Forgive Student Loan Debt

[Trajan]

Interesting discussion at lunch yesterday with some young teachers. They were sharing stories of friends who use their "financial aid" checks to buy luxury items. Apparently the govt. is giving students more money than they actually need for school.

Their older, wiser colleague (me) interjected with "And this surprises you?"

absolutely. My daughter told me she has a few friends that borrow at the max student availability, and use their work or mommy daddy money ( since they get a grant and that and a few bucks pays their tuition) to buy stuff on credit, run up their cards then use the loan money to pay it off, since the loan is given directly to them.

when I went, and took loans for my abortive college ed., citibank made the loan, they sent the check to me, but, made out in the name of the college. I had to send them a copy of my class schedule proving I was full time student.

Now, the kids get the money direct and do with it what they wish, not realizing or caring ( becasue they are showered with messages of hey in a jam gov. will help you out of it) they are borrowing from their future and now we are supposed to pay for their spring breaks and shopping sprees? Uhm no.

 

[Katzndogz]

There really is only one way to deal with student loan debt. It's the policy that Santa Monica Community College came up with. Courses that really taught something cost more. Courses that allowed skating by were cheaper.

Students who want a worthless degree should not have to pay as much as students who graduate with a marketable education. Paying back a student loan is not as hard on someone who used their education to get a job. Paying back a student loan is impossible for someone with a degree that will never get them a decent job. That's the reallity. Colleges and Universities are sitting on billions in endowments. They build new sports stadiums, they give professors and administrators free housing, pay them outrageous salaries and found useless chairs. They don't spend that money on helpling students.

 

[chanel]

Interesting discussion at lunch yesterday with some young teachers. They were sharing stories of friends who use their "financial aid" checks to buy luxury items. Apparently the govt. is giving students more money than they actually need for school.

Their older, wiser colleague (me) interjected with "And this surprises you?"

Sure, you can take out Federal or Private loans to go on a European vacation, buy a car, whatever you wish, but all that money is going to need to be paid back. To do this is a foolish action on the part of the borrower, and not the lender, because the lender is going to be getting those $'s back plus interest.

I doubt it was grant money, or scholarship money that was used to buy the luxury items...
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I don't know if the money was borrowed or given, but it is still part of the "package" that was offered to dumb college kids who don't give a rat's ass about debt until it comes time to pay. And right now they are arguing about raising the interest rate to 6.8% which is still a hell of a lot lower than a Visa card.

Both candidates are trying to find a way to plug that $6 billion hole. Obama wants to screw small business owners. Romney wants to raid Medicare. It's all bullshit. Let the students and the colleges work it out.

 

[WorldWatcher]

Now, the kids get the money direct and do with it what they wish, not realizing or caring ( becasue they are showered with messages of hey in a jam gov. will help you out of it) they are borrowing from their future and now we are supposed to pay for their spring breaks and shopping sprees? Uhm no.

My daughter is in college, her federal student loan was deposited electronically directly to the school, it was not deposited in her personal savings or checking account nor was she issued a check.

(Now there are ways around that if you want to know, but the money didn't go directly to her.)

>>>>

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Welcome to the world of "negative amortization". She has paid $32,700 over 23 years; that's about $118 per month. The monthly interest on $26,400 at a relatively benign 6.6% would create a monthly interest at the outset of $145, and after 23 years of paying this way you would owe much more money (in fact, about $45K). If this was the minimum payment that was arranged in the contract and that's all she paid, then she owes the difference. I would say, however, that she probably has a good case to sue the university for not teaching her how to add and subtract.

Obama went to Harvard and he still can't add and subtract.

Actually, I'm pretty sure Obama can add and subtract quite well, as he's a really intelligent guy.

I may not agree with his political views and the way he's running the country, but he's certainly not a dumb person.



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I keep hearing that "he's a really intelligent guy" but have yet to see any proof.
Have you?

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

No, actually. Robert Applebaum is a friend of mine, and he got this ball rolling. Google him if you don't believe me.

http://www.forgivestudentloandebt.com/content/student-loan-forgiveness-act-2012-hr-4170-bill-text

Read the bill. Let me know what you find unacceptable about it.

(1) A well-educated citizenry is critical to our Nation's ability to compete in the global economy.

It's not working.

(6) Because of soaring tuition costs, students often have no choice but to amass significant debt to obtain an education that is widely considered a prerequisite for earning a living wage.

They should pass a law cutting tuition by 70%.

Then how will teachers and their pensions be paid?
This needs to be reformed first, among other things, then tuition will go down.
Then students need to stop adding credit cards along with the student loans. They have more credit card debt than student loan debt.

