Forum Post: Student Loan forgiveness makes us look lazy
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 18, 2011, 9:12 p.m. EST by sraddatz
(10)
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If you incurred debt to get an education, you shouldn't want it forgiven. It's an integrity issue. What we should be looking for is an opportunity. We need to find more permanent solutions like trying to create incentives for the baby boomers to retire. This will create a lot of space in the workforce for recent college grads to earn a decent income to repay their loans.
Student loan forgiveness makes us look smart. It is about ending indebtitude because it is the RIGHT thing to do.
If doing the right thing makes me look lazy, fine!
Sons and Daughters of Liberty, Stand Up and Fight!
Agreed, it is bad to promote this. Fox news is reporting that OWS and Moveon.org are petitioning for studen loan forgiveness.
They are using it to garner support against us.
It does not serve the 99% and it does make us look lazy. It really weakens any credentials recently gained.
How about regulating the fees that these banks are charging people. I have been paying my loan for 5 years now, I was late on one payment and received a $380.00 late fee, and if I would like to make a payment by phone $15.00...sorry that's just ridiculous. The last thing on my mind when I was trying to get to school was how much I would be charged for making payments. Definitely my own fault for not asking. But I dont think its an insane idea for someone to determine what is a "fair" fee for my banks services.
Unfortunately Sraddatz is correct. Student Loan forgiveness has major negatives on the general economy and future students. The reason the interest rates are so low and so easy to get is that they are secure. Once you start erasing them, they lose security and future students would have to pay more in interests and even worse, the poorer students would not be able to get loans. Plus most banks already nearly went bankrupt just a couple years ago, they don't need to nearly go bankrupt again. Student loan forgiveness demand will be 1. politically unpopular with most people, 2. Unreasonable and could crush the current financial situation. 3. Hurt future students greatly.
Thanks skander. Plus if you think school loans are unaffordable now, wait until the default or forgiveness rate is 50%. Noone could get an education.
We need loan forgiveness to improve the economy; free up resources to invest in entrepreneurial activity; and purchase goods and services.
The massive student loan debt crisis is preventing the economy from advancing.
I see your thought process, but those would only be short-term solutions. If my school loans were forgiven, I would probably buy a new car and take on a car payment, but that's just a one-time jolt to the economy. Maybe some other people would buy homes or go on sweet vacations, but again, that's just a one-time shot. I'm not sure this is the way to go.
The reason people want their loans forgiven is because we believe that we were gouged by insanely escalating tuition fees to begin with.
I think it is ok for people to have to pay for college (although I am not at all opposed to socialization of that in the future).
But the reason graduates across America are bitter about their debt and considering defaulting altogether is:
1.) it costed way more than it was worth
If we can fix that with some kind of forgiveness measure, perhaps we could then reorganize the university system in a more ethical way and return to having all students pay their debts and be more willing and able to.
If I may say so, it also makes you look like you have no understanding of basic finance, no personal responsibility and no critical thinking skills.
Even before unemployment skyrocketed, the average starting salary for someone with an undergraduate degree was about $33K. If you took out a 100K loan to obtain such a degree, you made a really stupid financial decision.
If you have parents and they did not discourage this, you should be angry at them. You should also be angry at your college guidance counselor. You should be angry at the government for guaranteeing your loan so that lenders would lend you the money.
As for forgiving the debt, I ask why I, your fellow citizen, should be responsible for your stupid financial decision. I certainly did not get the education, why should pay for it and not you?
Also, you should understand why student loan debt is not discharged in bankruptcy. With a car or a house, the lender can repossess the underlying asset if one defaults. They can';t repossess your education. If you allow default, there will be absolutely on student loan lending, unless your parents have assets and co-sign, because the lender has no recourse when you default. Being a 21-ish year old with loads of student loan debt an no assets, you have very little to loose in declaring bankruptcy. If it were allowed, students would default as a matter of course.
Just pay for what you bought. If you have buyers remorse, take it as a very expensive lesson learned.
Exactly. That's why I didn't become a teacher. The earnings potential didn't line up with the cost of the education.
