Irrational exhuberance?
I stole this from the Irving Housing Blog, as it sums up so much of my current attitude:
Over the past five months, I've spent a great deal of my time over at lawschooldiscussion.org (LSD), in preparation for applying to law school. It's a great community, and I've learned a lot and had a great time, despite the fact I'm old enough to be a mother to most of the posters there. However, on one issue in particular I find these "kids" pretty naive - the coming economic crash. Most aren't homeowners, and have very little appreciation for the rapid depreciation in property values and tightening credit. They don't see how the latter will effect them. I've been telling Eric for weeks now that I think the subprime crisis will spill over into the student loan sector, with money for eduction becoming much harder to come by over the next few years. It's one reason I'm thinking of putting off school for a year, for us to build a nest egg to pay for for the $25-35K tuition should I get into my dream schools sans funding.
Law school applications are apparently down 17% this year. Usually, during downturns in the economy, higher education attendance increases. Could the tightening of credit, including parents inability to cash out on equity to help finance their kid's education, be having an effect already?
