8 ms·
Apply for student loan debt forgiveness
- lapcat 4y agoThere are tax implications to debt forgiveness in some states, unless those states change their laws, so be careful about rushing to file. The filing deadline is not until Dec. 31, 2023. https://taxfoundation.org/student-loan-debt-cancelation-tax-treatment/ https://taxfoundation.org/student-loan-debt-cancelation-tax-...
- toomuchtodo 4y agoIn what cases would it be better to not take the forgiveness to avoid the taxes? Would you not take the forgiveness and borrow to pay the taxes if you had to? You’re coming out ahead regardless.
- teeray 4y agoIf you don’t have liquidity to cover the taxes on the imputed income.
- toomuchtodo 4y agoEven at an extortionate 30% APR and assuming a worst case 10% state income tax rate, that puts payments at ~$100/month to save ~$17k assuming $2k in tax on $20k forgiven (plus interest). I cannot speak to all states, but some will offer a payment plan at prime plus some basis points if you can’t afford your tax due at tax time. That’s cheap money to retire a chunk of debt. My concern would be those folks trying to block debt forgiveness efforts, and their chances of success. Better to get it done sooner and pay some tax versus holding out and possibly getting nothing. (educational purposes only, not financial advice)
- jrumbut 4y agoIf you can't borrow or afford to pay the taxes would be one situation, then you can save up in 2023. Weird situation for sure but you always want to look before you leap with these things.
- lapcat 4y agoThe question is not if but rather when. Hopefully some of the states will change their laws to not count student loan debt forgiveness as income, but they haven't had time to do so yet.
- OrangeMonkey 4y agoThere is no such thing as forgiveness for loans - its always paid by someone. This is, in essence, transferring the debt from people who graduated college to people who - on average - did not go to college. The most regressive invisible tax hike we have ever had but sure. . . yay.
- maxfurman 4y agoIs this so different from the PPP loans that were forgiven?
- junofan 4y agoProbably different accounting treatment. I believe the student loan program is run by issuing treasuries, so the subsidies are the main expense.
- zapdrive 4y agoAre you comparing loans given to businesses to stay afloat during a government mandated shutdown of an unprecedented scale where those businesses were forbidden by the government to do business, to the free will of students taking a loan understanding very well the consequences of their decision?
- bern4444 4y agoMuch of the PPP loans taken were fraudulent, wasteful, unnecessary and inflationary. Businesses who had no need for them took them and had their best quarters and year. The market sloshed around and shot up with all this 'free' money. We're willing to spend all this money unnecessarily on businesses but when it comes to supporting students all of a sudden - its too much and we have to draw the line! I'd much rather see individuals paid directly than go through businesses and hope they are benevolent enough to use it on their employees.
- pb7 4y agoThere is overwhelming evidence that most of those were loans were fraudulent so yeah, it’s not any different, that was bullshit too.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- YeBanKo 4y agoOne of the worst decisions by the current administration. This a ridiculous debt transfer.
- arthurcolle 4y agoI am probably going to get 10K forgiven. Unshackling people from debt is awesome. Hopefully they figure out how to do this regularly. Sucks if you don't like it! Hopefully I can redirect the money to more fruitful enterprises... like anything else. The massive increase in college tuition is totally out of proportion based on wage growth and honestly it's not healthy for the middle class to be forced into an infinite debt cycle forever, growing, like clockwork. Thankfully you are not in office!
- Fellshard 4y agoAll you've done is put the shackles on someone else.
- captyoyo 4y agoShow me..
- arthurcolle 4y agoSomehow I feel OK about that given the fact that the three generations before me didn't give that much thought. Sorry! See how that sucks? It does suck! But I am luckily 1.3k USD away from being income excluded so maybe for once not aggressively pursuing salary will get me an extra 10k! Magic!!
- YeBanKo 4y agoI actually think that education should be free, but with strings attached. The US college cost is growing, administrative overhead is growing, admission process is often not transparent. Once it is fixed and controlled higher ed should be free with a certain level of commitment. For things like medical school, which are ones of the most expensive ones, working for a few years at public hospitals can be a requirement for getting such education for free. But this was done in the opposite direction, some people made really bad financial decisions. Some people opted not to pursue college degree, precisely because of cost. Why the latter should be paying for the former? Also, let me ask you this: when you got your degree, did you go to a community college first to pick up some credits and transferred to save some costs?
- sergiomattei 4y agoAs someone whose partner is bogged by student debt — unable to find a job in their industry due to the recession — this is such a relief. Those arguing this is a debt transfer, have some sympathy. Things are difficult out there, especially for new grads in this economic environment.
- zapdrive 4y ago
- rcoveson 4y agoMy wife’s siblings all avoided college to avoid taking on debt that they didn’t think they could pay off. They worked low wage jobs during the years their peers attended university on borrowed money. This blatantly unfair debt forgiveness is nothing but a transparent bid to make friends of a subset of the population perceived as more valuable than the subset of which it will make enemies. Why would you expect other’s sympathies to lie with your partner when this policy takes away from people who have families of their own?
- semicolon_storm 4y agoWith that logic, nobody can ever be helped because it’s unfair to those who aren’t being helped at the moment.
- rcoveson 4y agoWith that logic, any program to redistribute any money from any group to any other group is fine. Somebody is being helped; it's okay if not everybody is being helped in the same moment, right?
