Reader comments
Private loans scarce for students

I would call this a good thing for students seeking those so called loans. They are a part of the corrupt lenders making corrupt loans to unsuspecting students. Higher education has become nothing more than glorified High School Diplomas. What do you need a dgree for to work at McDonald's? America doesn't have high teck jobs or high tech need for diplomas because all of americas work and good jobs have been outsourced to other countries. Funny thing though, all this outsourcing is beginning to backfire and driving up costs beyond any savings they once had. Before students enter college they should wait before having to make any decisions on what field of study they want to pursue and then go for it. During the waiting time they can save money for a college education and not have to rely so heavily on loans. High school students going directly to college have no clue to their abilities and desires for careers. It's a high failure system of education and career developement. Most have ended up in the wrong career and jobs they don't like, effectively wasting 4 years of study and saddled with the long term high cost loans.

I think this sucks. I'm a third year college student who can't continue attending my college because I can't get a private loan this year. At this time last year I was able to get these kind of loans.

If a student wants to go to college there are two ways to do this.
1. Work your butt off to earn the money yourself.
2. Work your butt off in High School to get good grades so you can qualify for scholorships.
That is it! Taking out a loan to pay for it is the first financial mistake you can make. And it will only lead to a slavery of debt that will burder you for the next 30 years. Get to work and stop playing video games oh mindless ones.

Are the lenders just tightening credit standards or are they actually removing student loans from their product lines?

J - you are obviously out of touch. While many schools in Utah are affordable, the cost of attending many universities in this nation has gone sky-high. I get so sick of "old folk" who have the attitude that the younger generations are lazy, making themselves feel so special because they are so hard working. Things are not the way they were when you were younger, and they never will be. I am just grateful the schools in this state have kept the cost of education down. Oh, and by the way, I have always had good grades but have never been able to qualify for much in scholarships - that is a sad fact.

J, based on the grammatical and punctuation errors in your message, maybe you ought to consider getting a loan and returning to school.

One way to fix this problem is to decrease and eventually eliminate Pell grants, Stafford loans, and other government funded higher education funding. It might sound irrational to decrease government funding when students need more loans, but one of the reasons why tuition is rising so quickly is because of government involvement. As government artificially injects "free" money into the system, universities know they can charge students more because there's more money available. There are tons or private scholarships and grants available if students work hard and apply for them--that's how I made it through school with very little debt. Tuition is only sky high at some private institutions. In Utah, tuition is low enough at any university to pay for it by working part-time year round or saving up before starting school.

Its too bas that this is happening. I'm graduated, I make a good living, especially by Utah standards, but college is very expensive. I worked full time and attended school full time throughout college, but I still had to take out student loans. I feel bad for the people that this is affecting.

But also What Bob G said is sadly true, a college diploma isn't worth what it used to be.

>>Are the lenders just tightening credit standards or are they actually removing student loans from their product lines?>>

Deductions and incentives for banks doing private lending to students was just reduced/eliminated in the past six months.

There is no longer much of an incentive for private banks to make these loans.

Another short-sighted move by our imperialistic government.

The GI bill changed the face of America, back when it was enacted: it was the one sure bet, investing in the education of youth.

Removing the ability to easily provide higher education through loans to our students is a disastrous decision.

What Bob G said is only partly true. The whole entire idea of a college education, if you're only looking at the bottom line, is attempting to put yourself a little ahead of your competition in the job market. So if everybody else already has a 4 year degree than you have to seperate yourself some other way. It's not that the degree is worth less, there's just more people of worth out there competing with you. You can go ahead and tell your kids that a degree isn't as important, but my kids are going to understand that an education get's them places.

I actually worked through college, but had to take out loans to subsidize my income so I could afford to pay rent, eat, commute, and support my wife. I graduated less than 2 years ago and as of last month, my loans are paid off. Oh yeah, and I did it while fitting it time with my wife and video games the whole time.

"As government artificially injects "free" money into the system, universities know they can charge students more because there's more money available."

And you base this on what, your own jealous opinion?

Getting young, single student through college as quickly as possible is best for the students and for society. Anyone who has ever worked a full-time job to support a family and gone to school to finish a degree knows that it's MUCH easier to go to work and go to school while you're single.

Giving students incentives to pick a major and get through school as quickly as possible would be a much better solution than restricting funding and making it harder for good, but financially poor, students to get a good education.

Anonymous, you are the one that is out of touch. Working hard in high school and saving money, is not an "old folks" thing. My son worked in high school and while attending the University of Utah. I am a school teacher and so we are not a wealthy family. I did pay for part of the tuition, but that was fully refunded to me in tax credits. He graduated this spring from the University of Utah, as a computer engineer with NO DEBT.

Of course the U of U is not Harvard or Yale, but he will do just as well as most of these upscale school graduates. The University of Utah is an excellent school. After working for several years and showing what you can do, no one care about what school you graduated from anyway.

I have two other sons that graduated from BYU in the past 5 years, also without debt, and they are doing very well. They also received very little help from me. The premise that college debt is necessary is totally false. However, it is too bad that we have so many cheap labor aliens driving down college student wages.

I think this is a very sad day for our students in the USA. I remember when I was getting ready to graduate from high school, I had already picked my college of choice and been accepted, and had my major decided on. However, I was only an average student and I did not qualify for even one scholarship. My parents had no money to help me with college, so I had to find my own funding and thank heavens I qualified for a PELL grant my first year, and could then get student loans after that to finish my education. I now have a very good job, but as I look to the future, I feel that our next generation of kids are not going any chance at all for an education no matter how hard they work or how smart they are.

Your information/comments are mostly incorrect. Private loans have not been restricted by the government but the credit markets have really hurt them. Because of tight credit markets lenders are requiring stricter lending policies for private (most often called alternative) loans.

Federal incentives for all lenders to make federal loans (Stafford and PLUS, not private loans) have decreased to the point that some lenders, both nonprofit and commercial, have decided to suspend participation or leave the federal student loan market altogether. Most of the blame for this can be laid at the feet of Democrats in Congress. The rest of the problem was created by the sub-prime mortgage fiasco that has affected the ability of lenders to raise capital to make new federally-backed student loans.

Hey J
I am in Dental School and it costs me $65,000 a year to attend. I take 35 credits a semester. I am in class 8-5 everyday and spend nights studying. It is nearly impossible to work. I see my loans as a great investment that will pay even better dividends. 90% of health care professional students need student loans. Most likely the health care professionals that take care of you are able to do so because of student loans.

I faced the challenge of staying in Utah and working my tail off full time to get my college degree years ago. After doing that for 2 years I looked at other options and ended up joining the Air Force. Not only did I see the world, I also obtained a college degree (using the Air Force's 75% tuition assistance program), gained valuable experience and a retirement. The military isn't for everyone but for me it was the perfect answer. I am using my GI Bill now for some additional training to keep ahead of my co workers job skills. There are few things I can think of that are better than serving your country and getting an education.