was the one who took out the loans.

Burying yourself in $240k in debt to be a social worker? Big brain move right there

Take your masters in special education and work in a Title I school. You'll get minimum payments free until the loan has disappeared with the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program. Alternatively, make ten years of payments while working any public sector job such as mailman or police officer (or of course, public school teacher) and the remaining payments will be paid by the public service employee loan forgiveness program. There are many other options too.

Education isn't expensive. College landscaping is expensive. Lavish architecture of university buildings is expensive. Athletic and recreation complexes are expensive. All these "adjunct professors" that are really just doing a supplemental side hustle to a separate career are quite inexpensive. Colleges and universities could have modest buildings without all the extra BS and still be able to hire well paid full time professors and it would still cost a lot less.

She said she went to the best education? She owed $180K but did not pay her loan but save for her daughters’ college education during interest accrued… Obviously she did not get the best education. The guy spent $240K student loans debts for social work? He could get his job a lot cheaper but he bought house to add more debt while pausing? He thinks he would accumulate more assets on his house? He obviously does not understand how the interest quickly accumulates over years from both huge student loans and big mortgage much more faster than house appreciation… And top of that, Houses are overpriced… Housing appreciation are generally not greater than investment on stocks, it depends on market but probably just 2-3 % after inflation is considered. That is not good enough to cover his huge interest + loans he needs to pay back 😮

They really think we are as financially illiterate as the people that were interviewed. 😂 turns out if you don't make the payment it keep compounding the interest, but the news would never report the facts. Just blame the other side.

My husband still has loans 😢. Mine were forgiven.

The Government needs to find a way for Bachelor’s prepared Nurses, Teachers and Social Workers to have loans forgiven or college PAID because these jobs are a labor of love and no one will go into these professions! Who’s going to pay off $200,000 when salaries are $50,000/yr?

Boo-hoo. Cry me a river. If you get your student loan forgiven, I demand to have my home mortgage forgiven as well, courtesy of taxpayers. And I plan to buy a very expensive car in a few years. I expect the government to pick up the tab for that too. Unbelievable. Smh.

118k student loan? The only way to get out from under that is the PSLF Program on a teacher's salary. Otherwise, she just buried herself.

If education is so important (and it is) then why is it so flippin' expensive?

I paid my students loan because it was MY responsibility, not someone else's. These people made their bed now they lay in it

I have $140,000 in student loans at 7 percent interest. I feel for these people! I make six figures and am doing public loan forgiveness.

180,Gs for that, with interest! So where is that Biden / Obama student loan forgiveness? Not to knock down this good woman's accomplishments but most college degrees are not worth the weight in paper. This is a lesson to everybody.

AKA: People who can't manage their finances responsibly

I don’t feel bad for these people, they bought something they couldn’t afford. I was accepted to a private out of state college that I knew I couldn’t afford so I went to an in state public college, worked 3 jobs and studied till the wee hours, paid my tuition bill every semester in cash along with half my rent . Why should responsible people have to pay for another’s irresponsibility. Hopefully these folks learn from their choose to live above their means. It’s a valuable money. The first woman is still making bad choices. You don’t owe ur children an education, they are perfectly capable of putting themselves through a state college or university. These people wanted a college experience they couldn’t afford. I’d like to drive a Maserati but I can’t afford it so I drive a Toyota. A state college or university is very affordable 5000-12000 a year in state

The title of this video says it all: "brace for tough budget choices after student loan payments resume." Gosh, I was taught that when you borrow money, you pay it back. When you sign your name on a contract for a loan, your signature conveys your promise to pay the money back that someone or some entity literally gave you up front to pay for something you did not have the money to buy. This woman's "tough budget choices" should have been considered before she borrowed money she didn't have - all this story tells me is that it's been eight years or more that she has owed the money that she still hasn't paid back, and she's complaining about the interest going higher?? What did she expect would happen when she didn't keep her promise to pay it back? No consideration at all for the entity who gave her the money a decade ago that trusted her to pay it back but still hasn't been compensated. I'd say her integrity is questionable at this point - I wouldn't load her ten bucks if she asked me for it, cause she sure has proven I'd never get it back.

Tradeschool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FIX the problem! Do not just pick the group who happen to have loans now and pay their debt. That’s vote-buying. Fix the problem now and for future generations. I am not an expert but I believe a reasonably low and fixed interest rate is a good start.

The interest rate is the problem!!! They need to help people not reward those who made bad choices

I’m sorry but you made 2 horrible choices. The student loan in the first place and then not using 3 years of no interest to pay back the loan. I really Dom t understand how you think a 529 is the solution for 3 years

Who are the dumb ones? Those who sacrificed to pay our loans or those who didn’t and whine until it’s forgiven?

