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Post by easye on Jun 1, 2023 15:19:21 GMT -5
This has been a hot topic in the political space, and stabs right into the hell's heart of many people's "I got mine so Feth you" sweet spot on all side politically. It is a hot button in the culture war, but ties into a lot of economic and Social Justice fronts too. It has it all! The idea of Student Debt relief is not new. It has been winding it way torturously along during Biden's admin, but has a history long before that. In addition, this is another problem "unique" to the US. Therefore, I think perspectives outside of the US are vital. Anyway, to get us started, there was some breaking news on this front today: Senate passes bill to block Biden’s student loan forgiveness programwww.cnn.com/2023/06/01/politics/student-loan-forgiveness-biden-senate-vote/index.html
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Post by bobtheinquisitor on Jun 1, 2023 16:04:29 GMT -5
Student debt, medical debt, housing costs/mortgage. This country is drowning. If the state won’t regulate costs or price gouging, won’t protect consumers or workers, and eschews any kind of safety net, then as a practical matter it will have to cancel debt or bailout private citizens before we get to the “failed state” phase, for their own protection as well as ours.
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herzlos
Ye Olde King of OT
Posts: 700
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Post by herzlos on Jun 1, 2023 16:16:34 GMT -5
What happens to student debt when it's eventually unpaid?
In the UK it's means tested, they take 9% of your salary above £25k, and it's done either when you pay it off or you turn 65. It's estimated that just under half of UK student debt is written off.
So I think it's a complete waste of time - it's almost cheaper to not bother charging or administering it. You've also got the economic factors such as that money being spent elsewhere, that the cost puts people off education, and that new graduates need more money earlier in life because they haven't had the chance to build up any equity and are starting off at the bottom of the salary bands in careers.
Of course, if the goal of student debt is to keep poor people out of education and thus keep them poor, or sheer pettiness, then it's pretty successful, but for any rational reason it's a total waste of time.
What pisses me off especially about the resistance to student debt hand-outs in the US is that some of the biggest proponents of not giving hand-outs to people benefited massively from Covid hand-outs themselves. But what would the Republican party be without hypocrisy?
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Post by easye on Jun 2, 2023 9:33:50 GMT -5
Student Debt can not be discharged in the US via Bankruptcy.
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Post by adurot on Jun 2, 2023 9:49:38 GMT -5
It’s a weird thing because they made them so easy to get. Student loans are guarantied by the government, they can’t be discharged. That means lenders are very willing to give them out to just about anyone really, which was the goal. However, if just anyone can get a loan, then collages don’t have to worry about pricing out their customers, and tuitions have sky rocketed. Couple that with the first nearly twenty years of your life having parents, teachers, tv, pretty much everyone telling you you’re expected to go to collage. You Need to go to collage if you want to be successful. The impressionable child you are, you get yourself into the best school you can, the most expensive school you can. You go thru, you graduate, and now you find out that since nearly everyone goes to collage, that degree doesn’t really mean as much anymore. If anything you’re Over qualified for so many of the actually available jobs. And now you’re saddled with a lifetime of debt, and the people who told you needed to go to collage now telling you you shouldn’t have taken those loans if you couldn’t afford to pay them off.
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Post by easye on Jan 12, 2024 11:50:16 GMT -5
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Post by pacific on Jan 15, 2024 5:31:37 GMT -5
Student Debt can not be discharged in the US via Bankruptcy. Apparently they have changed that now in the UK also. I went to University just as they changed from a grant to a loan system - there was of course an outcry, but they attempted to mitigate that by offering a '0%' loan. That has since been changed, and even though the percentage is low it definitely adds up over time (my loan amount is quite considerable, and its a fair old dent in the pay packet each month, and will still continue for some time). Speaking to some graduates where I work the loan amounts given are now not even enough to cover their rent, so even if you are means tested (and come from a poorer family so you don't have to pay fees) it now makes it almost impossible to attend university without financial support. I'm not sure what the figures are on attendance, but I would guess that they are significantly lower than a decade ago - things definitely not heading in the right direction.
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Haighus
Ye Olde King of OT
Posts: 902
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Post by Haighus on Jan 31, 2024 7:49:39 GMT -5
Student Debt can not be discharged in the US via Bankruptcy. Apparently they have changed that now in the UK also. I went to University just as they changed from a grant to a loan system - there was of course an outcry, but they attempted to mitigate that by offering a '0%' loan. That has since been changed, and even though the percentage is low it definitely adds up over time (my loan amount is quite considerable, and its a fair old dent in the pay packet each month, and will still continue for some time). Speaking to some graduates where I work the loan amounts given are now not even enough to cover their rent, so even if you are means tested (and come from a poorer family so you don't have to pay fees) it now makes it almost impossible to attend university without financial support. I'm not sure what the figures are on attendance, but I would guess that they are significantly lower than a decade ago - things definitely not heading in the right direction. In addition, apparently student loans don't even make a profit for the Government at present. Something about the current cost of government debt means they are actually making a loss on student loans whilst immiserating so many current and former students. All round a failed policy.
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Post by pacific on Feb 2, 2024 5:22:56 GMT -5
Why does that not surprise me in the slightest!
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Post by easye on Feb 21, 2024 11:07:39 GMT -5
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