Good choice. I applaud you doing your due diligence. I hope you reap the rewards of your responsibility.
If only everyone were that responsible, and wise, we could eliminate that drain on the economy, known as schools.
I don't think mass student loan forgiveness is a realistic goal, anyway.
Perhaps some kind of interest reduction, payment plans, etc.
Also, in the case of government guaranteed loans, they should offer some kind of full or partial forgiveness for people that use their degrees in the public service where they might be paid less than a market salary.
Scientists, lawyers, computer programmers...
I agree 100%. I would like to see a change to where a bachelor's degree is funded by taxpayer money, but there would have to be a time of transition. I think that would strike a huge blow in favor of true equality in the U.S.
Why should other people pay for your degree?
I believe I should pay for my own degree, since I already have the loans. I think it should be a national priority to make a quality education available to every citizen. In my mind, this is a major key for America to live up to its potential.
We should change the rules and make the loans forgivable in bankruptcy, and not guaranteed by the govt. The problem is the whole system is designed to funnel everyone into debt. The ones who make out are not only the bankers, but the overpaid administration and teachers in the schools. The reason why tuition has gone up so much is because of the loans.
I am a teacher, who agrees wholeheartedly with the system being designed to funnel everyone into debt, but be careful who you include in that list of "winners." Many, many teachers are dead broke and out of work right now.
Think about why tuition seems to go up 8 or 9 % per year - there are way too many perracites in the system. The young teachers that are out of work are getting skewed by their greedy senior colegues.
I'm the first one to stand up and say we need new blood and fresh ideas in America's schools and feel there should be a few less "greedy senior colleagues".
But, on the flip side, jobs that are secured by unions and pay well are the backbone of what little middle class economy we have left. We don't want to blame the folks with those jobs OR the unions that have ensured them. We just want to reform these processes so they run more efficiently....i think
It seems like we might agree, too some degree - Unions have their place, they just took things too far. If they were doing their job they would not have agreed to allowing unfunded pension obligations, and relying on financial projections showing unrealistic consecutive annual return projections. Like the jokers in Washington, they just to the minimum to buy some more time.
If they weren't guaranteed by the government and they were forgivable in bankruptcy, the interest rate would be about 25%. They would be unbelievably risky and therefore expensive. Most students who applied probably would not even get them - which would probably be a good thing. It is reckless to give a 18 year old kid with no vision and no plan a loan that could be well over $100,000.
True.
Right - interest rates would be very high. I also think we should have a govt funded higher education option for the most qualified candidates. Most people don't need a general collage education to contribute to society.
thats not true at all.
What's not true?
Most people don't need a general college education to contribute to society. You can't clean floors without a BA today.
That's a bit of an exaggeration. I kow plenty of people doing fine, just had to role up their sleves.
Alright, if they're doing fine... Seems pretty difficult to me. I've been job-hunting for the better part of 3 years and I don't see many ads that don't insist on it, right off the bat. In fact, I wish they paid more attention to experience + less to degrees. But thats what I keep seeing all the time.
Hopefully you will find the right gig soon, good luck.
thanks.
Yes, it does.
If the Shoe fits....
"Incentives" to make room for you? God, this thinking is unbelievable. Do you all REALLY believe this economic system is a closed zero sum system? Why is it so hard for your infantile minds to grasp that if we actually unshackle the free market (IE. get government OUT OF THE WAY), this economy will explode and take YOU with it to success you never imagined sitting in your dirty little park.
The economy has the potential to grow, but at any given time, there are constraints in the labor market. A major reason that so many young people cannot find work is because the baby boomers are still working. They are at or over the age at which they should have retired. BTW, I'm not in a dirty park, and I'm a fierce capitalist- we may agree on more than you would believe.
Well, I have to vigorously disagree. The reason the younger population are not being employed is because there is a tremendous hindrance to corporations expanding in the US. there are examples after examples of companies deciding to start up outside the US simply due to the MUCH lower costs and time to just build a plant. As global as our economy is these days, if we had REAL growth as Reagan did, we would not be looking at such frustration in the job market, young or old