Who Is Responsible for the Loan?
Right now the student debt – (college tuition loans), is at about 900 Billion Dollars! 33% of them are subprime (or high risk) according to Transunion Credit Bureau. It’s also reported that about 33% of the borrowers that are in the repayment stage are late by at least 90 days. 93% of the 900 Billion Dollars loaned is provided through our Government – in the end, the taxpayers will be footing this bill. Why is this happening?
Who is Alexander Tyler?
Years ago, when our country was first being established, a professor from the Athenian Republic, named Alexander Tyler wrote:
“A demoncracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves a largesse (generous gift), from the treasury. From that moment on, the majority will always vote for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the results that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy and is always followed by dictatorship.
The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From BONDAGE to SPIRITUAL FAITH; from SPIRITUAL FAITH to GREAT COURAGE; from GREAT COURAGE to ABUNDANCE; from ABUNDANCE to SELFISHNESS; from SELFISHNESS to COMPLACENCY; from COMPLACENCY to APATHY; from APATHY to DEPENDENCY; from DEPENDENCY back again into BONDAGE.”
Who Has a Right To a College Degree?
How did college education become a right? How did college tuition become the responsibility of the Federal Government? It seems like, somewhere between ABUNDANCE and SELFISHNESS, we decided to vote for more handouts – where are we now in this sequence? Are we moving toward dependency?
Back in the early 1980s, Jim Sammons in his well know Financial Freedom Seminar, suggested that perhaps, money or lack thereof is just one of the indicators we should consider when considering what God would have us do. If you are short on collage tuition, rather than taking out a college loan, you might first ask, “Why isn’t God supplying the money I need for college?” Perhaps it’s not the route He is calling you to.
© 2013, David Stelzl
What do you do when you’ve already been suckered? We LOVED the Jim Sammons DVDs and plan to do things completely differently but we’ve made such a mess that we haven’t been able to see our way out yet (and student loans are at the heart of it). We’ve been praying and waiting but haven’t heard anything from God yet.
That is difficult, and there is no easy answer or magic formula. I would first make a commitment to not take on any further debt. Second, I would recommend putting together a budget – Ron Blue has a great step-by-step book on finances that might help with this (Master Your Money). Your budget should allow for giving to God’s work, saving a portion, and then you expenses. If your income doesn’t allow for this, it might be time to downsize. But before doing that, you should take inventory – what are you spending on that you don’t need? Also consider eBay as a way to get rid of things you don’t need. Then focus on paying off the smallest debt – once paid, apply that payment onto the next smallest to eliminate it more quickly, and so on. I did this in 1988 with a ton of debt and within three years my wife and I cleared some pretty large debts – all but our mortgage.
Thank you so much for your thoughts. I’ll have to get Master Your Money. Your thoughts on which debts to pay off first I’ve heard before and makes a lot of sense. Right now we don’t have an income at all so it is hard to budget $0. Hopefully that will change. Please pray for us.
I appreciated you comments here and wrote a post today on how to get a job. I hope this is helpful. http://raisingentrepreneurs.net/2013/02/04/how-to-get-a-job/
Love the last paragraph! We are definitely not getting into more debt (because of our moral convictions) but we will be filing for bankruptcy without remorse. Our monetary system is a phony-baloney make-believe fairy tale — money is created out of thin air (or a few keyboard strokes). It’s utterly corrupt and I want as little to do with it as possible. It’s a faith-thing. I’d rather trust God than a credit score, savings account, retirement account, or even a job. He is creator of the universe and He loves us more than we can understand and He has the super-ability to provide for our needs while we put the kingdom of heaven first by loving and serving our neighbors. Yes, there is work to do but let us to the work that God has given us passion and talent for. IMO, the abundant life has NOTHING to do with money. “If we have food and clothing, let us be content” 1 Timothy 6:8 Let’s act like the first church in Acts; what would our world look like if today’s church acted like the church in Acts 4:32-37?
Please don’t take my comment as a critique of anything you posted; I just wanted to share a bit of our story
Thanks for sharing…while I agree with much of what you’ve written and empathize with your situation, we always need to consider how scripture calls us to relate to Government, authority, and to the earning and spending of money. Money is a scriptural concept – as is debt. Debt is a promise – a yoking of two entities. Marriage is a debt – a vow or covenant made between a man and woman that must be fulfilled. I would encourage you to consider how Psalm 37:21 should be interpreted by God’s people. Going forward, you want God’s blessings that come as you walk circumspectly, understanding the will of God, as stated in Eph. 5.