4 ms·

To be fair this is debt they take on willingly. Now if the government should be letting 18-year olds take on huge amounts of debt without understanding the lon

To be fair this is debt they take on willingly. Now if the government should be letting 18-year olds take on huge amounts of debt without understanding the long term consequences...thats a different story.

willis936 3y ago
This seems like a result of Sallie Mae going private. Can someone explain the reason why Sallie Mae is no longer a GSE?
- j_walter 3y ago
  There are many reasons, but mainly that we are letting people take loans for significantly over what tuition is. When you write a check to an 18-year old for $5-10K every 3-4 months above and beyond what tuition costs...they aren't always the best at spending it wisely. Certainly government ownership and distribution of student loans that changed in 2009 was also a driver of the huge increase in loans, people going to college and thus rising costs.
- adventured 3y ago
  It's not. The US student loan debt explosion began in the 1990s. It's a result of the US Government guaranteeing loans of ever greater sums regardless of the ability to pay them back. It's an extraordinarily obvious outcome to that foolish approach. Try it in real-estate or any other sector and see what happens. If they tried it in healthcare, a new US Government guaranteed healthcare loan program (need a $1 million loan (at 9% that you can't discharge) for your surgery? step right up), it's similarly obvious what would happen. The only solution being offered by the left is to generate a lot more debt in one of a few different ways (and the right is largely proposing no solutions at all; both sides are captive morons (to their dogma) when it comes to solving the student loan mess that the government created).
  - anonymouskimmer 3y ago
    You can only get so much in government student loans before having to go to the private sector for student loans. For private student loans there is no federal guarantee, but there is the inability to discharge them in bankruptcy (a frankly right-wing position that adds to the problem, but that the right doesn't want to admit does so). https://studentaid.gov/help-center/answers/article/how-much-money-can-i-borrow-federal-student-loans https://studentaid.gov/help-center/answers/article/how-much-... > If you’re an undergraduate, the maximum combined amount of Direct Subsidized and Direct Unsubsidized Loans you can borrow each academic year is between $5,500 and $12,500, depending on your year in school and your dependency status. > If you're a graduate/professional student, you can borrow up to $20,500 in Direct Unsubsidized Loans each academic year. Most people aren't going to graduate school, and the full amount of government loans one can get for undergraduate don't make most private schools in any way affordable to those without jobs or family support. On the left a potential solution is to increase the share of corporate profits going to workers. On the right (and part of the left) a potential solution is the reduction of credentialism.
mikestew 3y ago
To be fair this is debt they take on willingly. How "willing" are the debtors when the whole system seems to built around the idea that a student will take out a loan to pay for the education, an education which is priced around the idea that anyone that isn't wealthy takes out a loan? I mean, yeah, I guess they willingly went to college...
- j_walter 3y ago
  Lots of people take out loans and do so responsibly. I had 2 jobs in college and it helped pay for my room and board so that my loans were relatively small when I was done ($30Kish). It wasn't easy, but college is not supposed to be. I had classmates that did the same but used loans for room and board, spring break vacations, summers off and then were $100K+ in loans at the end. Now tell me I'm responsible to pay for their decisions...
  - earthling8118 3y ago
    I worked 2 jobs basically the entire time I was in school. At one point it was 3 jobs. I was also a reservist in the military. I didn't go on any vacations, I worked through the summers, and I spent very little on joyous things. It was mostly just on school. I have $70k in loans. I also paid a boatload of cash directly to my tuition so my loans weren't even the full price. I don't care if it isn't supposed to be easy. It wasn't and to the day I am struggling with it. Something has to change. You can act like its a moral failure on the students' part all you want but that doesn't make this system sensible or sustainable.
    - j_walter 3y ago
      I would be a lot more for reducing the interest rate to 1% on all of these loans. You should not have money forgiven that you used, but also shouldn't be subject to interest rates that make paying off your debt that much harder. If we discharge a loan on a house or car your possession is confiscated no matter how much you had paid off...should the same go for your degree if you want to get out from under your student loan?
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

willis936 3y ago

This seems like a result of Sallie Mae going private. Can someone explain the reason why Sallie Mae is no longer a GSE?

j_walter 3y ago
There are many reasons, but mainly that we are letting people take loans for significantly over what tuition is. When you write a check to an 18-year old for $5-10K every 3-4 months above and beyond what tuition costs...they aren't always the best at spending it wisely. Certainly government ownership and distribution of student loans that changed in 2009 was also a driver of the huge increase in loans, people going to college and thus rising costs.
adventured 3y ago
It's not. The US student loan debt explosion began in the 1990s. It's a result of the US Government guaranteeing loans of ever greater sums regardless of the ability to pay them back. It's an extraordinarily obvious outcome to that foolish approach. Try it in real-estate or any other sector and see what happens. If they tried it in healthcare, a new US Government guaranteed healthcare loan program (need a $1 million loan (at 9% that you can't discharge) for your surgery? step right up), it's similarly obvious what would happen. The only solution being offered by the left is to generate a lot more debt in one of a few different ways (and the right is largely proposing no solutions at all; both sides are captive morons (to their dogma) when it comes to solving the student loan mess that the government created).
- anonymouskimmer 3y ago
  You can only get so much in government student loans before having to go to the private sector for student loans. For private student loans there is no federal guarantee, but there is the inability to discharge them in bankruptcy (a frankly right-wing position that adds to the problem, but that the right doesn't want to admit does so). https://studentaid.gov/help-center/answers/article/how-much-money-can-i-borrow-federal-student-loans https://studentaid.gov/help-center/answers/article/how-much-... > If you’re an undergraduate, the maximum combined amount of Direct Subsidized and Direct Unsubsidized Loans you can borrow each academic year is between $5,500 and $12,500, depending on your year in school and your dependency status. > If you're a graduate/professional student, you can borrow up to $20,500 in Direct Unsubsidized Loans each academic year. Most people aren't going to graduate school, and the full amount of government loans one can get for undergraduate don't make most private schools in any way affordable to those without jobs or family support. On the left a potential solution is to increase the share of corporate profits going to workers. On the right (and part of the left) a potential solution is the reduction of credentialism.

mikestew 3y ago

To be fair this is debt they take on willingly. How "willing" are the debtors when the whole system seems to built around the idea that a student will take out a loan to pay for the education, an education which is priced around the idea that anyone that isn't wealthy takes out a loan? I mean, yeah, I guess they willingly went to college...

j_walter 3y ago
Lots of people take out loans and do so responsibly. I had 2 jobs in college and it helped pay for my room and board so that my loans were relatively small when I was done ($30Kish). It wasn't easy, but college is not supposed to be. I had classmates that did the same but used loans for room and board, spring break vacations, summers off and then were $100K+ in loans at the end. Now tell me I'm responsible to pay for their decisions...
- earthling8118 3y ago
  I worked 2 jobs basically the entire time I was in school. At one point it was 3 jobs. I was also a reservist in the military. I didn't go on any vacations, I worked through the summers, and I spent very little on joyous things. It was mostly just on school. I have $70k in loans. I also paid a boatload of cash directly to my tuition so my loans weren't even the full price. I don't care if it isn't supposed to be easy. It wasn't and to the day I am struggling with it. Something has to change. You can act like its a moral failure on the students' part all you want but that doesn't make this system sensible or sustainable.
  - j_walter 3y ago
    I would be a lot more for reducing the interest rate to 1% on all of these loans. You should not have money forgiven that you used, but also shouldn't be subject to interest rates that make paying off your debt that much harder. If we discharge a loan on a house or car your possession is confiscated no matter how much you had paid off...should the same go for your degree if you want to get out from under your student loan?

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]