Frazz by Jef Mallett for February 11, 2020

I wouldn’t worry, Ms. Plainwell. At your salary, you’ll probably never pay off those loans.

I think I probably crossed over before I got out of college. I had already started buying (paperback) books in 8th grade, and before that, my parents had enrolled me in various book clubs. On the other hand, I had read pretty much everything in the little county library by then…

I’m 75, and I don’t know which side of that line I fall on. I own a few thousand.

Even the used books were expensive.

Considering how often I checked out books when I was a little kid, there is no way I can ever own more than that!

Student loans. Man, talk about a permanent record.

I have a metric shit-ton of books on my third Kindle (one and two were dropped and broken). My local library offers digital books, which go away after two weeks. I still have real books, though; some Mark Twain, Vonnegut, and LotR. I also kept my math texts from school. I gave away most of my books to my kids when I downsized myself after retirement.

Use the library more, buy less books! Ms. Plainwell, you will pay off the loan faster.

Owned a lot of books, but since I discovered our library has e books, I donated most and now read more.

@Geophyzz: I found one also has to check to see if the online book actually is a used copy. Ordered what I thought was an original paperback edition of Grin and Bear It, an old favorite of mine in the comics sections. Turned out to be a computer generated copy. Included same cover and text, but was twice pocket book size, and absolutely pure as to condition. Very nice in a way, but, sorry to say, it just did not have the feel of an original. It did not bring any history with it. Told Amazon I preferred actual used to shiny new copy, especially in one of a kind books, and that book descriptions should say if original or copy. Got a nice reply and an original.

Of course I don’t buy as many books as I check out of the Library, (Even Trump doesn’t have that much money), I have to rent out the World Trade Center to store them all if I did.

Here’s a proposition thrown out as contrarian, curmudgeonly food for thought: every time you check a book published since the early 1920’s out of the library, you are freeloading on the author’s hard work by denying him or her the royalty they would have received, and have richly earned, had you purchased the book.

Anyone else notice how neat Miss Plainwell’s speech bubble is in the last panel, with the right side lined up? If it was hand-lettered I’m very impressed.

I’m 58 and have no idea where the line is. I own so many books, but I was in my teens before it occurred to me that grocery store visits did not necessarily start with a trip to the library.

At my current rate of repayment, my student loans will be paid off in my 4th or 5th lifetime from now, of course that includes a Masters which was expensive.

One other plus to getting books from the library- books that don’t get taken out tend to get culled from the collection. You’re helping prolong its existence there.

When I was in school, military and college went to the library and read a lot. Once I started to work all my reading was technical manuals (40+ years). Now that I am retired I’d rather be doing something than reading.

Maybe a few hundred, but I’ve given a lot of books away to make room for new ones!

Actually people who went to college and got a degree that is marketable are working and usually have their loans paid off in a few years. The ones having trouble are the ones that didn’t graduate or got a worthless degree.

My apartment’s not big enough for all the books I read. I get everything from the library.

I’m starting to think I’m strange.

I had roughly 10,000 when I graduated HS in 1978. My dad supplemented his income by selling at flea markets. We’d set up, dad would give my brother and me our allowances, and off we went. Back then flea markets were full of booksellers – paperbacks a dime each, 12 for $1, hardcover books a quarter each or 5 for $1.

I also read as many library books as was allowed, but most places we lived were small rural towns – Tampa was a revelation!

Now, I have collected around 20,000 on my own, and have, sadly inherited my dad’s, mom’s, and brother’s collection. When I get a big enough place, I’ve got to weed out the duplicates and stuff I just won’t read. I wonder how much is actually there.

From the comments it sounds like I’m the odd duck… four college degrees and never had any debt. And while it took 12 years to get the undergraduate degree, it only took three years to get the graduate degree. What slowed me down (and saved money) was never taking more than two classes a term and usually only one class a term. Then there were all the missed terms while I went on TDY.

The method I used was to set a goal, then not worry about how long it took, just keep going until I got there and never borrow money to pay for it. But then I used military tuition assistance, (occasionally) the GI Bill and my already earned money to pay for it all, not an option available to folks that haven’t served.

Mallet PostsFrazz15 hrs ·

As wonderful as it is, the funny business is a very fear-intensive industry. Every story you tell is an opportunity for the joke to fall flat. Or worse, offend someone, when really, your whole intent is to make people feel better about things.

But not to risk is to guarantee failure, so we put it out there and worry. And with today’s Frazz, I worry about two things: I worry that people are burdened by student debt too much to see any lightness in it, and I worry that there may be more people than I think who react with, “what? My college had a library?”

I was fortunate enough to qualify for student loan forgiveness (apx. $12K) after teaching for five years in an inner-city school. Of course, I failed to apply until I had finished my tenth year of teaching (and fifth year of payments…)

Student loans. An ameriKan disgrace.