Biden just drew a line in the sand re. student loan forgiveness.

[RandySF]

Supports a $10k forgiveness program but does not support the $50k.

[wcmagumba]

1. He did but the last thing he said to the questioner was something like...

I support the $10,000 forgiveness because that's all I believe can be legally done with an EO...so not sure if he was leaving the amount open just a tiny bit or maybe it was just a throw away line....that's what I heard anyway...

[Music Man]

3. Yes, I was wondering what that was about.

The final line was almost an afterthought, and I wasn't sure on the distinctions between what Biden feels he can do and what he'd like to do.

[DURHAM D]

2. Sounds right to me.

Those of us who sacrificed to pay back our loans on time appreciate this.

[aikoaiko]

6. I'm fine with a $50,000 forgiveness line.

I paid off my loans after 21 years last October.

If we’re going to forgive loans we should forgive the majority of them and make a bigger difference

[Blue_true]

33. Where do you draw the line?

I believe that college and Trade School should be largely free. Students should get free housing, three meals per day and free tuition and books. If a student runs up debt outside of that, he or she should be responsible for paying back that debt, with no government help.

But we don’t have that system now and have not had it. I actually favor a system where we pay off $50,000 of the debt that a student accumulated regardless of who signed up to pay for that debt. If parents paid, parents should get the $50,000. If students paid, students should get the $50,000. For people who paid off debt like you did over 2 decades, you should get a check equivalent to what $50,000 would be to current debt - that would have to be figured out.

What should be done is a future date where the government would have put the system in place that I detailed in the last paragraph should be set. After that date, students won’t have debt that they accumulate erased.

Now, people ask, “what about low wage workers that don’t go to college or trade school?” Well, free child care, nutrition assistance, transportation assistance, free tutoring for their school aged children. All paid for by properly taxing the people that got free college and trade school are should be making higher salaries.

[aikoaiko]

38. It would be great to do things differently as you described

Where to draw the line on debt forgiveness? Well, $50,000 is about 80% of all student debt. Millennials really need this help.

[aikoaiko]

43. It would be great to do things differently as you described

Where to draw the line on debt forgiveness? Well, $50,000 is about 80% of all student debt. Millennials And now Centennials really need this help.

[MichMan]

46. Why would anyone ever get a job after HS if they could receive free rent & food for going to school?

Seems like it would attract a whole ton of people that had little interest in actually learning anything, but just wanted a free ride with others stuck paying the bill.

[Blue_true]

48. It is not a free ride.

The two roommates that I had as a freshman both left after the first quarter. One flunked out because he never did class work. The other also goofed around too much and just barely avoided flunking out, he decided that he was not college material at that time and joined the military (Army).

I believe that what can be done to prevent what I saw during that first quarter of college is kids should be rigorously screened, neither of my roommates should have been there. I finished high school with something like a 3.4 GPA for the three years of high school, so I was ready for college, as that first quarter proved (18 credit hours, advanced chemistry, calculus and a writing class among the hours). I believe screening will cut down on the kids that show up unprepared - the federal government can work with state governments to insure that the screening standards are thorough and fair. The screening done for college should also apply to trade school.


Some kids simply are not ready for college at 18-19 years old. That doesn’t mean that with more maturity they won’t be. For that reason, there should be some mechanism of allowing older people to gain the benefits of going to college and trade school virtually free, as long as they maintain grade requirements.

[BGBD]

15. It's not a zero sum game

You actually don't lose anything if people who owe now are given a break that you didn't get. You would actually benefit from the additional purchasing power an entire generation would have.

[TheBlackAdder]

17. Having paid back probably $100K between my kids and me, I don't want to see others on the hook.

.

Especially since it was our generation that fucked the current kids with a flawed economy, flat wages, endless government debt and the offshoring of millions of jobs to other low-wage countries.


The funny thing is we turned down the federal loans because they were manages by shitty companies and went with a state agency that offers student loans. Those loans are not covered by any forgiveness so even if this goes through, my kids and I are still in for another $60K of debt. The other two kids, we're trying to pay their way directly.


Even with that, this debt chain needs to be broken.

.

[Budi]

20. Our generation didn't "fk the current kids".

That is such a load.
Please refrain from broadbrushing an entire generation without addiing in the entire path that was handed to a great part of that generation who spent their entry into adulthood protesting wars, nukes, & the authoritarian patriarchy that shit on us too.

Thank you.

[TheBlackAdder]

23. Sure they did. Most of the capital transfer out of the middle class occurred from 1980-2010.

[Budi]

29. "Most". Stop blaming an entire generation

That's not true at all.

[TheBlackAdder]

30. Keep saying it's not true doesn't make it so.

[mattclearing]

39. Generations aren't real.

Voting blocs and special interests are. But ultimately powerful people are the ones who sucked up the productivity gains and everyone else either let them or were too busy surviving to fight.