- semicolon_storm 4y agoFalse dichotomy
- 4y ago
- tonmoy 4y agoWhile this is better than nothing, I would rather have my tax dollars paid for free higher education with oversight on the quality of the education and how the money is used. Blanket forgiveness would encourage bad actors from offering useless degrees at high cost imo
- krapp 4y ago> Blanket forgiveness would encourage bad actors from offering useless degrees at high cost imo Do you think that isn't already happening?
- sigzero 4y agoSure, but now we are subsidizing it.
- krapp 4y agoWe're subsidizing relief from it. Loan debt and interest are what subsidize the bad actors.
- jrs235 4y agoGuaranteeing the loans is what subsidizes it. If the institutions had their own skin in the game they might act differently.
- inferiorhuman 4y agoSubsidizing tuition is nothing new, loans and grants have been around for decades and yeah those (especially the private loans) drove up tuition mercilessly. Neither side should be ignored here – just because there are structural problems does not mean that we should shy away from lifting the sceptre of debt. We need to address both problems.
- vital_beach 4y agoit would be even easier to start with how current cost education is handled. my student loan situation would be much better if my advisor at my state uni had actually been incentivized to be an advisor. instead she put off meeting with me until the second semester of my senior year. note i didn't say last semester of my senior year.
- club_tropical 4y agoShould come out of university endowments first.
- mynameishere 4y agoYes, there are three parties involved here: 1. The universities who got paid. 2. The students who agreed to the debt for receiving the services of the universities. 3. And everyone else, who had nothing to do with the above transaction. Many of this group were working class who never went to school or people who already paid their school debts long ago. There is no way of looking at that scenario and saying that group #3 should be the one paying. It so deeply wrong that I almost feel ashamed watching people defend the heist. If the government forcibly clawed back the money from the schools and the admins and the professors and (yes) the fat endowments, the media would howl bloody murder. But it would be relatively fair.
- vital_beach 4y agoto be very honest, if this is all it takes, it's the easiest gov form i've ever filled out. i'm loving it
- clairity 4y agotoo bad it loads 3 trackers and puts all your personal data into salesforce. i think governments shouldn't be allowed to share personal data like this with corporations--e.g., software/servers should have to be on-prem.
- vital_beach 4y agoi agree. i agree. i agree. i also know that the interested parties already have my info and that i would like the 20k writedown. it really does suck
- vehemenz 4y agoHow about regulating the actual costs of college or how loans work instead of just helping an arbitrary group of students pay? This reminds me of the Affordable Care Act all over again.
- rawgabbit 4y agoIn the USA, you can't purchase alcoholic beverages until you are 21. But you can sign up for a student loan that may be financial millstone for life.
- RickJWagner 4y agoYou can also buy a rapidly depreciating asset like a sports car. Or you can buy high-risk meme stocks. Or crytpo. Or derivitives. There's a million ways to fritter away money.
- rayiner 4y ago
- piva00 4y agoYup, we in most places of Europe live in total bondage due to free education. > When education is not liberating, the dream of the oppressed is to become the oppressor.
- rayiner 4y agoIn Europe, the middle and upper middle class taxes itself to pay for “free” education. In the US, families making up to $250,000–which would be in the top tax bracket in nearly every European country—conceive of themselves as proletariat that deserve both rock-bottom taxes that haven’t been increased since Reagan, as well as free stuff from the government, at the same time.
- random314 4y ago> In Europe, the middle and upper middle class taxes itself to pay for “free” education. Really?! I had no idea!
- nautilius 4y agoWe all know that the number of AR-15 your credit card company lets you buy is the only proper way to count ‘freedom points’ (TM). Crippling debt from education so that you have some shot at a career, or a health insurance system that has successfully abolished any market mechanisms and effectively ties you to your employers certainly don’t contribute to any ‘mass control’ whatsoever.
- sergiomattei 4y agoJesus Christ, we’re talking forgiving student debt, not full-blown communism here.
- xboxnolifes 4y ago
- jabagonuts 4y agoHaving not seen the actual law or executive order or whatever legal reference document, one thing that has not been clearly covered by the media or in debates or even the studentaid.gov website is whether or not this law applies only to current federal loan borrowers, or also extends to those under the prescribed income limits who paid off their federal loans years, or even decades ago.
- pb7 4y agoIt is definitely not the latter and that’s what makes it unfair. If it was fair, they would cut the same $10K check to everyone that had paid for higher education in the last X years and meets the income criteria.
- jabagonuts 4y agoAre you sure? What’s your source? Even the Biden administration is cryptic on this point. After posting my original comment, I’ve been doing additional research. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/24/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-student-loan-relief-for-borrowers-who-need-it-most/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases...
- pb7 4y agoThanks for the link. I don’t read the news so it’s the first time I’m seeing it. I didn’t see anything in there that alluded to people not currently in debt getting anything which matches what I had read in the past when this policy first surfaced.
- OrangeMonkey 4y agoOr, alternatively, if this is actually legal. Congress holds the powers of the purse and this is an executive order by a president a few weeks away from midterm elections. This is going to be litigated.
- rtp4me 4y ago
- xboxnolifes 4y agoI signed up to receive notification emails for when this goes live, and yet I somehow still find out about it from here.
- true_religion 4y agoThis site is blocked while you are outside of the US. That’s unfair since we still pay US taxes and still have to pay our debts.
- xsd_float 4y agoJust use a vpn
- true_religion 4y agoI do that for private programs, but a government program should serve the people not require people jump though hoops. Most other government sites work this way. I can pay taxes, buy bonds, access Medicare information, etc. from outside the US. So what’s the justification to make a special case this time?
- theklr 4y agoBeing that’s beta, I’m going good faith and it’s just ensuring the stability of the site.