Dear 'Neads help with Loans'

Welcome to the real world! I'm sure you parents would have helped you more with school when you were in school, if they could have afforded to. What on Earth makes you think they have any obligation to help you pay back your loans now? Frankly, they did you a favor by stressing the need for an education, and it doesn't mean it's now their fault that you are in debt. You should feel lucky you got any financial help at all. I discovered I too am a 'Millenial' but I have never had this attitude I keep reading about. I am in exactly the same financial position you are, only I got no help paying for school and I would never ask for it now because I know neither one of my parents can really afford to help, nor is it their duty to. I have a good job now, and I make more than either one of them ever did and I suspect that you are probably are, or will soon be, in the same position. Be thankful you have an education and a job, and take some pride in the fact that you are paying off your loans all on your own. That's what I did, it's become a huge source of pride for me now because in 3 years I've managed to pay off $15,000 despite a meager start income-wise. I still have a lot more to go though, and it does mean making sacrifices and getting a later start on things like buying a car or a home, but times have changed since our parents went to school. That's how life goes.

My parents are also in no position to help out on my loans (most expensive school in canada, just my luck) but even though I'm still studying and struggling with a part-time job, I help them out when they need it and they try to do the same and it's that simple.

But to clarify the LW's position: her parents helped as much as they could when she was studying. She graduated, got a stable job, the parents are still in the same position and now she's expecting them to help out MORE?

If I was in her place, there would be no doubt in my mind that I would be helping THEM by assuming the costs of travel for visits, ensuring their own comfort, and then not asking any more than the love and support they've always offered. Because, well, they did kinda give me life and all.

I myself am $110,000 in debt so far because of loans for college and grad school. My parents would help if they could, but they can't. I knew what I was getting myself into when I decided to accept loans in order to pursue my education; the letter writer should realize the same. That being said, there is a real problem here: the cost of higher education in the US. It's ridiculous that anyone should have to be $100,000 in debt to get a Masters degree, especially in a country that is considered the richest on Earth. The government, and not parents, needs to do more to help students pay for their education.

Part of it is supply and demand. Part is insistence on having the resources available for a quality education once there - good faculty, lab equipment, buildings, etc.

Also, between grants and university write-offs, listed tuitions usually are NOT what people pay. My daughter, for instance, chose to go to an expensive private college. She got X for a grant, Y for a loan, and the university knocked down their own charges of Z to bring it down to what the federal grant plus loans covered.

Like someone else posted here, she had the option of attending other colleges for less or even for free, but chose not to. Given that, were she so bold as to ask I pay it, I'd probably laugh.

I couldn't believe the nerve of this letter writer. Asking your parents to help pay back your loans? Ridiculous!

You want to hear something not fair... I have been paying back my loans myself for some time now and you know you get a tax credit for it, right? Well since the loan is in my father's name he got the tax credit... not me. You know what I did, I told my dad to keep it and take my mom somewhere nice with his tax return.

What really annoys me about "Needs Help With Loans" is that the reason they want help is because they are not able to SAVE much money because of paying off loans. Which means they have enough to pay the bills AND the loans and some left over already!!! Talk bout selfish little brats!!!