re: In case you thought Student Loans was a dead issue...

There needs to be limits on how much you can borrow based on the degree you are pursuing and the expected earnings you will get. Can you repay the loan with the degree you are pursuing?

Second, if a student isn’t making grades, no more loans until they make a dent in the principal. If you aren’t serious about school, take some time off and figure your life out, but you aren’t running up a bunch of debt you won’t be able to pay. After you pay down a certain percentage of the loan, then you can reapply.

The rest that are already mired in debt, pay it back. I’m good with a better interest rate, although the hundred plus thousand I paid back was at the interest rates we have today. Life is tough, even tougher if you aren’t paying attention.

I don’t see a problem with making the loans, even the ones on the books, 2%. But the govt needs to make these payments bonds to the schools and only do it for in-demand skill sets. The bonds are a certain amount each year and the school has to pay them back when the student repays them. ie a four year degree, then 6 years to pay it off is a 10 year bond with the payback starting at year 5.

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They need to reform the interest rates to ensure payback of funds.

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Absolutely not.

They need to stop guaranteeing loans in the first place.

Problem solved.

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It encourages worthless degrees and funnels people to the government bureaucracy.

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How else do you plan on getting college educated people to teach while making like 40k a year?


Would you send your kid to be taught by someone who stopped school after 12th grade?

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How else do you plan on getting college educated people to teach while making like 40k a year?


Would you send your kid to be taught by someone who stopped school after 12th grade?

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The Amish junior high aged girls teach the elementary students in that community and they score at the top of the pack in the state every year.

Frankly, the entire educational system needs to be reformed. Once you learn to read and master basic math functions you can learn online with some infrequent exceptions.

So we shouldn't need teachers past about 5th or 6th grade except to act as tutors for students who are struggling with something. After that, everything should be online and students should just learn at their own pace. You could maintain a much smaller facility (since it would only be used for tutoring and the rare lab or art or music class that required meeting in person).

And the biggest thing is that we shouldn't force people to participate. Don't care if your kid learns? Fine, keep him or her out so that he or she doesn't keep other kids from learning. To quote Judge Smails, the world needs ditch diggers too.

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The Amish junior high aged girls teach the elementary students in that community and they score at the top of the pack in the state every year.

Frankly, the entire educational system needs to be reformed. Once you learn to read and master basic math functions you can learn online with some infrequent exceptions.

So we shouldn't need teachers past about 5th or 6th grade except to act as tutors for students who are struggling with something. After that, everything should be online and students should just learn at their own pace. You could maintain a much smaller facility (since it would only be used for tutoring and the rare lab or art or music class that required meeting in person).

And the biggest thing is that we shouldn't force people to participate. Don't care if your kid learns? Fine, keep him or her out so that he or she doesn't keep other kids from learning. To quote Judge Smails, the world needs ditch diggers too.

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I see where you are coming from

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I don't think you do.

Where I am coming from is this:

1. Either 18 year olds are capable of making responsible choices regarding these loans or they aren't. If they are, then they should be turning the loans down anyway if they are really "borderline predatory," or they should make good on their end of the agreement if they decide to accept the terms. If they aren't capable of making responsible choices regarding the loans, then we need to stop loaning them the money. It's unethical to keep doing it. You can't have it both ways.

2. As another poster already posted, the entire reason we have a system in which costs rise much faster than the rate of inflation in the first place is these loans. Forget about the interest rate. That's a red herring. Get rid of the loans and you will also do away with the overwhelming majority of the need for the loan in the first place.

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I 100% agree with your other post that the feds have no place in this arena. If banks, etc. want to give college loans, let them.

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Sure, and they will issue very few of them. Because they are a horrible risk.

For example, did you know that a solid 40% of students who start college drop out and do not finish? Almost half. And that includes students in STEM fields. I don't know this, but common sense says that the STEM fields are probably OVER represented in that statistic, since those majors are harder and almost certainly will have higher dropout rates.

About the only loans you're going to see from the private sector for someone going to college is some kid who aced undergrad and has a track record to note who wants to go to grad school or law school or med school at Stanford or Harvard or something like that.

So basically if the government stops guaranteeing the loans, the loans will effectively stop for 98% of students.

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1. Either 18 year olds are capable of making responsible choices regarding these loans or they aren't. If they are, then they should be turning the loans down anyway if they are really "borderline predatory," or they should make good on their end of the agreement if they decide to accept the terms. If they aren't capable of making responsible choices regarding the loans, then we need to stop loaning them the money. It's unethical to keep doing it. You can't have it both ways.

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Like I said, I get it. But modern reality is that 18 year old Americans largely do not understand personal finances, as I've already said. They simply aren't taught it at school, and its becoming more and more likely that their parents are debt-riddled too as the cycle enters its second generation. It depends what the goal is. If we want actual repayment instead of defaults and constant pressure for loan forgiveness, lowering or cutting the rates could help accomplish that. I pay my student loans every month and it sucks like any other bill, but I needed them to get the degree that I hold. I hate that there are people who feel entitled to loan forgiveness, but its probably time (across the political board and not just this issue) to start considering the possible instead of the ideal as far as solutions go.

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So basically if the government stops guaranteeing the loans, the loans will effectively stop for 98% of students.

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If that is the result, so be it. We've artificially inflated universities and non-specialized college degrees in this country for long enough.

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Pay your way.

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I'm guessing that you went to school 40 years ago, if at all?

Not supporting loan forgiveness by any stretch, but its ludicrous to expect current college kids to complete pay tuition out of pocket. You aren't paying 20k tuition plus living expenses off a part time waiter gig or being a runner at the local billboard law firm.

While I completely agree that a ton, if not the majority of college degrees are worthless and a waste of time, I am not sure that we want to totally box out anyone who can't afford to pay four years of tuition in cash.

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You have a choice and if you make it college thats on you.

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Not everyone is made to be a welder, or insert preferred blue collar trade here.

The issue isn't as black and white as you are making it. Society and the government practically forced a generation, going on two generations, of Americans to go to college because it was "essential" to get a job. I'm not for absolving personal responsibility, but it isn't as simple as "if you couldn't afford school out of your parent's bank accounts then frick you."