7 ms·

Americans Are Ignoring Their Student Loan Bills

53 points by paulpauper 1y ago

neilknowsbest 1y ago
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has a great quarterly report on consumer credit [0], which the article briefly mentions. The latest report (Q1 2025) is here [1]. Student loan delinquencies shot up in the last ~2 quarters, which checks out with TFA. It's amazing how the age 50+ cohorts carry substantial student loan debt (slide 21). Is this original debt from their own time as students or is it, for lack of a better word, "second-hand" debt from supporting their children through school? [0] - https://www.newyorkfed.org/microeconomics/hhdc/background.html https://www.newyorkfed.org/microeconomics/hhdc/background.ht... [1] - https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/Interactives/householdcredit/data/pdf/HHDC_2025Q2.pdf https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/Interactives/househo...
toomuchtodo 1y ago
Can’t squeeze a rock. If they can’t afford homes, and a good credit score is all that’s good for, why pay it? Wage garnishment is only a concern if you’re employed or make enough that it’s an option. No future, no payments.
- onlyrealcuzzo 1y ago
  Because you can't default on federal student loans. They garnish your wages. So just not paying isn't (currently) an option. Sure, if never having any income and living off someone else is an option, you can do that.
  - toomuchtodo 1y ago
    The U.S. Department of Education can garnish up to 15% of your disposable pay (your net wages after legally required deductions like taxes). However, they must leave you with at least 30 times the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 per hour, or $217.50 per week. So, 15% for the rest of your life or until you can leave the country and are beyond their reach (if an option) if you cannot afford to pay them off. The reality for many is they will never have enough income potential to pay off this debt, so the best course of action is to bail on it to optimize for quality of life if you’ll never be able to pay it back. The developed world is hungry for young, educated talent. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/25/they-fled-the-country-to-escape-their-student-debt.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/25/they-fled-the-country-to-esc...
    - SlightlyLeftPad 1y ago
      Other country’s citizens leave to avoid military service, Americans leave to…avoid student loan repayments. That’s sad.
      - toomuchtodo 1y ago
        If people leave your country because it sucks, that’s a governance problem, not a citizen problem. People are mobile, if they have options and can do better, they should take them. Life is short and you only live once. Debt is just accounting, it is a shared delusion like a currency. We set these citizens up to fail, and they’re the bad guys? Hardly. If you can escape the torment nexus, go, don’t look back. The torment nexus does not care about you. “The purpose of the system is what it does.”
        Alive-in-2025 1y ago
        We've got a lot of governance problems. Our system allows college prices to get really high, mostly because 18 year kids can sign up for these guaranteed loans. They don't know what they are signing up for, and colleges just want students in seats. People don't know if their major has good employment prospects, avg salary and how that will affect their loan repayment. America chose to do this, banks make big money from the loans. Colleges make big money from students. We have a similar system with medical care. We have regulatory capture of our medical system by the drug sellers, medical groups, etc. We pay way way way more than other countries with worse outcomes. And the reaction of half the country, the republicans, it is we'll fix this by eliminating a lot of coverage for poor people. Democrats try to control costs, cover more poor people, get on a better trajectory and it's demonzied as destroying democracy. Meanwhile, our recently passed BBB bill takes billions out of medicare, ie coverage for poor people, many of whom voted for Trump. This whole thing is disgusting. I'm angry because of the loss of potential here, just like for student debt. My dad says colleges are corrupt because they "waste money on dei things" and that's why they have high costs (sadly not making this up). I try to explain college is not subsidized like it used to be when you went to college in the 60s. Similar thing with young people not affording housing, not having kids as much.
- cosmic_cheese 1y ago