[Blue_true]

34. When I went to college, my family was dirt poor.

It was a time when both the federal government and my state was putting “grant” money behind some achieving students. Most of my lodging, tuition, and food was covered by grant money. I had a tiny loan and I worked Summers for money to help pay for college (for example, my Summer earnings paid for the first quarter of my freshman dorm room and my meal plan for that quarter).

I was born in and live in a red area, it is not as red now as it was when I went to school. I am also Black. I listened to conservative White kids ripping affirmative action and handouts. I got so sensitive about my grants that I actually debated my White financial aid adviser about ending them, me being for ending them. I will always remember the key argument that he made, he pointed out that he had looked at my freshman grades and the classes that I had taken. The guy said “you are likely to finish and get a very valuable degree, you are going to make a lot of money. The money that the government is putting into you now is an investment, it is going to get back an obscene amount from you in taxes over your career. It is a good deal for the government to give you the money now to help you succeed”. Unfortunately his logic flew right through my young ears, I fought and convinced him to remove the grants and change me over to loans and work study. Once I was on the new format, life became a real struggle, I almost didn’t finish college and at one point talked to my Mom about quitting to get a job to raise money to go back to school. The reaction from my Mom caused me to drop the quit college idea, she seemed to have known that if I quit, I would never go back and she only had a grade school education. I struggled, but got my engineering degree.

What would I tell a kid today? If he or she is a serious student like I was, take ALL the free money for college that he or she can get their hands on, because like my college financial aid adviser pointed out, they will pay it back many times over in taxes.

[Celerity]

18. Depending on how old you are and when you took out the loans, this type of statement

is not at all helpful in many instances, given the explosive increases in the cost of tertiary education in the US over the past 10 to 20 years.

It can sound like 'I got mine, so FU' to many younger people in my age cohort (18 to 30yo) and many even above that by a decade or two. There are SO many things in life that are simply the result of being born in the right or wrong time. It is not a zero sum game. The average total cost for a 4 year, IN-STATE, PUBLIC uni/college bachelors degree is now well over 100,000 USD.

Also, this same line of logic could be negatively applied about the current for-profit, outrageously expensive US healthcare system IF we ever get to point where we can have universal low cost healthcare and people say, well fuck that, I had to pay insane premiums for 30, 40 years so its not fair if people (even though you yourself will pay less too) now pay a pittance when I had to fork out 300K, 400K, 600K just in premiums and deductibles over the decades.

[Drahthaardogs]

31. You know, I paid mine off

It was only about $10,000. If kids get their loans paid off, good! It will make us all better

[choie]

32. Right - because if it doesn't affect you..

it's okay.

[roamer65]

4. I'm on board with Joe.

10k forgiveness and interest abatement is fair to everyone.

[still_one]

5. He also said eliminate interest, provide volunteer work to help pay down the loan, push for

making state and community colleges tuition free, etc.

[Budi]

22. Thank You. Kinda puts Biden's full proposal in perspective, huh!

[Blasphemer]

50. Eliminating interest would be exceptionally helpful...

I also like the idea of retooling the public service loan forgiveness program so that debt is forgiven after 5 years instead of 10 years. That was discussed during the Obama administration but given the GOP-driven deadlock, it never went anywhere.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. A few weeks ago I was listening to something on NPR

about the student loan forgiveness, and the person talking said that a $10,000 forgiveness would help out the ones who most need help. Often the ones with the very large debt are also in fields where they will be earning lots of money and will be able to pay off the debt. The smaller amounts, according to this person, are more likely to be held by poorer students and especially by ones who dropped out after a year or so and now can't get a decent job.

[choie]

28. That's bullshit..

Social Workers don't earn "lots of money" and we often have a large amount of student debt.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

47. The pereson didn't say always. She said more likely.

I have long been aware that social work is a field that pays practically nothing, and I'm sometimes surprised that anyone voluntarily goes into it.

[choie]

49. If you're drawn to helping people

being a social worker is a worthwhile career.

[rickyhall]

8. About half what I owe in interest, oh well, just been 40 years, but it's paid off when I'm dead.

[smirkymonkey]

35. About 2/3 about is what I owe is in in interest.

I have already fucking PAID my debt! I have already paid back what I have borrowed. I am doing nothing but paying Navient their profit now. How fair is that? Who really supports that when they are declaring record profits? It is such a racket.

Who else would get this kind of interest on a loan? It's obscene. Fuck them!

[rickyhall]

37. Exactly the same with me. They've taken what I borrowed in 30-odd years of tax refunds.

[smirkymonkey]

40. I'm sorry to hear that.

It's just highway robbery. Where else can anybody get that kind of interest return? It's just sickening!

We deserve to at least have our interest erased. At least give us half a chance to retire in peace!

