Anonymous wrote:

My brother studied in Europe and he got his student loan interest free. It is somekind of government funded student aid system. The bank still gets its interest, just not from the student.

The US Government (i.e., the taxpayers) don't need to be paying for anymore entitlement programs. Thank goodness that isn't on the table here.

If you’re struggling to pay credit card debt, car loans or even gambling debt, you can wipe the slate clean in bankruptcy. Struggling to pay your student loans? Sorry, you’ll just have to figure that one out on your own.

In an effort to shed light on a policy they say “doesn’t make any sense,” a group of bankruptcy lawyers issued a report on Tuesday that highlights the need to change the U.S. bankruptcy code so that it offers college grads relief from inescapable debt loads.
...

Some fear allowing graduates to discharge their private loans would create a situation where students take out many loans during college and then turn around and file for bankruptcy when they get their diploma. But those who make that argument forget that bankruptcy is not for the faint at heart; it’s a lengthy, complicated legal process and there are also anti-abuse protections in place to guard against those who would opt for bankruptcy when they can in fact afford to pay their debts.

On the contrary, Kantrowitz says allowing private loans to be discharged could have some very positive effects. Lenders might be more careful about whom they lend to and how much. And when they have distressed borrowers, they might be more willing to compromise, he says. Which would mean for the first time in a long time, private lenders would have a little incentive to play nice with students.

Read more: http://moneyland.time.com/2012/02/09/why-cant-you-discharge-student-loans-in-bankruptcy/#ixzz1m1O0Kccr

Thought the mortgage crisis was a rough ride? Buckle up for the next financial crisis.

Student-loan debt may be the next major U.S.-asset bubble to burst, according to Standard & Poor's.

The problem: colleges and universities are hamstrung with lower endowments, while students have increasingly lower prospects of ever paying back their loans. Student debt now outpaces credit-card debt, approaching $1 trillion for the first time. The Project on Student Debt found that in 2008, 67 percent of college students at four-year universities were graduating with student-loan debt. That number is even higher for students at private nonprofit and for-profit colleges and universities.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/09/sp-warns-student-loans-bubble-burst_n_1266209.html

Anonymous wrote:Snarky poster here. Part of the reason that it can't be discharged is that virtually every college student, at the time of graduation, would qualify for bankruptcy protection and the ability to discharge student loans. I certainly would have. And a credit hit would be a very small disincentive, at age 22, to bankruptcy. Is it moral and honest? No, but getting rid of a huge debt to start your life is a powerful incentive. Hell, students likely would delay getting a job just to take advantage of bankruptcy protection.

Anonymous wrote:

My brother studied in Europe and he got his student loan interest free. It is somekind of government funded student aid system. The bank still gets its interest, just not from the student.

The US Government (i.e., the taxpayers) don't need to be paying for anymore entitlement programs. Thank goodness that isn't on the table here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had just over 100,000 in loans when I graduated from law school in 2001. I paid them off in about 6 yrs on a gov't salary--- paid 900 a month every month, received between 3500-5500 a year from my agency in loan repayment assistance, lived cheaply (ie with roommates, old car), and threw every bit of extra money I had at the loans.

Which agency? I thought there was a cap.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had just over 100,000 in loans when I graduated from law school in 2001. I paid them off in about 6 yrs on a gov't salary--- paid 900 a month every month, received between 3500-5500 a year from my agency in loan repayment assistance, lived cheaply (ie with roommates, old car), and threw every bit of extra money I had at the loans.

Impressive to pay it off that quickly on a government salary, though I guess the loan repayment assistance helps. I graduated with $145k (mostly law school but a bit left over from college as well) and paid it off in 3 years at a law firm. Lived like a student in a tiny studio, no car, etc, in order to do so. But I didn't have kids so that helped.

My brother studied in Europe and he got his student loan interest free. It is somekind of government funded student aid system. The bank still gets its interest, just not from the student.

Anonymous wrote:Snarky poster here. Part of the reason that it can't be discharged is that virtually every college student, at the time of graduation, would qualify for bankruptcy protection and the ability to discharge student loans. I certainly would have. And a credit hit would be a very small disincentive, at age 22, to bankruptcy. Is it moral and honest? No, but getting rid of a huge debt to start your life is a powerful incentive. Hell, students likely would delay getting a job just to take advantage of bankruptcy protection.

I agree the underlying problem is the runaway cost of higher education. As the parent of a pre-schooler, I can only hope that the problem is addressed in the next 15 years. Otherwise, at the current rate of increase, a bachelor's degree will cost well over a million dollars when my daughter goes.

Anonymous wrote:And the law was only changed in 1998 for federal loans and 2005 for private loans to not allow discharge of student loans in bankruptcy and there have been bills proposed or introduced to change that, so clearly it's not an out-in-left-field proposal.

Anonymous wrote:I had just over 100,000 in loans when I graduated from law school in 2001. I paid them off in about 6 yrs on a gov't salary--- paid 900 a month every month, received between 3500-5500 a year from my agency in loan repayment assistance, lived cheaply (ie with roommates, old car), and threw every bit of extra money I had at the loans.