Save would literally save them. 5% of discretionary rest insurance forgiven. Total loan forgiven in 20 years.

I took jobs that most people don't want to do because they are stressful, but they pay better than average. I was a 911 dispatcher in my 20s, an air traffic controller in my 30s and now I'm a tax accountant. I worked my way through college and obtained 4 degrees, up to a masters degree. I spent less than 40k for ALL of my degrees. I attended colleges that were the most affordable and not the most prestigious I could get into. Sometimes we have to do what we have to do to support ourselves and not necessarily what is the easiest or most fun.

blackrock is laughing all the way to their bank...

Good. Maybe they will understand that all the time they spent not paying back the money the students signed for, must be paid back and there is absolutely no way out. You cannot sign papers and go about life not doing anything to pay that money back. You all have "families" and "budgets" now. Why invest in things you did not need to later complain and expect things to be handed to you. You did not need the families, the homes, or anything you claim in your budgets. You did that to yourself and carried your debt onto your families. Live with the consequences or go to prison for stealing. Bottom......line.

$118k loan to teach autistic children. Cause you know who has big bucks…autistic children? What was the thought process here?

Don’t feel bad for these stories. The pause they didn’t pay towards the loan.

So she didn’t make payments on her loan and the balance went up, then instead of paying off her loan during the pause, she “saved” for her kids college (who knows how much) and now has to pay interest again. What in the world? And this is the person people want to force me to pay for?

200? My payment is 690 a month

Why didn’t she payments toward to student loans during the interest pause? I paid off my son’s student loans and 90% parent loans. The daughters may have to work and go to college. The goal is to not have your students loans and kid’s college tuitions and retirement funding intersect….

Each one of these ppl could have had no debt, the deception here to try and make this seem like sob stories is ridiculous!

Dumdass parents

Yes. People have to "skimp and save" when paying back the money they borrowed. That is life. I paid off my student loans back in 2012. I worked my rear off and lived on nothing and paid back what I owed.

I agreed wth Dave Ramsey that student loan forgiveness is a joke. I have been trying to avoid debt for my whole life. I worked by ass off to get my education with no-debt. Best wishes to the interviewed borrowers.

These people don’t regret their decision, they wanted a high end education and that’s what it costs. Pride got the best of them them and the devil . Hope u learned ur lesson

This is what happens when you devalue degrees and everybody gets one. Also it was dumb they didn’t pay down when interest was paused.

Sarah hang in there and keep up with the payments. Speaking from experience you will feel so good about yourself once you pay off the loans. You will also set an Excellent Example for the Twins by meeting your commitment.

There are very few times you need a masters. Get a job and your employer will pay for it.

Do the Math it’s not worth the end result.

I want free annual all-inclusive 2 week vacations in Miami for life!

I mean why did she get a degree in computer science from a local school? I know several folks work in IT now, cost them less than 10 G and quite a few of them work remotely from home, making at least 60,000 a year.

Cry me a river…Cry me a river…Cry me a river….this is pathetic 😂😢😂…….

HOW, how could you think $118K and a $440 payment (@7.65%) was going to do anything but bury you in more debt? One or two months should have gone by and you’d realize that your balance wasn’t going down! Hit it at 2K+/month before you buy a house and have kids. This is no surprise and she should be ashamed to admit it on camera.

brave of her to share her story

It's called living in the real world. All Americans pay their own loans and debt obligations. We don't ask taxpayers to do it for us. That's called reality. What makes you so special that someone else should pay your debt. I don't think so.

I cannot afford a lambo, but im sure someone would give money to buy one with a loan. Doesn't mean my irresponsibly should be used as an excuse to stop paying and keep the lambo.

Bankruptcy law prevents economic enslavement and protects those rights which we, the people, hold as self-evident, inalienable, God-Given rights: The right to be left alone, to pursue happiness, and to enjoy the fruits of one's own labor. Bankruptcy law is Federal Law and cases are administered in Federal Courts. Guess which debt cannot be cured with bankruptcy? Are students slaves? Imagine students not using the 2nd amendment to free themselves.

Michael seems to want everything without any of the sacrifice, and then wants to turn around and complain about it. Sorry, Michael. Maybe build your roof before it rains next time instead of going deeper into debt and calling it an “investment”. You, along with millions of others, are now reaping what you sowed in form of bad financial choices. I wish you well! We believe in you!

A College Degree is NOT needed. Most jobs do not require one. Colleges and Universities are basically Businesses and SELL Degrees. Most Degrees are worthless. They promise an "XYZ Degree" will get you a great job and have a great income. They are SELLING Degree Dreams...most of which are busts. Some are Legit, but most are busts. The best jobs at a College or University: Tenured College Professors that sell these Bust Degree Dreams. Colleges & Universities are laughing all the way to the bank.