  > Can’t squeeze a rock. Sums it up well. What else could anybody possibly expect to happen? Wages have remained flat and/or negated by inflation, upward mobility has declined, and getting hired has become progressively more difficult. Good employment prospects remain in major metropolitan areas with high cost of living that eat paychecks whole. Where are the payments supposed to come from, exactly?
WarOnPrivacy 1y ago
https://archive.is/IBuzw https://archive.is/IBuzw
righthand 1y ago
I’m ahead on payments because I want to get rid of them. Now I’m wondering if I should hold on to them and stop paying ahead so I am not covering other peoples chunk of the debt today. This sounds cruel in some passive way but I’d rather help signal the unaffordable-ness of the Usa. I can’t afford: - eggs (generally many groceries are more expensive) - a 1-2 bed home of any quality - medical care that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg - my energy bill has doubled - my savings payments have lowered - 9+% inflation And many of these problem have existed for the last 10+ years. But at least we had a pretty great bond market for a few years to help offset regular inflation. If people can’t afford something like a student loan that’s already been “delayed or postponed” they will definitely deprioritize it.
- jedberg 1y ago
  > Now I’m wondering if I should hold on to them and stop paying ahead If you want to be purely logical about it, the only thing that matters is the interest rate. Can you get higher returns investing the money elsewhere? Then invest it elsewhere. My student loan was at 0.2% (yes, below 1). I made the minimum payment every month for 15 years. I was actually sad when it ended. I wish I could have added to the balance! Also one other thing to remember, a student loan doesn't have collateral. They can't take your degree back if you don't pay. They can garnish your wage, but that's about it.
- wakawaka28 1y ago
  I am very skeptical that any employed reader of HackerNews in the US cannot afford eggs. Are you working in tech at all? You may resent the state of the economy (as do I) but your loans will not go away. Nor should they. You knew you would have to pay that back when you started studying, and you did in fact study something useful that paid off. Taxpayers took a chance on your future, you got a useful education, and you owe everyone to pay it back.
  - righthand 1y ago
    Egg prices are up 200% at my store and have not gone down. The point isn’t “can I buy a carton of eggs” it’s “has a carton of eggs become a luxury item I no longer buy”. To fight the cost of something as consumers we’re told not to purchase what we can’t afford or agree with. While I can probably eat eggs every day this year, my cost for those eggs has doubled from 2 years ago. So why would I buy eggs just because I can? My point was about how people reason and deprioritize costs.
anonandwhistle 1y ago
As they should. They bailed banks in 2008. It's time for each citizen to equally get same level of tax money, amounts they deserve like bank owners and banks? why it was only possible for banks in 2008 and airlines in covid and PPE loans in Covid ?
- lokar 1y ago
  The got equity and loans for the bailout, and made a lot of profit in the end
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - theyarethey 1y ago
    > The[sic] got equity and loans for the bailout, and made a lot of profit in the end Your running to defend the bailout in this way reveals your bias. The “they” in your defense is the government, who issued the loans, but the money was yours and mine. That is, they were public funds, but we, the public, failed to get anything tangibly out of this “profit”. Quite the opposite, really. The public took a great deal of the brunt of the failure of the economic tools these banks dreamed up in the form of foreclosures, wherein members of the public completely lost the only financial asset many possess.
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
    - lokar 1y ago
      Where do you think the repayments went?
      - loudendiff 1y ago
        I am unsure if you are clever enough to know one is unable to prove a negative and so avoided asking the OP to prove that the profits failed to reach the public, or if you are brain dead enough to think asking someone to prove your own point is a valid debate technique. The OP made it clear that one way the profits failed to reach the public is clear in how so many lost their homes due to foreclosure. So, whether you can 'prove' that the profits did reach the public it seems obvious that one way they failed to reach the public was in protecting the public from these bad financial contracts.
chasd00 1y ago
