You are PSYCHOLOGIST, man... you're saying that staying in debt is good?
Cmon.
It feels awesome to pay what you borrowed (not search high and low for ways to weasel your way out),
to
free up your real and full earning power,
to not have a monthly payment and credit drag anymore,
to know when you pay ... it can be borrowed to other students,
and to be
done with that depressing nonsense known as edu loans.
Plenty of places have tax-funded edu (med and other). They're also socialized medicine countries. That's a whole diff convo.
This isn't politics, it's math (and a bit of psych/motivation/emotion) with regard to these big loan balances.
My statements are specific to student loan debt, not other consumer debt. Hopefully you're being sarcastic on most of your points. "It feels awesome to pay what you borrowed?" Not always, it's naive to just blindly do so without considering what makes sense. It's not weaseling out, it's doing the same thing banks, corporations, and ultra wealthy do to get debt wiped clean or just restructure it.
I have zero qualms about looking at ways to reduce my financial liability and get the best deal I can. People need to stop thinking paying off their student loans (or failure to do so) has anything to do with their character, their intelligence, or their being. Yeah it feels good to pay off credit cards because there's other benefits to that, it also feels good to pay back a friend or family member who loans you money because it's a personal connection. But why in the world would I pay more than I need to when I can just get the balance wiped in X years and save six figures to a government that just prints money or to a private lender that will just write it off and sell it to someone else?
"It can be borrowed to other students." , no that's not how that works. As for labeling a loan balance as "depressing" well it's not one size fits all. It's money, it's business, it's not that deep. If you feel good shoveling money into your federal loans when you'd probably save tens of thousands of dollars NOT doing so, go for it. Same as people who pay off their mortgages at sub 5% rates too early. And "opening up your real and full earning power?" - Do you not know what inflation is and how you're almost likely loosing earning power by dumping your money into a massive student loan now rather than taking the payment plan and using the extra now when it's worth more than it will be later?
As for your comment about being a psychologist saying being in debt is good, I never said that. I will say that people need to make the best choices they can for themselves mentally and psychologically. Some have a higher threshold for stress, some have lower. It's not one size fits all. But I will say as a psychologist, I easily see through the ruse that big banks and lenders have done over the years to equate paying off your debt (logic and math be damned) with being a "good" or "not good" person or "feeling good" or "feeling bad." Billionaires and millionaires don't think twice about taking the deal or looking for ways to save money , why do you in a setup that rewards knowing how to do so? It's business not personal.
As a psychologist, sure I want patients to do what is best for their mental health and wellbeing; not everyone equates their student loan status to their happiness or sadness. On a serious note, you are aware that some people contemplate suicide over debt right? How perverted a society we've become that people feel less than because they have debt or feel desperate or like there's no purpose/point, or way out? You want to know why I just never paid Sallie Mae and beat them at their own lies, they asked me once to talk to friends and family to borrow money to pay them. If I was not in a good headspace, I might think I'm a failure for not doing everything I can to "be awesome and pay back what I borrowed!" But I digress.
You're correct, it is math. That's why for many the math makes NO SENSE to pay off large federal student loan debt early if your payment plans (which are contractually obligated to be offered IN the terms of the loan) will lead to a significant chunk of it being wiped clean after X number of payments. That's common sense math. You want the "feel good win" of watching the number go down while I'll feel good knowing I'm at least 1/3 way through the required X number of payments before rest if wiped clean and I've paid maybe a few grand into 6 figures. The difference I've invested, I've saved, and I've spent on enjoying life. 😉 Being a psychologist or not being a psychologist has nothing to do with what it. End of the day if YOU feel good paying it off sooner and have the means to do so, even if it doesn't make financial sense, go for it. It doesn't make it the correct (financially or otherwise) path for everyone.
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