USA: seniors still owe student loans!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/senior-citizens-continue-to-bear-burden-of-student-loans/2012/04/01/gIQAs47lpS_story.html?wprss

New research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that Americans 60 and older still owe about $36 billion in student loans, providing a rare window into the dynamics of student debt. More than 10 percent of those loans are delinquent. As a result, consumer advocates say, it is not uncommon for Social Security checks to be garnished or for debt collectors to harass borrowers in their 80s over student loans that are decades old.

(D - original source: http://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2012/03/grading-student-loans.html )

The long-touted benefits of a college degree are being diluted by rising tuition rates and the longevity of debt.

Some of these older Americans are still grappling with their first wave of student loans, while others took on new debt when they returned to school later in life in hopes of becoming more competitive in the labor force. Many have co-signed for loans with their children or grandchildren to help them afford ballooning tuition...

And unlike other debts, student loans cannot be shed in bankruptcy. As a result, some older Americans have found that a college degree led not to a prosperous career but instead to a lifetime under the shadow of debt.

Barnett filed for bankruptcy in 2005, but she couldn’t get out from under her student loan debt. She said a collection agency began garnishing the wages from her full-time job as a customer service representative a year ago, and now money is so tight that she must choose between buying gas and buying food.

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D - OMG, they can garnish senior gov't benefits? Really?
And NEVER kick a student loan.

It is easy to scoff and say, "well, that is just those Americans", but we got pretty close here a few years back. And may very well end up there again.

Right now, the Canadian minimum time out of school to go backrupt on a student loan is SEVEN years. But it was TEN. That scared the hell out of me the time. In fact, I got in trouble with family over it. My 1 grandma was born in Lithuania, then settled here after WWII. This means, under the immigration rules of Lithuania, as blood descendents, my siblings and cousins could become Lithuanians. I did not know what the future held. The trend in student loans suggested that a 20, 25 or even "life sentence" for student loans could easily happen. I was eyeing the possibility of retiring still owing a student debt - particularly if I tried to take any more school! I did not want to bother grandma (Oma) about the details we would need to qualify for citizenship, but it made sense at the time.

And here's the kicker- it may yet make sense. There is no reason that the government, faced with spiralling Boomer retirement pension and medical costs cannot try the same stunt again.
SEVEN years can become ten again, then 14, then 25 and finally LIFE.
Notice the similarity to criminal law sentencing here. Put another way, a student loan that cannot be bankrupted upon (particularly if old age benefits can be garnished) is tantamount to a life (and death) penalty... all for the temerity of going to school.