I think I was 47 when I finally paid mine off. My wife and I are doing everything we can to help our boys get out of college debt free. Starting your career at a net worth of zero is so much better than negative tens of thousands.
- SoftTalker 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - lc9er 1y ago
    This reads like, "It's a banana, Michael, what could it cost, $10?".
    - SoftTalker 1y ago
      Would you go finance a $50k car and just think it's OK to not make the payments on it?
      - mrangle 1y ago
        A 50k car almost always drives, and you don't risk someone that doesn't like you telling you that you can't get the title after you've paid.
        SoftTalker 1y ago
        Fair enough, but going into debt for something that has (or will have) no value is an entirely different question. When I was young and dumb (at least more dumb than I am today) and newly graduated from college, I took a $6,000 personal loan at my credit union to buy a computer workstation, top of the line, with a large monitor, laser printer, the works. This was in the early 1990s. It was stupid, and of course the credit union didn't try to talk me out of it. I convinced myself I would "need" it as I entered my professional career as a software developer. Of course it never meaningfully contributed to my income, it was rapidly obsoleted, and I was stuck with the payments. But I made them.
pengaru 1y ago
Of course they're not paying their student debt. When the federal government of the moment is using student loan forgiveness to try bribe reelection votes, it sends a pretty strong signal that this shit is frivolous. As a taxpayer who has never taken on loans of any kind, I find this all quite irritating. You take on debt, you pay the debt, don't turn my tax dollars into your negligence subsidy.
- xnx 1y ago
  > As a taxpayer who has never taken on loans of any kind No mortgage? Bravo
  - shazbotter 1y ago
    No credit card, no mortgage, no "you cover dinner tonight and I'll Venmo you later"...
  - lotsofpulp 1y ago
    I would bet they inherited land which has benefitted tremendously from price increases due to taxpayer subsidized no prepayment penalty 30 year fixed rate mortgages.
    - pengaru 1y ago
      > I would bet they inherited land which has benefitted tremendously from price increases due to taxpayer subsidized no prepayment penalty 30 year fixed rate mortgages. Try again. I've inherited relatively little.
      - michaelfm1211 1y ago
        > Try again. I've inherited relatively little. Most people inherit nothing. Actually, most people end up spending money taking care of their parents.
        nickff 1y ago
readthenotes1 1y ago
Financial aid programs began so that deserving students could get to college and afford to do so without requiring extended family support. Not too surprisingly, the perverse incentive of government aid to school administration and loan brokers has made college nearly unaffordable for all. And of course, boomers cut the tax subsidies to schools once they are out so that even without the administrative bloat, tuition would be more expensive for those who came after
WastedCucumber 1y ago
Anyone have a way to read this without a log in? I can't seem to get past the paywall with archive tools. Aside from that, a friend of mine had a good solution for this - she just moved to Europe, got citizenship, and plans to never return to the states. Granted, she also had a terrible connection with her family, so she didn't stand to lose much anyway. Edit: WarOnPrivacy has us covered with a link. Thanks!
- Alive-in-2025 1y ago
  To do that for yourself, put "https://archive.is/ https://archive.is/" the actual url. If there is tracking junk at the end of the link you might have to trim the url. Very often it's already archived, some times you have to wait for it to load.
al_borland 1y ago
Various people in the government have been telling them for years that they'll be forgiven, and creating periods where they don't need to pay on them, what did people expect would happen?
ivape 1y ago
I think both the student and school should be on the hook for the loan. If the student is successful and does not pay, the school has legal rights. If the student is unsuccessful, then the student has legal rights. Both can sue each other for the full cost of the loan. I still don’t know why there aren’t mass scale class action lawsuits against higher education for certain degrees.
- stonogo 1y ago
  The school isn't issuing the loans. How exactly do you think student loans work?
  - bluGill 1y ago
    The banks should demand the school take responsibility as part of agreeing to the loan. if the degree is for fun not a job that is fine - but as the taxpaper subsidising this all I only want to help those who will pay off my investment (or those who stasticaly would have had not whatever unexpected disaster happened)
