This article claims that student loan defaults are still under 10%, which I find hard to believe.

That’s a far cry from the late 1980s, when student-loan default rates skyrocketed to as high as 30%. That prompted state and federal governments to pass legislation allowing them to seize income-tax refunds, withhold professional licenses and enlist collection agencies to gather payments. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Education withheld eligibility from federal financial-aid programs from institutions that didn’t keep their default rates low.

Focus on the lead idiot in the story. $100k in loans to go to an overpriced college to get an unnecessary education in …… marketing? It’s so easy to sign the loan docs when you can look forward to 4-6 years of good times and partying at an “elite” university, and your massive payment on massive debt is deferred well into the future. Then the future arrives, and it sucks. So you are paying $100k plus interest for bragging rights and a few years of not having to do anything productive. One law grad who can’t find a job says, “People have this notion of law-school graduates getting $150,000 right off the bat,” she says. “But that’s not the reality for the law grad in 2008. I’ve got friends waitressing with J.D.s [doctor of jurisprudence degrees]. There’s something wrong with that scenario.” No, there’s nothing wrong with that scenario. What makes someone think that because they have a law degree, they should be guaranteed a job? Bull, capital “S,” with a hit. There are too many lawyers and too many law grads, and so if you go to law school, you had better be sure you are going to be one of the top minds in your class. If so, you will find a job and you will do well. Mediocre lawyers are not in demand in a tight job market.

The good thing that may come out of this is that people will be forced to look at (and exercise) other options for careers, and fewer people will go to college. And hopefully, the ridiculous notion that 1) college is necessary and 2) we are all born for a higher (formal) education, will be squashed.