My first blog!

I finally figured I would see what all the fuss is about with blogging.  Facebook in a sense can be a blog but not everyone wants to see status updates all the time so I figure if people want to know my "deep thoughts" or whatever they can view this blog.  Don't get too excited- I'm not getting too personal- I don't like the idea of putting too much stuff out there for the world to see- I'm a fan of some discretion! Just curious about the kinds of discussion I can get going.  So I'll start with the one that is the most pressing- student loans!

So like many law school grads I'll admit that salary played a factor into where I attended law school- I was willing to take out more loans on the stupid assumption that I'd be making enough money to pay them off quickly, but thanks to this economic crisis it's not looking good.  I am not complaining about owing such a large amount- I would have had to pay it one way or another!  What concerns me is the interest rates.  If I consolidate, I'll be paying something in the 7% range.  It amazes me that the government and other lenders do this to students.  Well I understand private lenders, but the government just addressed all this in some big education act and only lowered interest rates on stafford loans for undergrads- um last time I checked med school and law school were a heck of a lot more expensive and are AFTER undergrad!  Why would the government not take this a step further and do something like a 3% interest rate when you consolidate under the federal direct program?  Do they want to be paid back?  People can handle the payments knowing that they are actually making a dent in the principle!  The amount of interest over 25 years is the cost of an entire house for some people and keeps us from contributing to society and the economy in other ways- and the government won't be getting all their money when they have to forgive all grad loans after 25 years and people managed to do a minimum payment that comes nowhere near the total!  Even if they can  tax the forgiveness it won't be as much as receiving all 100% of the money!  I just find it incredibly disappointing that our government continues to bail people out of this financial crisis who were completely irresponsible, but those of us who had to take out loans for an education are totally in over our heads! I say we start writing our senators and representatives drawing attention to this problem and encourage them to vote to not do a weighted average of interest rates on this federal direct loan but give us something reasonable that we can all pay off and not be enslaved for 25 years and have to forgo buying a home or feeding our kids or something!