Mastodawn

Student Debt Burdened Them, So They Moved Abroad and Stopped Paying

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/04/business/student-loans-abroad-default.html

Some Borrowers Are Moving Abroad and Abandoning Their Student Loans

A record number of student loan borrowers are in delinquency and default. Some are making the drastic decision to leave the country and abandon their loans.

The New York Times

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propter_hoc 5d ago

I'm Canadian, but I know someone from the US who did this. She's living in Paris, moderately successful in academia and as far as I can tell, completely happy to never return to the US. Her family goes to visit her in Europe once in a while.

Perplexing.

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dvt 5d ago

> moderately successful in academia and as far as I can tell

Why not pay your debts then? I totally understand debt forgiveness for extenuating circumstances (and imo, it's a crime that student loan debt can't be forgiven, and the interest rates are often predatory—especially in the case of med school and law school), but this just sounds like stealing with extra steps.

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propter_hoc

Yeah. I don't know the extent of her debt or current income, but she went to an in-state school for a STEM degree, she's not someone who got a useless degree from an overly expensive school. She definitely doesn't seem to regret her decision, whatever the financial or moral considerations.

As I said, I'm a bit perplexed.