5 ms·

Who holds the student loan debt?

34 points by bkohlmann 4y ago

newaccount2021 4y ago
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
Goronmon 4y ago
Isn't cost of living a pretty big piece of information that shouldn't be excluded? You would expect those with jobs that favor degrees, and being paid higher salaries would correspond to places with higher costs of living overall. And that's a pretty important piece of this calculation if we are trying to decide who is "doing better" than others?
- rank0 4y ago
  Why we would want to subsidize more expensive lifestyles? College graduates in HCOL areas are very far down on my list of people who need government assistance.
  - Goronmon 4y ago
    Why we would want to subsidize more expensive lifestyles? Expensive lifestyles like living in a region of the US that is more expensive than other regions? I don't think it's unreasonable to occasionally take actions that would benefit the middle class.
    - rank0 4y ago
      Yes exactly like living in a HCOL area. Why on earth should blue collar workers pay federal income tax so graduates can better afford their insane NYC or Bay Area rent? It’s regressive and does nothing to stop tuition and housing inflation.
      - Goronmon 4y ago
        Why on earth should blue collar workers pay federal income tax so graduates can better afford their insane NYC or Bay Area rent? One similar example would be people without kids still having their taxes go towards funding public education. Because we want to prioritize overall education across the country. You could argue one reason loans have become so prevalent is a failure of the government to properly subsidize and provide for higher levels of education for citizens.
        rank0 4y ago
        The higher education system we have is broken. We are pouring money into a system that apparently doesn’t enable graduates to pay off their loans. Your answer is to subsidize further? Colleges will continue increasing tuition and pumping out worthless degrees. People will continue to rack up student loan debt. It’s just not sustainable.
      - 7speter 4y ago
        Right because there aren’t blue collar workers in hcol areas whose kids went to college, or is “blue collar workers” a dog whistle here?
        feet 4y ago
        It's just a talking point from fox news with zero nuance or awareness. Plumbers could have loans, they could have children with loans etc
        rank0 4y ago
        Dismissing an opposing view as “lacking nuance” doesn’t really add much nuance to the discussion. The fact of the matter is most Americans do not have a college degree. You can perform all the mental gymnastics you want but at the end of the day, it’s a direct subsidy to the upper class. Perhaps you are the one lacking awareness and maybe you should read the article.
imtringued 4y ago
>According to Sandy Baum at The Urban Institute, only 6% of borrowers have over $100,000 in student loans, yet these borrowers account for 35% of the total student loan debt. Hey, I know how to fix the student loan problem! Just cap the amount that is non dischargeable to be $60k (or slightly below 100k) and index this cap against inflation.

34 points by bkohlmann 4y ago

newaccount2021 4y ago

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

Goronmon 4y ago

Isn't cost of living a pretty big piece of information that shouldn't be excluded? You would expect those with jobs that favor degrees, and being paid higher salaries would correspond to places with higher costs of living overall. And that's a pretty important piece of this calculation if we are trying to decide who is "doing better" than others?

rank0 4y ago
Why we would want to subsidize more expensive lifestyles? College graduates in HCOL areas are very far down on my list of people who need government assistance.
- Goronmon 4y ago
  Why we would want to subsidize more expensive lifestyles? Expensive lifestyles like living in a region of the US that is more expensive than other regions? I don't think it's unreasonable to occasionally take actions that would benefit the middle class.
  - rank0 4y ago
    Yes exactly like living in a HCOL area. Why on earth should blue collar workers pay federal income tax so graduates can better afford their insane NYC or Bay Area rent? It’s regressive and does nothing to stop tuition and housing inflation.
    - Goronmon 4y ago
      Why on earth should blue collar workers pay federal income tax so graduates can better afford their insane NYC or Bay Area rent? One similar example would be people without kids still having their taxes go towards funding public education. Because we want to prioritize overall education across the country. You could argue one reason loans have become so prevalent is a failure of the government to properly subsidize and provide for higher levels of education for citizens.
      - rank0 4y ago
        The higher education system we have is broken. We are pouring money into a system that apparently doesn’t enable graduates to pay off their loans. Your answer is to subsidize further? Colleges will continue increasing tuition and pumping out worthless degrees. People will continue to rack up student loan debt. It’s just not sustainable.
    - 7speter 4y ago
      Right because there aren’t blue collar workers in hcol areas whose kids went to college, or is “blue collar workers” a dog whistle here?
      - feet 4y ago
        It's just a talking point from fox news with zero nuance or awareness. Plumbers could have loans, they could have children with loans etc
        rank0 4y ago
        Dismissing an opposing view as “lacking nuance” doesn’t really add much nuance to the discussion. The fact of the matter is most Americans do not have a college degree. You can perform all the mental gymnastics you want but at the end of the day, it’s a direct subsidy to the upper class. Perhaps you are the one lacking awareness and maybe you should read the article.

imtringued 4y ago

>According to Sandy Baum at The Urban Institute, only 6% of borrowers have over $100,000 in student loans, yet these borrowers account for 35% of the total student loan debt. Hey, I know how to fix the student loan problem! Just cap the amount that is non dischargeable to be $60k (or slightly below 100k) and index this cap against inflation.