Forum Post: List of Demands (both modest and massive)
Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 16, 2011, 5:20 p.m. EST by edac
(1)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
- ACCOUNTABILITY: from the leaders of the 2008 fiasco, including – but not limited to -- the CEOs of Mortgage companies, Insurance companies and Financial firms. This will be difficult as much of the malfeasance was technically legal, but these people should be prosecuted even if there is small chance of conviction.
- FINANCE REFORM: For example, a bank should not be able to easily re-sell a mortgage.
- STUDENT LOAN REFORM: get rid of the national scandal of private student loans
- HIGHER EDUCATION FUNDING: let’s join the rest of the first world (and some of the third as well) and provide truly affordable higher education to American citizens – this means much greater subsidies for public universities, subsidies which are targeted specifically to reduce the rates of tuition and fees.
- ELIMINATION OF HEALTH INSURANCE: ….... for Congress, that is! As taxpayers, we are the members of congress are our employees. And we the people did not consent to gold-plated healthcare for congress while we and our children suffer in silence, wondering if this terrible pain in our side will kill us – which would almost be preferable to paying $46,000 for three days in the hospital. Congress can join the rest of the country and find and purchase their own health insurance.
Thanks to the people who host and run this website and thanks to those who participate in this movement peacefully and with generous spirit.
[Removed]
What would you do about student loans? Just not hand them out so freely to kids who have no plan to pay them back?
First of all, private industry should not be able to profit off student loans. It's deeply immoral. Student loans should be government loans, period. Secondly, tuition rates should drop dramatically -- even in Mexico you can go to college for practically free. If they can do it, so can we. And finally, student loans are THE ONLY debt that you cannot discharge through bankruptcy. Why is this fair? It's not.
Why does it matter if the government profits or private banks profit? The government sets the rate for the Staffords and others anyways. I agree that it sucks that you cannot discharge them through bankruptcy but the rates would be higher otherwise so I can live with it.
And there are plenty of cheap state universities, state colleges, and community colleges out there. Private schools are just that, private. Let them charge what they want.
I think people who take out student loans plan to pay them back. What's unfortunate is that they take them out at such a young age, before they really know how the world works, that great jobs don't just fall out of they sky just because you have a B.A. in any subject, even if you have sought a "marketable" degree. This often leads them to take on more debt to stay in the educational system (as you don't have to pay the loans back while you are still at school), thinking a more advanced degree will help them get a better job, which is not always the case. I think kids who want to take out student loans should be required to seek the advice of a financial counselor (not related to the school they want to attend or the lender they are seeking the money from) so they can have sound advice before making such a life changing decision. It may not stop everyone from taking out student loans they can't afford, but it may help students seek alternatives, such as working and going to school part time, having a part time job while going to school full time, going to a community college for two years and then transferring to a 4 year school, going to a school close to home, as many state schools are less expensive to residents of the state, seeking other sources of funding such as scholarships or grants... Students should know what they are really getting into before the sign on the dotted line.
I agree. I did not mean that didn't intend to pay them back, I meant that don't have an actual plan to do so. When you apply for a business loan, no matter how small, you need to provide the bank with a business plan, as well as a plan to show how you will pay back that loan. The same thing should go for students. No long-term plan, no loan.
Yes, I definitely agree. Unfortunately, a student loan assumes the student will make enough money by attending school that they will have the means to pay it back, which we see is not always the case. Student loans, imho, are not based in reality. One thing that may help is that anyone under the age of 21 needs a co-signer because of the nature of the loan. Parents may or may not be willing to do this, and frankly I think that's a good thing. Maybe it's not that they don't have faith that their child will do well in school and get a job, but they understand better how difficult it is to pay back a loan. If a parent is not willing to co-sign, perhaps it will give the child pause before signing the papers. I think some of these kids are going to school with rose colored glasses on, thinking it will be okay in the future but not really knowing for sure. This is why I never took on a student loan, my parents would not support it, would not help me pay for college in any way, they said I was on my own, I had to figure out how to do it on my own. I chose to enter the work force instead and did not attend college full time, I did take classes that interested me over the years, either auditing the class or paying as I went. I don't have a degree, it doesn't bother me, and while I have other debt, at least I don't have student loan debt as well. I think it was the right choice. Over the years I have worked with many college graduates, they are doing the same jobs I am, but they have this massive debt and they haven't even really started their lives. I feel bad for them. Maybe my life could have been better if I had taken out student loans and went to college and got a degree, but I am a person who likes to know what I can and can't do, I don't like uncertainty. I'm pretty happy with my life, not having a piece of paper saying I finished college has never seemed to stop me from getting a job and I have supported myself since I was 18, so I feel okay about it.
good for you =) i didnt finish high school and i moved out of the US, continued my education in india pakistan and now in morocco, education only stops when you die, papers burn, now im building houses, and helping farmers locally to stop using chemicals that are bad for the earth and showing them how to be more "green" and independent. life is great and possibilities are endless! lets be more local...
I like that, education only stops when you die. It's absolutely true, and probably more true now than in any other point in history, thanks to the internet. I think I made the right choice because not having a degree where I 'had' to look for work in a certain field, I've had the freedom to do what has interested me at the time. I can't claim to be rich or even well off, but I am doing okay and am happy. I don't think college is the end all be all of existence, and I don't think every person has to go to college. I think trade schools are also a very good alternative for some, they supply real world experience which can be built upon, and you can keep up with schooling as needed as your industry changes. I don't blame all of the students though... over the last 30 years or so it's kind of drilled into you, if you don't go to college you'll be a failure, without an education you're nothing. I happen to agree with the second part of that statement, but there are many roads to an education, you can educate yourself easily, if you really want to learn.