    - stonogo 1y ago
      You appear to have mistaken the purpose of a degree. It's not a job ticket. The school gave you what you paid for. Your transaction is complete.
      - lostmsu 1y ago
        Then they can buy insurance to cover that.
      - bluGill 1y ago
        As a taxpayer I support degrees as job tickets. There are plenty of other things to do with a degree and I'm fine with them - but I have better use for my money than to give degrees to those who won't use them productively.
emorning4 1y ago
I just want to remind people that in the 1980's it was still possible to support yourself and work your way through school on minimum wage jobs. I know because I did it. Took almost seven years but it was possible. And it's it also how I know that the U.S. has truly gone to shit.
wakawaka28 1y ago
Student loan bills won't ignore them lol
999900000999 1y ago
Paying taxes in America is like taking out a high interest loan on a used car. And not a particularly reliable one. Why exactly am I paying taxes if college is still unaffordable and health insurance gets more expensive every year ? I probably pay a higher percentage of my income in taxes and health insurance as I would in Germany, and get much less in return. Unemployment insurance is a joke for higher income people. College in particular is a bit complex. In my Mom's time State College was tuition free. The State of California, assuming it's residents are stupid, claims it's state schools are tuition free for residents. It's just a 15k fee ! https://admission.ucla.edu/tuition-aid/tuition-fees https://admission.ucla.edu/tuition-aid/tuition-fees State College should be free. Particularly if you go to community college first, this is where the vast majority of students should start. Unless you get a full ride, it's better to drop out after 3 semesters of community vs 3 semesters at USC. I think the 10k in forgiveness would of been reasonable. That was a very moderate plan, but it didn't happen. Some type of long term reform is needed though. Maybe allow for a discharge after 15 years ?
- nradov 1y ago
  Germany was able to get a free ride on US security guarantees for decades. Let's see what happens to their tax rates and social benefits now that they're finally being held accountable for complying with their NATO defense spending obligations. While college tuition is generally cheaper in Germany, fewer students have the opportunity to attend. Most of them are steered to other tracks from as fairly early age. This model has some advantages but it limits opportunities for late bloomers.
  - 999900000999 1y ago
    I've heard this argument from conservatives a lot. The reason the rest of the world can have affordable health care and cheap or essentially free college is because America pays for their security. How does that make any sense at all, why exactly do we need to have military bases in both Japan and Germany almost 80 years after the war ended. At this point why can't they just take care of themselves ? Most countries offer trades as a respected alternative. Plus it's not like you can't start as a carpenter at 19, decide that you hate getting splinters and then go and study poetry later.
medhir 1y ago
I have never understood why student loan debt is the only debt that cannot be discharged in bankruptcy proceedings. It’s so insane that we expect 18 year olds, with brains still very much developing, to be able to make such a life-altering choice. Even though I myself understood this dynamic and decided to go to a state school with max 5k a year in tuition, I’ve never faulted others in the same situation that made less than ideal financial choices. It’s really tragic that the US chooses to economically hamper so many people for money that is fairly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Everyone deserves a chance at upward economic mobility, even if they made a bad choice to study something in college with bad job prospects at a high price tag.
- polski-g 1y ago
  It's not dischargeable because you can't seize the asset to resell in bankruptcy. The borrower would still retain the knowledge and connections
- mixmastamyk 1y ago
  The loans would never be made under normal circumstances, so the govt. guarantees them. Part of that deal is that they must be paid back. Fair enough. I agree that the whole system is poor, but not because the loans have to be paid back. A better system would be to take the money and instead build subsidized public colleges. Loans just fuel cost inflation, exactly as we've seen.
hyperliner 1y ago
[dead]