[WhiskeyGrinder]

9. Christ, why bother, then. It's a band aid.

[Celerity]

24. some of my old UCLA (the only US uni I attended) post grad classmates are well over a quarter of

a million (a few even more, especially 2 that are now on the verge of finishing med school) USD in debt from student loans.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

10. Q: Does Biden have the authority to abolish all college debt? A: Yes.

Link to tweet

?s=21

[Hekate]

11. Definitely offered interest rate forgiveness and $50K debt forgiveness for teaching* 5 years...

*Teaching or other socially important but underpaid jobs. “Underpaid” is my word.

Also: free community college and (I think) State college as well. He mentioned State colleges but I can't swear to full context.

Also pointed out that he does not have the authority to sign off college loan debt.

[brush]

19. Yes. He did say debt can be worked off. And free junior college.

Plus the 10k forgiveness is something, not as much as many wanted but more than previous generations got. On the whole the package is positive.

[Budi]

12. Thank you President Biden.

Not at this time. There are many hungry mouths to feed, people to house, & train in a re-entry workforce for future income earners..

$10,000 is still a generous move. And takes a swipe at steadying a workforce he will need for his infrastructure etc jobs plan.

More may come at a later date.
But for now this makes sennse.

There should be something for as many as possible.
To wipe out Student Loans at $50,000 seems rather cruel to the homeless, hungry, those trying to pay a mortgage keep primary education schools afloat.

Honestly, Joe's a generous guy at heart, but this is about lifting up as many as possible in such dire times.

I totally agree with President Biden's cautious approach.

Everyone is holding out their hands at this moment.

[frazzled]

13. I think what he is considering

is the thorny issue of public vs private. $10K will indeed help the neediest who attended public universities. The public service work could help to offset even more debt.

But if we start helping people who ran up big costs at private Ivy League colleges, it might well open up the floodgates to the government being asked to underwrite the price of private el-hi educations, from prep schools to religiously affiliated schools ... and that is no business the government should be engaged in.

It seems to me his policy is aimed at public colleges and universities, which we should be subsidizing in the interest of universal education, in addition to fully free community colleges.

I say this as a parent near retirement still paying off hefty loans we got to send our kids to the colleges of their choice, which happened to be private for various reasons. They received Stafford loans, which were a drop in the bucket of the costs. One received a National Merit Scholarship—a measly $2,000 that his university immediately deducted from his financial aid package offer. It’s painful ... but we made that decision, and we’re not sorry. (Well, I am sorry that both kids were offered excellent financial aid packages that included tuition reduction that made the cost similar to state schools, and then immediately hiked it to full tuition price after the first year).

[MichMan]

14. Why was there ever interest in the first place?

Nice it is being changed now, but people could have saved thousands had the Student Loan Program been interest free when it was passed in 2010.

What, if anything, can be done to bring costs of college down? That is the real problem that no one seems to be willing to address.

[bottomofthehill]

16. i am with you

Zero percent interest. You can borrow what you want but you are responsible for it. The government should not make money off education loans

[Xolodno]

21. It should be a gradual system.

Based on time you have had the debt and after certain point, more gets forgiven. And I understand the 10k amount...a lot of people out there were promised a song and a dance if they attended their "private university" to be some kind of medical technician, etc. and even promised them to find a job....only it was at Walmart at minimum wage.

The whole system needs reform and for profit colleges need to be ineligible for Federal Loan Guarantee's...now I think about it, no, just state run colleges and universities. Add to that, it must be easier to qualify for loan forgiveness for more volunteer jobs. Shit, if you told me I could get loan forgiveness by spending some time in maintaining hiking trails in our parks and forests...I would have been all over it. But instead, its narrowly defined for just teaching in certain areas and you have to fight tooth an nail to get it.

I'll even add that if in Bankruptcy, a judge should be allowed more power to wipe off some student debt.

[Budi]

25. This. Yes.

"and for profit colleges need to be ineligible for Federal Loan Guarantee's"

They are like mega churches & their tax exemptions

[leftstreet]

26. Where's our checks?

Did anyone ask him about it?

[betsuni]

42. What?

[choie]

27. That is quite disappointing..

n/t

[ecstatic]

36. Well hurry up. I'm almost done paying mine off

And that's with the minimum payment.

[Withywindle]

41. What he really needs to do is stop the usurious interest rates

Freeze the real debt that needs to be paid at the PRINCIPAL. Abolish/forgive the interest entirely. This is where young people are really getting screwed. The interest accrues so brutally they can pay off the principal original amount many times and STILL owe for decades.

Also, there's a RW provision that student loans can't be discharged in bankruptcy like other types of debts. Get rid of that.

[arlyellowdog]

44. Yes, yes, yes

I wish your point had been first. 6.8% interest in the problem. I had 3 kids, millennials, who went to public universities. Each took loans for tuition. Ironically, I received $20,000 in an inheritance. I gave $10,000 each to the last 2 kids. It was just enough to bring the loan amounts down to where we could work to get the loans paid off. But, the usurious interest rates made it a race against time. $10,000 and eliminate the interest rate.

[MichMan]

45. Wasn't the student loan interest included as part of the ACA to offset some of the costs ?