3 ms·

> Most students I know who have borrowed are struggling. Many people that didn't borrow money are also struggling. No reason to make the existence of a loan a

> Most students I know who have borrowed are struggling. Many people that didn't borrow money are also struggling. No reason to make the existence of a loan a pre-requisite to receive a bailout. Why isn't the fact that you paid for college sufficient? Why is the conversation only about debt? > Loans aren't free money Yes, bailing out student loans is free money. That is the conversation we are having. And considering only bailing out student loans without a provision for reimbursing students with similar backgrounds that didnt finance college or did but paid off loans early is incredulous. There is no reason the solution to the price of college is to selectively bail out people that choose not to repay their student loans and ignore everyone else.

gravypod 5y ago
> And considering only bailing out student loans without a provision for reimbursing students with similar backgrounds that didnt finance college or did but paid off loans early is incredulous. There is no reason the solution to the price of college is to selectively bail out people that choose not to repay their student loans and ignore everyone else. This is a very crabs in a bucket mentality. From the perspective of a society we should ask: what is the effect of removing this debt burden? Many people are repaying loans at a very high monthly amount. My loans are currently >400/month. If that debt "poofed" I'd be spending that in my local economy (instead of going to a bank to then issue another student loan for). Much better for the economy.
- hermannj314 5y ago
  Your reasoning has nothing at all to do with college, student loans, etc. Anyone that has any debt at all could also benefit from free money. People with no debt could also benefit from free money. Why should the government give you money to pay off your debt when for less administrative burden they could drop money out of a plane instead? Both would help the economy the same, so you haven't made it clear why people with student loans helping the economy and no one else is the antidote we've been missing.
  - gravypod 5y ago
    > Why should the government give you money to pay off your debt when for less administrative burden they could drop money out of a plane instead? Well, for one, I don't think the recovery rate of money thrown out of a plane will be too high. > Both would help the economy the same, so you haven't made it clear why people with student loans helping the economy and no one else is the antidote we've been missing. I'm not against distribution of money to make sure everyone has the means to live a survivable lifestyle.
  - ClumsyPilot 5y ago
    "Both would help the economy the same" We've actually been giving 'free money' to rich people for 20 years by this point, it's called quantitative easing, it gave us rising house prices and securities, and 97% of that money never made it into the real economy. So we can conclusively say that does not improve the economy. Stands to reason the free money experiment should be tried on the opposite end of the scale.
- gruez 5y ago
  Here's a proposal: let's have the federal government bail out all credit card debt. Would you support it? Many of the arguments you gave would also apply to credit cards, if not more (eg. 20+% APR compared to 7% for PLUS loans).
  - gravypod 5y ago
    > Here's a proposal: let's have the federal government bail out all credit card debt. Would you support it? I haven't read any studies done on the effect that this could have but if it was: 1) researched and 2) financially doable (results in net gain) then yes I would. If as a society we can find that doing X will improve the quality of life for all Americans for very little financial cost to us and only a long term positive impact, I don't see why anyone would say no to that? > Many of the arguments you gave would also apply to credit cards, if not more (eg. 20+% APR compared to 7% for PLUS loans). Just to note I have ~20k of loans @ 12.625% APR. 7% is what government backed loans are like. Not at all what a majority of private loans are like. Comparing credit card companies to private student loans is more fair.
    - gruez 5y ago
      >I haven't read any studies done on the effect that this could have but if it was: 1) researched and 2) financially doable (results in net gain) then yes I would. If as a society we can find that doing X will improve the quality of life for all Americans for very little financial cost to us and only a long term positive impact, I don't see why anyone would say no to that? Are there studies showing that student loan forgiveness would result it better "a long term positive impact" compared to the alternatives? eg. giving everyone a stimulus check, regardless of whether they have student loans or not, or giving everyone earning under $x a stimulus check?

gravypod 5y ago

> And considering only bailing out student loans without a provision for reimbursing students with similar backgrounds that didnt finance college or did but paid off loans early is incredulous. There is no reason the solution to the price of college is to selectively bail out people that choose not to repay their student loans and ignore everyone else. This is a very crabs in a bucket mentality. From the perspective of a society we should ask: what is the effect of removing this debt burden? Many people are repaying loans at a very high monthly amount. My loans are currently >400/month. If that debt "poofed" I'd be spending that in my local economy (instead of going to a bank to then issue another student loan for). Much better for the economy.

hermannj314 5y ago
Your reasoning has nothing at all to do with college, student loans, etc. Anyone that has any debt at all could also benefit from free money. People with no debt could also benefit from free money. Why should the government give you money to pay off your debt when for less administrative burden they could drop money out of a plane instead? Both would help the economy the same, so you haven't made it clear why people with student loans helping the economy and no one else is the antidote we've been missing.
- gravypod 5y ago
  > Why should the government give you money to pay off your debt when for less administrative burden they could drop money out of a plane instead? Well, for one, I don't think the recovery rate of money thrown out of a plane will be too high. > Both would help the economy the same, so you haven't made it clear why people with student loans helping the economy and no one else is the antidote we've been missing. I'm not against distribution of money to make sure everyone has the means to live a survivable lifestyle.
- ClumsyPilot 5y ago
  "Both would help the economy the same" We've actually been giving 'free money' to rich people for 20 years by this point, it's called quantitative easing, it gave us rising house prices and securities, and 97% of that money never made it into the real economy. So we can conclusively say that does not improve the economy. Stands to reason the free money experiment should be tried on the opposite end of the scale.
gruez 5y ago
Here's a proposal: let's have the federal government bail out all credit card debt. Would you support it? Many of the arguments you gave would also apply to credit cards, if not more (eg. 20+% APR compared to 7% for PLUS loans).
- gravypod 5y ago
  > Here's a proposal: let's have the federal government bail out all credit card debt. Would you support it? I haven't read any studies done on the effect that this could have but if it was: 1) researched and 2) financially doable (results in net gain) then yes I would. If as a society we can find that doing X will improve the quality of life for all Americans for very little financial cost to us and only a long term positive impact, I don't see why anyone would say no to that? > Many of the arguments you gave would also apply to credit cards, if not more (eg. 20+% APR compared to 7% for PLUS loans). Just to note I have ~20k of loans @ 12.625% APR. 7% is what government backed loans are like. Not at all what a majority of private loans are like. Comparing credit card companies to private student loans is more fair.
  - gruez 5y ago
    >I haven't read any studies done on the effect that this could have but if it was: 1) researched and 2) financially doable (results in net gain) then yes I would. If as a society we can find that doing X will improve the quality of life for all Americans for very little financial cost to us and only a long term positive impact, I don't see why anyone would say no to that? Are there studies showing that student loan forgiveness would result it better "a long term positive impact" compared to the alternatives? eg. giving everyone a stimulus check, regardless of whether they have student loans or not, or giving everyone earning under $x a stimulus check?