53 points by paulpauper 1y ago

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has a great quarterly report on consumer credit [0], which the article briefly mentions. The latest report (Q1 2025) is here [1]. Student loan delinquencies shot up in the last ~2 quarters, which checks out with TFA. It's amazing how the age 50+ cohorts carry substantial student loan debt (slide 21). Is this original debt from their own time as students or is it, for lack of a better word, "second-hand" debt from supporting their children through school? [0] - https://www.newyorkfed.org/microeconomics/hhdc/background.html https://www.newyorkfed.org/microeconomics/hhdc/background.ht... [1] - https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/Interactives/householdcredit/data/pdf/HHDC_2025Q2.pdf https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/Interactives/househo...

toomuchtodo 1y ago

Can’t squeeze a rock. If they can’t afford homes, and a good credit score is all that’s good for, why pay it? Wage garnishment is only a concern if you’re employed or make enough that it’s an option. No future, no payments.

onlyrealcuzzo 1y ago
Because you can't default on federal student loans. They garnish your wages. So just not paying isn't (currently) an option. Sure, if never having any income and living off someone else is an option, you can do that.
- toomuchtodo 1y ago
  The U.S. Department of Education can garnish up to 15% of your disposable pay (your net wages after legally required deductions like taxes). However, they must leave you with at least 30 times the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 per hour, or $217.50 per week. So, 15% for the rest of your life or until you can leave the country and are beyond their reach (if an option) if you cannot afford to pay them off. The reality for many is they will never have enough income potential to pay off this debt, so the best course of action is to bail on it to optimize for quality of life if you’ll never be able to pay it back. The developed world is hungry for young, educated talent. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/25/they-fled-the-country-to-escape-their-student-debt.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/25/they-fled-the-country-to-esc...
  - SlightlyLeftPad 1y ago
    Other country’s citizens leave to avoid military service, Americans leave to…avoid student loan repayments. That’s sad.
    - toomuchtodo 1y ago
      If people leave your country because it sucks, that’s a governance problem, not a citizen problem. People are mobile, if they have options and can do better, they should take them. Life is short and you only live once. Debt is just accounting, it is a shared delusion like a currency. We set these citizens up to fail, and they’re the bad guys? Hardly. If you can escape the torment nexus, go, don’t look back. The torment nexus does not care about you. “The purpose of the system is what it does.”
      - Alive-in-2025 1y ago
        We've got a lot of governance problems. Our system allows college prices to get really high, mostly because 18 year kids can sign up for these guaranteed loans. They don't know what they are signing up for, and colleges just want students in seats. People don't know if their major has good employment prospects, avg salary and how that will affect their loan repayment. America chose to do this, banks make big money from the loans. Colleges make big money from students. We have a similar system with medical care. We have regulatory capture of our medical system by the drug sellers, medical groups, etc. We pay way way way more than other countries with worse outcomes. And the reaction of half the country, the republicans, it is we'll fix this by eliminating a lot of coverage for poor people. Democrats try to control costs, cover more poor people, get on a better trajectory and it's demonzied as destroying democracy. Meanwhile, our recently passed BBB bill takes billions out of medicare, ie coverage for poor people, many of whom voted for Trump. This whole thing is disgusting. I'm angry because of the loss of potential here, just like for student debt. My dad says colleges are corrupt because they "waste money on dei things" and that's why they have high costs (sadly not making this up). I try to explain college is not subsidized like it used to be when you went to college in the 60s. Similar thing with young people not affording housing, not having kids as much.
cosmic_cheese 1y ago
> Can’t squeeze a rock. Sums it up well. What else could anybody possibly expect to happen? Wages have remained flat and/or negated by inflation, upward mobility has declined, and getting hired has become progressively more difficult. Good employment prospects remain in major metropolitan areas with high cost of living that eat paychecks whole. Where are the payments supposed to come from, exactly?

WarOnPrivacy 1y ago

https://archive.is/IBuzw https://archive.is/IBuzw

righthand 1y ago

I’m ahead on payments because I want to get rid of them. Now I’m wondering if I should hold on to them and stop paying ahead so I am not covering other peoples chunk of the debt today. This sounds cruel in some passive way but I’d rather help signal the unaffordable-ness of the Usa. I can’t afford: - eggs (generally many groceries are more expensive) - a 1-2 bed home of any quality - medical care that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg - my energy bill has doubled - my savings payments have lowered - 9+% inflation And many of these problem have existed for the last 10+ years. But at least we had a pretty great bond market for a few years to help offset regular inflation. If people can’t afford something like a student loan that’s already been “delayed or postponed” they will definitely deprioritize it.

jedberg 1y ago
> Now I’m wondering if I should hold on to them and stop paying ahead If you want to be purely logical about it, the only thing that matters is the interest rate. Can you get higher returns investing the money elsewhere? Then invest it elsewhere. My student loan was at 0.2% (yes, below 1). I made the minimum payment every month for 15 years. I was actually sad when it ended. I wish I could have added to the balance! Also one other thing to remember, a student loan doesn't have collateral. They can't take your degree back if you don't pay. They can garnish your wage, but that's about it.
wakawaka28 1y ago
I am very skeptical that any employed reader of HackerNews in the US cannot afford eggs. Are you working in tech at all? You may resent the state of the economy (as do I) but your loans will not go away. Nor should they. You knew you would have to pay that back when you started studying, and you did in fact study something useful that paid off. Taxpayers took a chance on your future, you got a useful education, and you owe everyone to pay it back.
- righthand 1y ago
  Egg prices are up 200% at my store and have not gone down. The point isn’t “can I buy a carton of eggs” it’s “has a carton of eggs become a luxury item I no longer buy”. To fight the cost of something as consumers we’re told not to purchase what we can’t afford or agree with. While I can probably eat eggs every day this year, my cost for those eggs has doubled from 2 years ago. So why would I buy eggs just because I can? My point was about how people reason and deprioritize costs.

anonandwhistle 1y ago

As they should. They bailed banks in 2008. It's time for each citizen to equally get same level of tax money, amounts they deserve like bank owners and banks? why it was only possible for banks in 2008 and airlines in covid and PPE loans in Covid ?

