Forgive student debt, yes or no?

[IDVikingfan]

The Biden administration is considering a student loan forgiveness plan, in keeping with promise made in primaries and general election.  Do you support student debt forgiveness and why a yay/nay answer?

[Guest]

No.  Ridiculous it is even being considered.  You take out a loan, you pay it back.  

[Guest]

I can kinda see both sides of this mess:

one is simple: you take out a loan, you should pay it back, and not put a burden on the taxpayers.

The other is far more complex.  Colleges and their cohorts in government have created a subsidized and propagated market for higher education, making costs soar to ridiculous heights and also leveraging the schools' standings by making degrees mandatory to even get to the interview stage for many jobs.  It's become predatory and brutally manipulative, and has gone on for generations (I remember all the propoganda in my grade schools).  I saw a comparison recently that college was 1200% more expensive than it was in the 70s (IIRC), and so many degrees are wildly pushed, but eventually useless....

IMHO, I'm actually for a certain degree of forgiveness, but I'd also want the gov't and the schools complicit in the ridiculous shell game to be the ones punished.

[Guest]

Here's a thoughtful progressive perspective: https://www.progressivepolicy.org/pressr...dent-debt/

[Guest]

I have changed direction on this, a few times.  Student loans are a different animal now than in the past, in my time you were limited to tuition and books, and it was not through a private lender.  Also the cost of an education was subsidized by the taxpayer (society) at public institutions, now that has changed and the costs fall more on tuition revenue, hence the big change in the price of an education.  Why I was for forgiving the debt was I felt it was keeping young people from contributing to the economy, particularly housing markets and starting secure family structures.  What has changed my mind are seeing numbers that those incurring the largest debts are those getting the more professional degrees, Doctors, Lawyers, etc. and will have the means to repay sooner, I have personally seen this happen in my family.  My opinion is I hope Biden steps away from it.  What I could live with is wiping the debt incurred at some of these for profit institutions, like ITT institute, which from my perspective are purely predatory operations with no entry requirements other than the ability to get a loan.  I think the country would be better off with publicly subsidized secondary education feeding the workforce.       

[Guest]

My thinking on the topic is not very nuanced.  You sign for loan and you agree to pay it back.  Not tax payers at large, you signed, you pay.

I don't believe the President has the authority to forgive student debt.  It should be discussed and handled by congress.  Kinda scary though, given how the current congress is willing to spend, spend, spend...  

I think it sets a bad precedent.  The students of tomorrow will need help paying their loans, why should they left out in the cold.  What is special about the current crop of students?

A college education can be very rewarding financially in many fields but not all.  Some majors do not open any doors or provide a career path.  Why should the tax payer help pay for an education with a poor future.  You take the loans, you make the education choice, you pay.

I think the plan would increase inflation which is already way too high.

Anyway, off my soapbox.

[Guest]

It is stupid to saddle others with your debt.  But at this point (giving Ukraine 60+ Billion) what difference does it make.  The trillions printed in the last few years make the dollar increasingly worthless to us peons.

[Guest]

Let me get this straight. College loans are disproportionately taken by upper middle class white collar students.

You want to charge blue collar, lower class workers taxes so Billy who didnt bust his ass in school to pay for his education while he partied every weekend?

F@CK no we shouldn’t pay college loans off. If we even get remotely close to doing this, we should protest in the streets. 

Its been some years now and I’m well aware costs have gone up. If I remember correctly what I paid, its about 2x the price right now based on what I found online. 

I took +18 credits/semester. I nearly worked fulltime off campus during the year and +60hrs a week during breaks. I worked to offset some of the living expences at my fraternity and I graduated with two minors and a major in 3.5 years so that I didn’t owe a penny. Plus I found a wife. 

It was exhausting but it allowed me to leave school with money in the bank account. 

Fyi, no parental assistance because they didn’t have the money and all but no scholarships. (maybe like $500 total or something)

[Guest]

@Zanary said:
I can kinda see both sides of this mess:

one is simple: you take out a loan, you should pay it back, and not put a burden on the taxpayers.

The other is far more complex.  Colleges and their cohorts in government have created a subsidized and propagated market for higher education, making costs soar to ridiculous heights and also leveraging the schools' standings by making degrees mandatory to even get to the interview stage for many jobs.  It's become predatory and brutally manipulative, and has gone on for generations (I remember all the propoganda in my grade schools).  I saw a comparison recently that college was 1200% more expensive than it was in the 70s (IIRC), and so many degrees are wildly pushed, but eventually useless....

IMHO, I'm actually for a certain degree of forgiveness, but I'd also want the gov't and the schools complicit in the ridiculous shell game to be the ones punished.

Housing is up roughly the same 1200% and I dont see anyone rushing to pay my mortgage. 

[Guest]

Im as liberal as they come...

we saved, and did without so our kids could get a college education, without having to take out any loans.

For Those of us that planned and sacrificed and saved......like always, we are the ones that end up getting F’ked over.  Take a loan out? pay that shit back.   SIMPLE

Wanna fix the problem?  MAKE COLLEGE TUITION AFFORDABLE, so you dont need $200,000 for a bachelors degree.

but that wont happen, colleges and universities have discovered they are a “business” not an institution for learning, and they will continue to raise expectations of what a degree means as exponentially as tuition costs.