re: I could consider a LIMITED student loan relief program, under one condition: Fix it.

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PeleofAnalytics

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Yes, you nailed it. That is absolutely what has happened.

Conservatives who ignore this problem are selling this country down the road.

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you are basically asking banks to take on risky loans at a low interest

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As long as they are not compelled to do this, then it's the market at work.

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Make them dischargeable in bankruptcy

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Then they will cry when a poor female person of color can’t get a loan because the ROI is poor in African women’s studies degrees. Or some other useless degree.

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If they would go back to dorms with 4 people in block rooms and a floor bathroom I’d be down.

They started treating college like a resort. Even UNF built a lazy fricking river at one of their dorms.

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We have a $104M gym that was built a few years ago at the university where I work. Replaced an older gym that was fine. It's a pretty amazing rec center.

216,000 Sq ft. Has everything imaginable. Huge indoor climbing wall, tons of courts for everything from bball to handball, multiple pools, salt water pool, 2 huge floors of exercise equip. I looked into the price of the exercise bikes they have cuz I thought about getting one. Damn things are $7,000 each.

Universities are almost like resorts now. Student housing is like luxury apts now. All to attract students and parents.

We've spent about $400M in the last few years on new construction.

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The students signed up for the loans, but you can’t deny that costs and incentives are a clusterfrick.

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Fix it? The left doesn’t want to fix it. Why would they? Universities are bastions of leftists. And most of the degrees they are issuing only qualify someone to teach at universities.

Student loans are nothing but a taxpayer money pipe line into Leftists pockets.

(no message)

Brother in law, is a professor and dept head.

Big issue is baby boomers are gone.
Less kids going to school than in the 50’s and early 60’s.
Private Colleges have to consolidate courses sometimes working with other private schools.
They kind of screwed themselves as they cannot react to the market.

As far as vocational schools they are not enough. Example diesel truck & trailer repair. They have UTI, Lincoln tech, and Wyo-tech which are regional schools. You have holes in areas like South Louisiana. BRCC tries, but they don’t have the industry support needed. When I went to school I lived in a major city and went to Mack dealer training. Then the dealer I worked for along with other dealers worked with the community college to make sure trucks were there along with instructors. You learned the book side an example how an Hvac or ac system works. Still need to go to the shop, diagnose why an Ac systems not working, use the tools properly and fix the truck. It is hard to do nationwide. Small independent shops don’t have the manpower to invest in students. Dealers cannot find young adults that are willing to stay to invest in.

At my age I do not want to do it.
If I did I would have a shop that the 2nd shift 2 to 11pm was a school. Work with truck mfg and dealers to train people how to work on customers trucks. Get older techs that want to stay in the repair business, but cannot physically do it anymore. They would supervise the student. They would get paid a smaller salary to learn, but I would bill out my full shop rate.

This is my industry. I see it from the inside. There needs to be a total overhaul of the Federal Student Loan Program.


1. Return the actual lending to the banks. Make it similar to the SBA program. The government can guarantee 90% of the balance to protect lenders, but a student needs to walk into a bank, be able to present "here is what my major is, here is how much I expect to make, and here is how I expect to pay it back" to a loan officer rather than clicking through a bunch of pages on a website. Banks get a 10% origination fee for this.

2. Increase the Satisfactory Academic Progress requirement to keep receiving any financial aid. Right now, they are criminally low. After a freshman year, you can keep borrowing with a 1.6 GPA. Here's my solution:

Entering college: 3.0 High School GPA and at or above the state average on test scores.
after 1 year: 2.3 GPA and 20% progress toward degree
after 2 years: 2.5 GPA and 40% progress toward degree
after 3 years: 2.6 GPA and 65% progress toward degree
No standard aid available after 4 years
up to one additional year given if:
3.0 GPA
80% progress toward degree
STEM major

3. Raise the Household Income limit for Pell grants from $44,000 to $75,000 and limit the amount that can be borrowed to no more than 80% of the balance of in-state tuition, room and board minus grants and scholarships.

Example

Johnny is at LSU. He receives a Pell Grant of $6500 and a $10000 scholarship. LSU tuition, room and board costs $25,500. If he meets SAP, he can borrow $7300 a year. That's it. He or his family will have to come up with the other $1800 in direct costs and any other costs involved with attending school.

4. Open up work study to all students, not just the poorest students. Johnny can earn that $1800 plus a little money for Reggies by working in the library.

5. If a student graduates within 8 semesters (10 for certain STEM majors), then the interest rate for the life of the loan is capped at 1%. Late graduates and dropouts have to pay prime rate +1%.

Johnny's loan payment for 10 years is $255.

So on a typical student like Johnny that cant afford college without loans:

LSU has committed $40,000 toward his success
The federal government has committed $28,900 toward his success
Johnny and his family have paid $7,200 in direct costs + all extras
Johnny returns ~$1500 in interest and has a happy life