Canceling $10k of student loan debt is stupid.

[Anonymous]

Canceling any new or old measly $10k of student loan debt is the dumbest idea. What is the payment on that, a mere $100/month?

Instead, the struggling folks need help - the ones buried under 75k, 100k, 300k of debt for over 20 years who, because it's been 20 years, obviously they can't pay it! And I mean 20 years since school completion, not 20 years of qualifying payments, huge difference.

my 2 cents

[Anonymous]

Student debt should never be canceled. It's an investment in someone's future.

[Anonymous]

agree-- this is sort of a horse designed by a committee solution.

should at least allow people to discharge it in bankruptcy

[Anonymous]

Canceling any debt is stupid. You borrowed, you pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Canceling any debt is stupid. You borrowed, you pay.

I agree, we should eliminate bankruptcy and bring back debtors prisons. Maybe airline executives would do a better job with that incentive. Or are you only talking about 18 year old kids being forced to make life altering decisions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Canceling any debt is stupid. You borrowed, you pay.

I agree, we should eliminate bankruptcy and bring back debtors prisons. Maybe airline executives would do a better job with that incentive. Or are you only talking about 18 year old kids being forced to make life altering decisions?

Any means any

[Anonymous]

I paid my loans back like a responsible adult. Everyone else can do the same.

So much ahole entitlement mentality these days. This country is going down the toilet.

First it is $10k. Then they'll demand $20k. Then it's $40k. When does it end? What does forgiveness actually do to control costs of college? 5 years from now when you have another generation of whiny ass borrowers, what's going to stop them from demanding another round of forgiveness?

It never ends. Why don't you forgive my mortgage while you are at it? People who didn't take out loans or who paid their back also deserve something.

[Anonymous]

I agree OP. This is a policy with absolutely zero thought put into it. With income-based repayment, cancelling $10,000 is essentially meaningless for people with average debt amounts (around $30k). The remaining term and payment amount will basically be the *exact same.* And I definitely believe that this will end up increasing tuition amounts.

OTOH, the moves to completely cancel debt for fraudulent programs is a very good and fair policy.

What they need to do is exert downward pressure on college tuitions, get rid of bad programs more quickly (eg certain for profits), and improve imcome-based repayment especially for helping professions like nurses and teachers. The Obama Admin tried to do some of this but got caught up in absurd technocratic approaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Canceling any debt is stupid. You borrowed, you pay.

I agree, we should eliminate bankruptcy and bring back debtors prisons. Maybe airline executives would do a better job with that incentive. Or are you only talking about 18 year old kids being forced to make life altering decisions?

+1, what about real estate developers who hold subcontractors and municipalities hostage by simply refusing to pay and just letting the lawyers negotiate their debts down when they eventually get sued? Banks that play fast and loose with leverage and then ask for bailouts during downturns. Shouldn't all these people be in jail? They should be forced to pay back every penny, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I paid my loans back like a responsible adult. Everyone else can do the same.

So much ahole entitlement mentality these days. This country is going down the toilet.

First it is $10k. Then they'll demand $20k. Then it's $40k. When does it end? What does forgiveness actually do to control costs of college? 5 years from now when you have another generation of whiny ass borrowers, what's going to stop them from demanding another round of forgiveness?

It never ends. Why don't you forgive my mortgage while you are at it? People who didn't take out loans or who paid their back also deserve something.

You can sell your house to pay off your mortgage. The people most crippled by student debt are those who had to drop out for whatever reason. Maybe college shouldn't require decades of debt?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I paid my loans back like a responsible adult. Everyone else can do the same.

So much ahole entitlement mentality these days. This country is going down the toilet.

First it is $10k. Then they'll demand $20k. Then it's $40k. When does it end? What does forgiveness actually do to control costs of college? 5 years from now when you have another generation of whiny ass borrowers, what's going to stop them from demanding another round of forgiveness?

It never ends. Why don't you forgive my mortgage while you are at it? People who didn't take out loans or who paid their back also deserve something.

You can sell your house to pay off your mortgage. The people most crippled by student debt are those who had to drop out for whatever reason. Maybe college shouldn't require decades of debt?

Where is accountability in that? I don't buy bold.

[Anonymous]

So you are basically saying "I borrowed, I told you that I'd pay back, but now I don't want to pay." I mean, are you okay with saying that? Does that not bother you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I paid my loans back like a responsible adult. Everyone else can do the same.

So much ahole entitlement mentality these days. This country is going down the toilet.

First it is $10k. Then they'll demand $20k. Then it's $40k. When does it end? What does forgiveness actually do to control costs of college? 5 years from now when you have another generation of whiny ass borrowers, what's going to stop them from demanding another round of forgiveness?

It never ends. Why don't you forgive my mortgage while you are at it? People who didn't take out loans or who paid their back also deserve something.

You can sell your house to pay off your mortgage. The people most crippled by student debt are those who had to drop out for whatever reason. Maybe college shouldn't require decades of debt?

Where is accountability in that? I don't buy bold.

Where's the accountability in capitalism as a whole? The whole economy is based on the ability to fail and then start over. Why should there be a narrow carve out for the only debt that we expect to be take on by teens?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So you are basically saying "I borrowed, I told you that I'd pay back, but now I don't want to pay." I mean, are you okay with saying that? Does that not bother you?

I've worked at start ups, that's exactly how most end. The ones that don't can earn you a lot of money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Canceling any debt is stupid. You borrowed, you pay.

I agree, we should eliminate bankruptcy and bring back debtors prisons. Maybe airline executives would do a better job with that incentive. Or are you only talking about 18 year old kids being forced to make life altering decisions?

Any means any

The problem is that the current system requires poor people to pay back all their debt while wealthy people and corporations (who carry WAY more debt) are often able to escape debt via lawyers and other legal mechanisms designed to help them discharge debt for less than they owe.

Student debt is unique in that it can't be discharged in bankruptcy. It's also unsecured debt -- it's not like you can sell the underlying education to pay off your loans the way you can with a house. We need a policy solution to the problem of ballooning student debt because it impacts the economy very negatively. It keeps people from buying homes (or even moving out of their parents homes into rentals), it is impacting the birth rate, it limits the ability of people to open businesses or invest. We need a longterm solution to student debt, and that probably includes some amount of debt forgiveness for people who are already buried in debt, followed by rule changes to prevent people from ever getting this deep in debt to begin with.

-- Signed, someone who paid off 80k in student loans myself and does not oppose debt forgiveness for others because it's a smart policy decision and is not actually about personal fairness to me