Dem committees attack House Republicans on student loans

[wercal]

1. Student Loans are the next bubble

I've lost a few friends over the issue of student loans.

My stance: Use them for school. That's it.

What else are they being used for? Everything. They have become the equivalent of consumer credit cards. Don't believe me? Consumer credit debt was just surpassed by student loans...precisely because people are using these loans as credit cards.

Why do I care? Because the very people who disagree with me will ultimately be hurt. A coworker's wife has racked up over $200k. He was upset last summer, when his wife couldn't enroll in a summer class, because he lost several thousand dollars out of his summer budget, since she couldn't get loans. I think he has this backwards...he and his wife should not budget the loans for the grocery bill and part of the rent. Its a trap that he is falling into. The only difference between this trap and the Visa trap - he can never discharge these loans in bankruptcy.

I'm quite sure that some of the very banks which have lowered his credit card spending limit are the backers of some of his wife's loans...happy to lend on those, since he can never get out of it.

Sure the interest rate matters - but the real problem, IMHO, is using the loans for living expenses.