Pirate's Cove

For all the yammering about leaving the U.S. because Orange Man Bad, it seems it’s actually large debt acquired from attending Democrat run colleges

Student Debt Burdened Them, So They Moved Abroad and Stopped Paying

Amanda Lynn Tully spent her teenage years as a ward of the State of Colorado and believed a college degree was her ticket to a better life.

So, when she graduated in 2017 with a master’s degree in historic preservation from the University of Oregon, $65,000 in federal student loans and no job offers in the conservation field, she felt misled.

“I was never financially stable because I was never taught to be financially stable,” Ms. Tully, 37, said.

Less than a year after graduating, Ms. Tully made a drastic decision: She moved to Prague, where she had completed an internship, and defaulted on her loans. She hasn’t made a payment in over seven years.

Wait, how much for what degree? Perhaps it should be considered the kind of worthless degrees Democrat run universities are offering and how much they are charging for them. There should probably be classes on this stuff during the early part of the kiddies’ senior year in high school. Teaching what that kind of debt means and what choosing a worthless degree means.

More than 40 million borrowers are saddled with federal student debt, and a record number — 7.7 million — have defaulted on their loans, according to recently released data from the Education Department.

For some borrowers, moving abroad and out of reach of debt collectors can be tempting. In interviews, people who made this decision cited relieving the psychological burden of student debt as a motivator, as well as having a higher quality of life, even on a lower salary, outside the United States. Many who fled abroad, including Ms. Tully, said they had no plans of ever returning.

The class can teach the kiddies how loans work so they do not get saddled with absurd loans that make buy here pay here ones look reasonable. It boggles my mind that banks and such are giving these loans to 18 year olds with no credit and no jobs when they wouldn’t even be able to get a $20K car 99% of the time without someone cosigning. Anyhow, sadly, the article is too new to get the whole thing using one of the various ways I have to bust the paywall, so, not sure if the article says how many are bolting. But, it must be enough to write an article. Nor can we see if they Blame Trump.

But, what happens if they do not pay it? Well, one is that the payment drops to $0, because it’s tied to income, and there’s no income. But, the loan still continues to accrue interest. The second

If payments stop, the loans eventually default. The debt remains legally owed, but enforcement is limited to U.S.-based systems. For federal loans, that includes credit reporting, tax refund seizure, and offsets of certain federal benefits. For private loans, collection requires litigation.

There is no criminal enforcement, arrest, or extradition tied to student loan nonpayment.

But, there best be no US connection to your money, because then seizure can occur via those accounts, be it federal or private that are owed. And, a private loan holder can potentially get a legal judgement which would then apply in those countries, which will probably be in Europe or Canada. This financial obligation persists because there is no U.S. law that discharges debt simply because a borrower moves abroad, and the debt can grow. Will grow. And it means you’re pretty much going to see that debt if you move back. What if the country you moved to eventually says “get out. Your work permit has expired”? You can keep moving to different countries, but, that would make establishing a good career difficult.

Back in 2024 the UK Telegraph noted that at least 70,000 bolted the US for overseas, so, it can’t all be Orange Man Bad. And there are articles about people doing this even before the 1st Trump administration. Perhaps it is high time for a fix to the student loan system, with costs exploding particularly once Los Federales backed all the loans via a bit of language in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, ie, Obamacare. Higher education is great, but, not when yutes are getting themselves into massive debt with insane terms for silly degrees. Heck, even good degrees. In a “get off my lawn” moment, this really didn’t happen much at all back in my day. Most degrees had value and the loans made financial sense, nor were they being taken out in these high numbers.

And, let’s consider, how much blame must be placed on the colleges/universities for burdening young people with these loans? Sure, the kids are legally adults, but, come on, most know nothing about loans and no one is guiding them to make good decisions on their degrees. The Adults In Charge failed them.

More: the Fish Wrap article is now available via archive now, so, this part is hilarious, applying to the woman mentioned at the beginning

Ms. Tully was on an income-based repayment plan, which allows many borrowers to have their remaining debt forgiven after 20 years of making qualifying payments. She was paying $60 per month when she defaulted. This amount, to many, may seem manageable. But for her, it remained psychologically burdensome.

“The payments weren’t even paying off the interest, so it was frustrating,” Ms. Tully said.

It makes no sense. Let’s say you’re financing a vehicle for $65K. Six year loan, 7.99 APR (which would be generous when you got it at 18): the payment is $1139.25 a month. Even a 30 year loan (not that you would get one) is $476. Yet, paying $60 a month?

BTW, the rest of the article really highlights why the whole student loan situation (as driven by Dem run colleges) is insane.

Read: Bummer: Kiddies With Massive Student Loan Moving Abroad »