Ridgewood NJ, PayPal founder Billionaire Peter Thiel is continuing his fellowship program, offering $100,000 to students who opt out of college to pursue entrepreneurial ventures. The latest cohort includes applicants focusing on AI and cryptocurrency projects. Thiel initiated the program in 2010 with 24 participants, aiming to challenge the traditional college system. With over 270 participants to date, Thiel seeks to provide alternatives to mounting college debt amid rising tuition costs. Return on investment is a real concern for young adults looking at college. Thiel’s decision to extend the program reflects his belief that American universities have become too “woke,” motivating him to promote alternative paths for young people. Despite having multiple degrees from Stanford University himself, Thiel advocates for the entrepreneurial route over traditional higher education.
You may have heard that students are refusing to repay their federal student loans as part of a protest designed to pressure the government into forgiving their debt, Save Jerseyans.
The problem? College graduates and students who default on their loans can lose their paychecks, tax refunds, or a portion of their Social Security benefits further down the road. Not paying back that debt can also ruin their credit, making it difficult to buy a house, car or even land a job. Interestingly, a large percentage of these Federal loans are encumbering seniors. Around 3 percent of U.S. households that are headed by a senior citizen now hold federal student debt, comprised largely of debt they took on to finance their own educations according to the GAO.
These are people who went to college, earned a degree and made decent money during their careers.
The Rutgers-Camden Campus in Camden, New Jersey.
Graduates who earned master’s degree years ago have seen their finances dwindle away by illness, divorce, the cost of raising children, the housing bust, and the economic downturn and now want their loans forgiven because they can’t afford to pay them. The GAO report goes on to say that “[a]s the baby boomers continue to move into retirement, the number of older Americans with defaulted loans will only continue to increase.”
The cycle shows no signs of letting up. Younger graduates want a degree and have no problem doing whatever they need to do to obtain it, but now that it is time to pay the piper, they balk at the idea that they now have to pay back these loans. They say they can’t afford to pay the funds back because the economy is bad and they can’t get a good job. Well,Save Jerseyans, the economy has been bad for quite a few years now and I would think an educated person at some point would realize that their bills are getting higher and they need to stop accruing more liability and figure out how they are going to pay off their current obligations.
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