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When my wife and I went through bankruptcy we didn't get any student debt relief. And now the want to give people student debt relief!? That's awesome, we should be trying to help people out of debt any way we can.
Had me in the first half
I don't understand why the government can't at least offer everyone the opportunity to refinance at zero interest so they can get those private debts paid off.
Especially for government owned loans. It’s always been bizarre to me that I pay interest on my federal student loans. My education makes me a huge contributor to the economy already, why do I need to pay back 2-3x my tuition over the term of my loans too?
Because they’re considered safe loans because they are very hard to discharge. So your student loans are funding your parent’s pension funds and 401k’s
Isn't it that the companies overseeing those pension funds and 401ks have given out that money as risky loans because they had the promise of being able to create a generation of debtors by going into schools and targeting children for predatory interest rates?
I am on board with cancelling some student debt for those who are struggling, but I wonder if this is a good long term solution. How do we stop getting overburdened graduates into the debt machine at 22? Do we lower tuition costs, make college free, talk kids out of going, giving more government grants to low income students?
If the taxpayers are going to socialize anything I'd prefer to start with healthcare. That impacts everyone.
You can socialize more than one thing at a time. Student loan debt affects everyone too. We have an entire generation right now who can’t afford to buy a house, and who are putting off marriage and having kids. That effects the entire economy. Not to mention they can’t save for retirement if a good chunk of their income is going into student loan debt.
A few counters to this:
Given that public opinion weighs so heavily on the ability to get anything done, healthcare, to me, seems like an easier win. Focus on one thing, get it done right, make people happy, get elected to a second term.
Student loans do not affect everyone. College attendance is declining and nobody ever dies from not having a bachelor's.
Home prices and interest rates are out of control, but neither has anything to do with student loans. Home prices have risen at way beyond inflationary rates to beyond what is affordable even for those without debt. Other factors are at play here.
Stopping the student loan program would be a good start. It would cause some people to not be able to go to college, but it would likely save far more from a debt trap. Stopping loans would also apply a huge downward force on tuition, which may actually help more people afford to go to college in the first place.
Maybe after a few years of no loans, a grant system could be created. It would pay participating universities directly, if they agreed to some level of affordable tuition. You could tie additional grant money to performance objectives that are harder to game like graduation rates, job placement, average salary of recent graduates, and performance of the bottom quintile.
Interesting to think about. I wonder how much schools would need to scale back to make a noticable difference in tuition and what jobs would be cut in the process. At a time when private colleges are already struggling, it might be difficult to find the fat to trim.
Admin jobs would be cut. The vast majority of tuition increases have not gone to the faculty, who teach the classes.
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Healthcare is a good start, but education is the biggest investment we can possibly make. Why not both, though? The money exists.
Well, sure, the money exists, but it's not for those people
Pre George W. Bush, it was perfectly legal to discharge student debt in bankruptcy. That made loans harder to get, and consequently, kept college prices from these insane increases.
Does anyone know how they plotted that "Student loan debt" graph? Looks nice.
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this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2023
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