Just because this doesn't help me, personally, doesn't mean that I can't appreciate the fact that this will help a ton of people. Can you not put aside your personal frustration and feel glad for the people who will benefit from this?
Also in that provision is a 10 year cap on certain loans. Not that paying off a student loan for 10 years and then being free of it is a bargain, but it's another helpful part of the EO. There's not much you can argue with Biden doing this. It's made up money in the first place as the overwhelming majority of these loans are government issued IOU's that have been flipped and spun 40x's over in debt offerings to China so if anyone is saying, "but my taxes, it's not fair, INFLATION, blah blah blah" you have zero clue where this money is allocated for in the US budget. I went to community college on grants for 2 years and a CT public college for the other 2 years on grants and scholarships. In total, I think my bill would have been about 25k for 4 years of college. In today's climate, that bill would have been,,,,about 34k. In 20 years it's gone up about 10k, which doesn't seem out of line. I'm not really sure why everyone gets so bent about college tuition when it's actually VERY EASILY affordable and if you do have to take out loans, you aren't going to be saddled with them for 15 years if you get even a halfway decent job out of college.
Gah, I think it's so stupid that Congress wants to lower the tax rate for couples earning over $650k from 37% to 36%! And, they've discussed lowering the capital gains tax from 20% to 15%. Outrageous!
I got fucked out of the COVID stimulus money and now this? Bummer. I should have just stolen a PPP loan.
Id be less weary of the situation if the colleges that have jacked up the prices astronomically were on the hook for it and not the taxpayers.
Some jackass that went to a local private school costing around 40k a year was on the news last night whining about how it’s not enough. Fuck you pal. We’re you high on Ambien when you signed all those loan forms? Were you too stupid to realize what a “loan” is? These people signed a contract, and now that they have their degree, they don’t want to abide by it. Tough shit. Man up and pay your debts.
Every time I seen to hear man up, it reflects someone who had a completely different and more forgiving set of options, such as a time in which it was possible to pay your way through college, and live independently on an entry-level wage. Also, it's not like they are refusing to pay it, or somehow expecting this to get wiped out. The Biden administration saw the burden it places on people trying to start families, buy homes, etc. And acted on it. This isn't the result of some sort of occupy protest, this is a system choking a section of the entire economy, that needed to be retooled. Also, the newer generation learned from our mistakes and is being more cautious and cost sensitive when it comes to higher education. I see the wisdom in that, but worry that we are right back to square one where smart talented kids don't seek an education because of the cost. Look around and tell me we have enough education with a straight face.
Unless working 60-75 hours a week throughout one’s twenties is a more forgiving option, I’d disagree.
Then the question I have is... you endured a brutal system that sucked. Later, folks tried to fix that system and make it less brutal....isn't that better? Why the opposition to fixing something you hated?
Because it really doesn’t do anything to solve the underlying issue? Ten minutes ago Biden accused big oil of price gouging because of astronomical profits. Why not the same ire at big education? It honestly just smacks of buying good press and votes with a “win” before midterms than anything else.
But it does, going back to JJ's post. If the system works for you, and you pay it off or find a gig that pays $125k/year, cool. If not, your "loss" from making a bad bet as a 17 year old is capped at 5% of your income. I like the idea of the government fixing the loan problem on the individual side a lot more than them trying to control the cost of education, especially because lowering the cost of education would mean eliminating jobs in higher education. The market is already exerting downward pressure on costs. Not even touching the nonsense behind "oil should get the same treatment as education".
It’s not fixing the issue at all. What happens when loan debt balloons again in 5-10 years? Are we cutting another round of checks? I’m not sure why this is difficult for some of you. It’s not just a bunch of low-income college students trying to get a bachelor’s degree. Something like 40% of all loan debt is held by graduate or post-graduate students. Also, in aggregate, student loan debt exceeds both credit card debt and auto loan debt, and none of those are “unfair” burdens. If anything Biden is making a bigger mess of the one Obama made with the federal loan guarantee program.
Credit card and auto loan debt can be discharged in bankruptcy, or have assets that can be repossessed. Student loans don't have that, so the comparison is misleading. Also, last I checked the federal government doesn't issue auto or credit card debt. I think these changes ensure the loan debt doesn't balloon again, especially with the prevailing millennial narrative now making its way to a generation that had to do zoom school for 2 years, and may not feel the need to spend $100k on undergrad when $20k or less in online or community College will do.
I’m saying big education should get the same treatment as big oil. Somehow the eye popping numbers that are charged for education to fund prestige buildings and administrative employees over curriculum no one bats an eye. These are the institutions that are the ones saddling the debt on teenagers but I guess their mission is supposedly noble so criticism and acceptability is off the table. If it were me I’d make the loans dischargeble in bankruptcy, don’t guarantee loans through the government, and let the kids and schools come to a more sensible number. Might hurt the total number of students up front but eventually schools would have to adjust prices down or not have students. The pricing dislocations remind me of the healthcare/health insurance industry. You remove the natural market forces from the equation healthcare will bill whatever they want.
Lol. "Big education". Do a little comparison between the world's largest energy companies operating in the US and the largest universities. Hell, include endowments if you want. I am saying I like the market exercising cost pressure more than the federal government on universities, and helping out the students whose plans didn't pan out to the extent their debt is a burden more than trying to lower the cost of education.
That wasn't the point of the comparison. The point was to illustrate the full amount of debt in that sector carried by the public. And I suggested earlier that student loans should be able to be easily discharged, but Congress doesn't permit it because the federal government holds a large chunk of those loans. And technically it is possible to discharge them, it's just a much higher burden of proof of "hardship" than other forms of debt.
Who says I hated it? Sure it was a harder path, but I chose it, and dealt with the decisions I made to get me where I am today. Just like the people who chose to go into debt for a degree.
The conspiracy theorist in me suspects that the entire PPP program was just a trap so that when student loan forgiveness finally came, Twitter would be able to rain "this you?"s down from the heavens on people complaining about it.
I enjoy reading stories about the feds cuffing people that got huge, fraudulent PPP loans and then blew it all on crypto trading.
The people that were in a good enough financial situation to pay back the entirety of their loans before this program was implemented were not the target audience in the first place. Being mad that I didn't get my loans either reduced or paid off completely would be like someone in the 1930s getting mad at kids of that generation for not being forced to work in factories like they did. We should be working for making it easier on the generations after us just like the ones before us did (some of them anyway).