He borrowed the money, he's paying it back--despite scraping by on his income, living in an expensive part of the country. He didn't want to put off that obligation, and wanted to get used to having to budget around it. I would never advise him to stop paying and damage his credit and default on his debts. I'm absolutely baffled that borrowers think they shouldn't have to pay their loans back.

He’ll be so much better off. Probably learning to budget and live within his means too which is crucial for financial success. Great job!

in life, no one is coming to save you from your obligations, so get used to it. I'm surprised at how many millennials/Gen Z kids think they can avoid the drudgery of debt repayment.

Do you believe that education is a personal investment, or do you believe that higher education is something that should be encouraged for all as a benefit to society?

well-educated citizenry.

I was curious, because I support changing the model of educational financing in the US to favor a tuition-free-with-a-stipend approach to higher education - somewhat like Germany has. This change is really about establishing equality of opportunity for everyone. Besides, if Germany can do it, why can't the US? (Equality of opportunity is possibly not what is really desired in the US, but that would be a tangential discussion.)

So, the nature of this change would be to establish the act of getting an education as the student's sole work and focus. The personal responsibility portion of this approach is the requirement that the students actually perform by achieving good grades.

I realize that not all people will see the above approach as a reasonable approach, though. (Have you ever looked at the manner in which higher education is accomplished in other countries?) What would you think about such a change as described above?

From a practical standpoint, what you wrote upthread makes complete sense. It seems unlikely that change will ever be achieved without protest, though. A debt strike might be the sole means left for those who want change, or it might only damage those who engage in it. To me, it seems that our country is betraying our youth by burdening them with debt in the name of a pitfall-fraught pursuit in which they are told they should engage if they want to have a successful life.

Anyway, as before, I am just curious what others think.

for people who want to go--whether it's "free" community college for a year, or a stipend for a certain amount of federal dollars for at least everyone's freshmen year to the school of their choice (provided they academically qualify--probably would be closest to what you describe in Germany), or more generous grants, or loans with income-adjusted repayment, or forgiveness for certain occupations in underserved areas, and so forth. The GI Bill/military service is also something young people should look at. I'm not a fan of loan forgiveness, however, and I'm really not a fan of trying to organize a wave of defaults.

Thanks for having a discussion with me. That's what I like so much about this site.