Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

I do think you should be able to declare bankruptcy on worthless degrees. Banks (note that I have a problem with government loan subsidies) should face the risk and not loan to a student getting a worthless degree.

What I can't figure out is how to stop someone who gets a useful degree from declaring bankruptcy right after graduating and then getting a job using that degree. This is fraud.



In this way college loans are unsecured debt, like credit cards, and should be priced accordingly.


You never really know when the market would be saturated with degree x since it takes 4 years to earn. On the other end banks may decline a degree that if taken now will start to be high demand when the candidate graduates.


If you have a electrical engineering degree in generators right before someone discovers a cheap over unity solar panel (coming up with a way to violate the laws of physics is left as an exercise to the reader) thus making all generator specialists valueless - most of your EE course work still applies so you just need pivot a little. Maybe you need an additional year of school to get in demand skills, but the odds that you can't find something that it is a low risk to get you into is low.

If you have a degree in music - we already know that field is saturated. If you studied only music you have a few years left to get a course of study that is useful.




Consider applying for YC's Summer 2026 batch! Applications are open till May 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: