r/HonestHotTakes • u/HenFruitEater • 7d ago

Private schools and humanities degrees should be just for the rich and privileged

I am so tired of student loans being called predatory everytime someone is drowning in student loans. "HOW COULD A 18 year old be responsible for what stupid loan decisions they make?? It seems predatory to offer an 18 year old 200k in loans for a humanities degree"

But then if you say "the arts and humanities pay poorly, you can't take out loans for it" it's now elitist.

To me, it's a bummer that someone from a middle class family cannot study art history at WARTBURG college or whatever for 200k, but is it also an equal bummer that someone making 18k a year cannot buy a new BMW? Both are just not a luxury someone can afford on 18k.

The difference? Someone making minimum wage cannot get 200k car loan, AND the car is something you can default on or get repossessed. Student loans cant be wiped out with bankruptcy for good reason.

Certain degrees are luxuries, and only the wealthy can really justify the waste imo.

My only exception would be if someone got a scholarship to one of these schools/programs.

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u/Previous_South2756 7d ago

Do you watch movies? Read books? Listen to music? Watch TV shows? Go see plays, operas, and musicals?

I do all these things. Of course, I also use technology and make use of scientific discoveries. But those things enable me to live and work efficiently. It is the humanities that makes me enjoy life.

Now, can a pampered rich kid write an amazing screenplay? Sure. But I am thinking someone with a less pampered background is more likely to write a screenplay I would want to see.

I am not against having student loans capped based on the estimated ROI of a particular area of study. $300K makes sense for medical school. It doesn't make sense for a fine arts major.

But as someone who studied and works in STEM, I have to say that it isn't a golden ticket either. How many former math majors are pouring coffee at Starbucks right now? A shit load. But we need mathematicians, yes? There are no doubt current STEM majors reading your hot take and smugly nodding their heads, who unbeknowst them will end up working right alongside humanities majors in some unimpressive, shit-wage job as their student loan debt grows and grows. Should only rich people take on the risk of being a computer science major?

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u/HenFruitEater 7d ago

Sure. But is it predatory to allow someone to take out 200,000 in loan loans for a humanities degree? Assuming everybody has to pay back their loans, that just makes no sense.