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The New York Post has picked up a story in which Brian Baxter, who graduated from Columbia in 1990, is suing the University, claiming he’s being subjected to “modern-day slavery” in the form of high student loan rates. Citibank—Columbia’s partner in crime and “preferred lender”—is also involved in the suit.
Baxter, who likens himself to a “mouse on a treadmill”—which to Bwog’s understanding is not actually at all the same thing as a slave—is riling against the inflated rates of his student loan.
Columbia and Citibank—who are, just to clarify, the treadmills of the “mouse on the treadmill” analogy—could not be reached for comment, though one could presumably characterize their retorts as something along the lines of: “Let them eat cheese.”
– JNW
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41 Comments
@tuitionrollback All post-1988 student loan debts that were used for higher education tuition and fee payments should now be cancelled in order to provide more post-graduation debt relief for people under 40 years of age. In some European countries, higher education has long been free and students have not been treated as consumers by tax-exempt “non-profit” universities like Columbia. If the U.S. government was willing to forget about the debt it was owed by the government of Egypt, for instance, prior to Gulf War I, why should it not be now willing to cancel the post-1988 national student debt of its former U.S. students? Once universities like Columbia are taxed at the same corporate rate as for-profit universities, the amount of new tax revenue obtained by the U.S. government could possibly exceed the amount it loses by cancelling the post-1988 student loan debt. In addition, U.S. universities like Columbia that receive public research funds from the federal government should be subject to federal tuition-control regulations to protect current students from having to pay excessively high tuition costs so that university provosts can be paid salaries of $396,000 per year, for instance.
@will you cease this outrage?
What a does a new yorker read in the morning?
The New York Times!
@bringing this back to what’s important.
what does a corn farmer read in the morning?
The Drawl Street Kernel!
@McFister It’s very simple: this person is mentally ill.
@it's terrible This is expected of a university that’s struggling to compete with others who are much better endowed. We’re simply low on funds, and our graduates have to suffer afterwards. Meanwhile, people who graduate from HYP walk away quite free with their diplomas.
@Alum Back when Mr. Baxter graduated, Columbia’s financial aid policies were very similar to HYP’s. The other schools only began using their financial muscle to boost their aid packages more recently.
Also, the article says Baxter graduated from SSW after earning his BA. I don’t know what SSW’s aid policies are like, but I doubt many of its peers have vastly better aid programs.
@The King of Spain Actually it was a terrible joke that referenced a line in a terrible Spec article about Jewish girls getting married in college.
@Yeah, no. I really don’t think that comment was referencing a Spec analysis of Orthodox Jewish marriage practices at Columbia. I think it was referencing anti-semitism in an abject attempt at humor.
@unfortunately... It’s actually linked to a Columbia email address. I just looked the guy up. He goes to SEAS.
@El Presidente the email address doesn’t mean anything.
that said, it has a distinctly columbian smell to it…
@of course anybody can list any email address in that field…
@correction I meant #20, who was responding to #15.
@shock I wonder how the acrimony and bitterness, and, on occasion, outright bigotry (way to go #15!) on these posts reflects on our school. Is this what Columbia really is, when you get right down to it?
@Alum Don’t be so sure that post was from a Columbian. Anyone can post on this site — including outsiders who just want to be provocative.
@hmm “He said he started out with a $65,000 loan but now has to pay $172,000 – and has yet to touch the principal.”
oof. poor guy. student loans are not dischargable even in the event of bankruptcy.
the financial aid situation at gs is a ticking public relations timebomb. one day, someone from gs will go on to do things that place them in the spotlight, if they’re feeling angst towards the university over their $900/mo student loan bill, it could make the university look very, very bad indeed.
@Oksana Baiul theres a reason it hasn’t become an issue. GS people don’t amount to much. It’s a stain on my degree that this guy has a BA from this school too.
@Alum I always thought mice ran on wheels (like the one in the photo), not treadmills. It would take an awfully big mouse to move any of the treadmills I’ve ever seen.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/12/17/giant.rat.ap/index.html
@07 alumna “and trying to figure out what sort of joke of a loan arrangement he entered into where it’s still not paid off.”
Having just started repayment on my loans I can say that this is not that far fetched, really. I didn’t read the article so I’m sorry if this isn’t germane to the discussion, but there are a lot of ways to legitimately postpone paying loans. Deferment and forebarence come to mind immediately, and there might be others I’m not aware of. Graduated repayment plans can also hit borrowers really hard when the payments balloon several years down the line. All of these are common options, not crazy schemes.
@will you please marry me? I’m in love with you for not writing “alum”.
@at least alum is better than the use of alumni as a singular noun. that makes me really angry.
@really? It makes you reeeally angry? really?
@hi bwog parenthetical commas are your friend (and decidedly less visually awkward)
@BWOG!!!! READ BEFORE WRITING – the mouse on treadmill metaphor clearly implies his inability to pay off his loan and doesn’t in any way suggest that the treadmill is Columbia – he simply means that regardless of how much he pays he sees no end in sight and feels like he’s running on the spot! get it right bwog!!! please hirer keener staff
@dude! *hire!!!! NOT HIRER! bee ken youself!
@not dumb Hello #15. We all understand that the mouse on the treadmill refers to the moron not being able to pay off his loans. Bwog was just saying that slavery is not comparable to mice on treadmills. If mice had any sense they would stop running and lie down on the fluffy stuff at the bottom of their cages anyway. Besides, mice get to eat cheese, and slaves don’t usually get that good food.
@slavery indeed... …has nothing to do with ‘mice on treadmills (sic)’ but the dude in the article doesn’t make that connection either. he just uses two different analogies to express his feelings not one analogy to explain the other analogy
@Thanks Bwog That was quite entertaining
@FAUX NEWS What does Rupert Murdoch read?!
The Wall Street Urinal!
@Bryan Mercer is that you in disguise? “Modern day slavery” sounds like a hyperbole only you could have shit out.
Anywho, if this does make the court, that guy is only going to get lose and only get into more of a financial mess. So then he will take out another loan from a big bank (Citibank for example?) and….
@blech *That guy is only going to lose and get into more of a financial mess.
@Nyuck Nyuck What paper should the podiatrist read?
The Chicago Tribune.
Just saying.
@this is why we can’t have nice things.
http://img.qj.net/uploads/articles_module/97128/1183574200026_qjgenth.jpg
@look- I couldn’t read after i saw that he’s 57 and graduated in the 90’s… THIS IS WHY GS SHOULD NOT EXIST!!!!
@ttan I actually didn’t read the article. I was actually pulling up stats on Columbia’s tuition in 1990 (well less than five digits) and trying to figure out what sort of joke of a loan arrangement he entered into where it’s still not paid off. I didn’t know he was GS.
@retard Idiot. He probably should have realized that was entering a profession where he wouldn’t be making enough money to pay off his loan. And blaming the University for his poor financial planning. What a jerk.
@joke of the day what newspaper should you read over breakfast?
the new york toast!
@Well what newspaper should the troubadour read?
the new york ukulele muse!
@well what paper should the poet read?
The New York Rhymes
@however what should the haughty politician read?
The Washington Boast
@first New York Post:
COLUMBIA & CITIBANK ‘MODERN-DAY SLAVERS’: SUIT
“slavers” is a funny word
also, isn’t it weird how the new york post seems to hate columbia when it was founded by a columbians.