lokar 1y ago
The got equity and loans for the bailout, and made a lot of profit in the end
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- theyarethey 1y ago
  > The[sic] got equity and loans for the bailout, and made a lot of profit in the end Your running to defend the bailout in this way reveals your bias. The “they” in your defense is the government, who issued the loans, but the money was yours and mine. That is, they were public funds, but we, the public, failed to get anything tangibly out of this “profit”. Quite the opposite, really. The public took a great deal of the brunt of the failure of the economic tools these banks dreamed up in the form of foreclosures, wherein members of the public completely lost the only financial asset many possess.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - lokar 1y ago
    Where do you think the repayments went?
    - loudendiff 1y ago
      I am unsure if you are clever enough to know one is unable to prove a negative and so avoided asking the OP to prove that the profits failed to reach the public, or if you are brain dead enough to think asking someone to prove your own point is a valid debate technique. The OP made it clear that one way the profits failed to reach the public is clear in how so many lost their homes due to foreclosure. So, whether you can 'prove' that the profits did reach the public it seems obvious that one way they failed to reach the public was in protecting the public from these bad financial contracts.

chasd00 1y ago

I think I was 47 when I finally paid mine off. My wife and I are doing everything we can to help our boys get out of college debt free. Starting your career at a net worth of zero is so much better than negative tens of thousands.

SoftTalker 1y ago
[flagged]
- lc9er 1y ago
  This reads like, "It's a banana, Michael, what could it cost, $10?".
  - SoftTalker 1y ago
    Would you go finance a $50k car and just think it's OK to not make the payments on it?
    - mrangle 1y ago
      A 50k car almost always drives, and you don't risk someone that doesn't like you telling you that you can't get the title after you've paid.
      - SoftTalker 1y ago
        Fair enough, but going into debt for something that has (or will have) no value is an entirely different question. When I was young and dumb (at least more dumb than I am today) and newly graduated from college, I took a $6,000 personal loan at my credit union to buy a computer workstation, top of the line, with a large monitor, laser printer, the works. This was in the early 1990s. It was stupid, and of course the credit union didn't try to talk me out of it. I convinced myself I would "need" it as I entered my professional career as a software developer. Of course it never meaningfully contributed to my income, it was rapidly obsoleted, and I was stuck with the payments. But I made them.

pengaru 1y ago

Of course they're not paying their student debt. When the federal government of the moment is using student loan forgiveness to try bribe reelection votes, it sends a pretty strong signal that this shit is frivolous. As a taxpayer who has never taken on loans of any kind, I find this all quite irritating. You take on debt, you pay the debt, don't turn my tax dollars into your negligence subsidy.

xnx 1y ago
> As a taxpayer who has never taken on loans of any kind No mortgage? Bravo
- shazbotter 1y ago
  No credit card, no mortgage, no "you cover dinner tonight and I'll Venmo you later"...
- lotsofpulp 1y ago
  I would bet they inherited land which has benefitted tremendously from price increases due to taxpayer subsidized no prepayment penalty 30 year fixed rate mortgages.
  - pengaru 1y ago
    > I would bet they inherited land which has benefitted tremendously from price increases due to taxpayer subsidized no prepayment penalty 30 year fixed rate mortgages. Try again. I've inherited relatively little.
    - michaelfm1211 1y ago
      > Try again. I've inherited relatively little. Most people inherit nothing. Actually, most people end up spending money taking care of their parents.
      - nickff 1y ago

readthenotes1 1y ago

Financial aid programs began so that deserving students could get to college and afford to do so without requiring extended family support. Not too surprisingly, the perverse incentive of government aid to school administration and loan brokers has made college nearly unaffordable for all. And of course, boomers cut the tax subsidies to schools once they are out so that even without the administrative bloat, tuition would be more expensive for those who came after

WastedCucumber 1y ago

Anyone have a way to read this without a log in? I can't seem to get past the paywall with archive tools. Aside from that, a friend of mine had a good solution for this - she just moved to Europe, got citizenship, and plans to never return to the states. Granted, she also had a terrible connection with her family, so she didn't stand to lose much anyway. Edit: WarOnPrivacy has us covered with a link. Thanks!

Alive-in-2025 1y ago
To do that for yourself, put "https://archive.is/ https://archive.is/" the actual url. If there is tracking junk at the end of the link you might have to trim the url. Very often it's already archived, some times you have to wait for it to load.

al_borland 1y ago

Various people in the government have been telling them for years that they'll be forgiven, and creating periods where they don't need to pay on them, what did people expect would happen?

ivape 1y ago

I think both the student and school should be on the hook for the loan. If the student is successful and does not pay, the school has legal rights. If the student is unsuccessful, then the student has legal rights. Both can sue each other for the full cost of the loan. I still don’t know why there aren’t mass scale class action lawsuits against higher education for certain degrees.

stonogo 1y ago
The school isn't issuing the loans. How exactly do you think student loans work?
- bluGill 1y ago
  The banks should demand the school take responsibility as part of agreeing to the loan. if the degree is for fun not a job that is fine - but as the taxpaper subsidising this all I only want to help those who will pay off my investment (or those who stasticaly would have had not whatever unexpected disaster happened)
  - stonogo 1y ago
    You appear to have mistaken the purpose of a degree. It's not a job ticket. The school gave you what you paid for. Your transaction is complete.
    - lostmsu 1y ago
      Then they can buy insurance to cover that.
    - bluGill 1y ago
      As a taxpayer I support degrees as job tickets. There are plenty of other things to do with a degree and I'm fine with them - but I have better use for my money than to give degrees to those who won't use them productively.

emorning4 1y ago

I just want to remind people that in the 1980's it was still possible to support yourself and work your way through school on minimum wage jobs. I know because I did it. Took almost seven years but it was possible. And it's it also how I know that the U.S. has truly gone to shit.

wakawaka28 1y ago

Student loan bills won't ignore them lol

999900000999 1y ago

Paying taxes in America is like taking out a high interest loan on a used car. And not a particularly reliable one. Why exactly am I paying taxes if college is still unaffordable and health insurance gets more expensive every year ? I probably pay a higher percentage of my income in taxes and health insurance as I would in Germany, and get much less in return. Unemployment insurance is a joke for higher income people. College in particular is a bit complex. In my Mom's time State College was tuition free. The State of California, assuming it's residents are stupid, claims it's state schools are tuition free for residents. It's just a 15k fee ! https://admission.ucla.edu/tuition-aid/tuition-fees https://admission.ucla.edu/tuition-aid/tuition-fees State College should be free. Particularly if you go to community college first, this is where the vast majority of students should start. Unless you get a full ride, it's better to drop out after 3 semesters of community vs 3 semesters at USC. I think the 10k in forgiveness would of been reasonable. That was a very moderate plan, but it didn't happen. Some type of long term reform is needed though. Maybe allow for a discharge after 15 years ?

nradov 1y ago
Germany was able to get a free ride on US security guarantees for decades. Let's see what happens to their tax rates and social benefits now that they're finally being held accountable for complying with their NATO defense spending obligations. While college tuition is generally cheaper in Germany, fewer students have the opportunity to attend. Most of them are steered to other tracks from as fairly early age. This model has some advantages but it limits opportunities for late bloomers.
- 999900000999 1y ago
  I've heard this argument from conservatives a lot. The reason the rest of the world can have affordable health care and cheap or essentially free college is because America pays for their security. How does that make any sense at all, why exactly do we need to have military bases in both Japan and Germany almost 80 years after the war ended. At this point why can't they just take care of themselves ? Most countries offer trades as a respected alternative. Plus it's not like you can't start as a carpenter at 19, decide that you hate getting splinters and then go and study poetry later.

medhir 1y ago

I have never understood why student loan debt is the only debt that cannot be discharged in bankruptcy proceedings. It’s so insane that we expect 18 year olds, with brains still very much developing, to be able to make such a life-altering choice. Even though I myself understood this dynamic and decided to go to a state school with max 5k a year in tuition, I’ve never faulted others in the same situation that made less than ideal financial choices. It’s really tragic that the US chooses to economically hamper so many people for money that is fairly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Everyone deserves a chance at upward economic mobility, even if they made a bad choice to study something in college with bad job prospects at a high price tag.

polski-g 1y ago
It's not dischargeable because you can't seize the asset to resell in bankruptcy. The borrower would still retain the knowledge and connections
mixmastamyk 1y ago
The loans would never be made under normal circumstances, so the govt. guarantees them. Part of that deal is that they must be paid back. Fair enough. I agree that the whole system is poor, but not because the loans have to be paid back. A better system would be to take the money and instead build subsidized public colleges. Loans just fuel cost inflation, exactly as we've seen.

hyperliner 1y ago

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