Then how will teachers and their pensions be paid?

Are you saying we need to think beyond the feel good soundbite and look at how our actions have consequences?

 

[BDBoop]

Obama went to Harvard and he still can't add and subtract.

Actually, I'm pretty sure Obama can add and subtract quite well, as he's a really intelligent guy.

I may not agree with his political views and the way he's running the country, but he's certainly not a dumb person.



.
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I keep hearing that "he's a really intelligent guy" but have yet to see any proof.
Have you?

I have. But since you won't give him credit for jack, intelligence is just one item on the list of things you refuse to give him credit for.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Actually, I'm pretty sure Obama can add and subtract quite well, as he's a really intelligent guy.

I may not agree with his political views and the way he's running the country, but he's certainly not a dumb person.



.
.

I keep hearing that "he's a really intelligent guy" but have yet to see any proof.
Have you?

I have. But since you won't give him credit for jack, intelligence is just one item on the list of things you refuse to give him credit for.

What's the proof?

 

[Liability]

Let's just assume for the sake of this discussion only, that the woman holding the sign in the OP is "speaking" the truth.

Did I put a gun to her head and say, "Damn your hide! TAKE This fucking money ON these exact terms?"

Nope.

Who negotiated her loan agreement? Did she negotiate at all? Did she shop around? Did she sign the agreement?

Let's assume, further, that she did sign it. Did she -- before that momentous moment -- READ the terms of the (let's call it what it is) CONTRACT?

Who exactly is responsible for the consequences of HER conduct and her own decisions?

 

[Amelia]

Welcome to the world of "negative amortization". She has paid $32,700 over 23 years; that's about $118 per month. The monthly interest on $26,400 at a relatively benign 6.6% would create a monthly interest at the outset of $145, and after 23 years of paying this way you would owe much more money (in fact, about $45K). If this was the minimum payment that was arranged in the contract and that's all she paid, then she owes the difference. I would say, however, that she probably has a good case to sue the university for not teaching her how to add and subtract.

Obama went to Harvard and he still can't add and subtract.

Actually, I'm pretty sure Obama can add and subtract quite well, as he's a really intelligent guy.

I may not agree with his political views and the way he's running the country, but he's certainly not a dumb person.



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He actually doesn't seem very mathematically savvy.

Much carelessness and many rounding errors when his speeches and press conference/interview answers go in the numerical direction.

More verbal intelligence than quantitative.

 

[BDBoop]

I keep hearing that "he's a really intelligent guy" but have yet to see any proof.
Have you?

I have. But since you won't give him credit for jack, intelligence is just one item on the list of things you refuse to give him credit for.

What's the proof?

Graduating magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, for one. You can't bullshit your way through that one. Top 10% of the class, and from what I understand, blind grading. So no favoritism there.

 

[Liability]

I have. But since you won't give him credit for jack, intelligence is just one item on the list of things you refuse to give him credit for.

What's the proof?

Graduating magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, for one. You can't bullshit your way through that one. Top 10% of the class, and from what I understand, blind grading. So no favoritism there.

Show me his transcripts.

 

[BDBoop]

Top 10% sunshine. Top 10%.

Harvard Law School.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

I keep hearing that "he's a really intelligent guy" but have yet to see any proof.
Have you?

I have. But since you won't give him credit for jack, intelligence is just one item on the list of things you refuse to give him credit for.

What's the proof?

He graduated from Harvard Summa cum Laude, that, all by itself, somehow proves he is intelligent.

 

[Liability]

Top 10% sunshine. Top 10%.

Harvard Law School.

Transcripts?

 

[Quantum Windbag]

I have. But since you won't give him credit for jack, intelligence is just one item on the list of things you refuse to give him credit for.

What's the proof?

Graduating magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, for one. You can't bullshit your way through that one. Top 10% of the class, and from what I understand, blind grading. So no favoritism there.

From what you understand?

There has never been a system created by man that another man could not scam. Please note, I am not saying that Obama managed to scam the system, that would have taken a degree of intelligence I have not seen him exhibit. I am just saying that the system can be scammed.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Top 10% sunshine. Top 10%.

Harvard Law School.

Transcripts?

Asking for transcripts is like asking a fanatic for proof God is real, you just have to accept it on faith.

 

[Taylee]

Why stop there? Why not just forgive ALL debt? Credit cards, home mortgages, you name it. Hell, if you're going to start giving away freebies, might as well go all the way.

Of course, those folks that did NOT over-borrow, over-spend (go in over their heads with spending and borrowing) might think differently about it. Especially since it'll be their tax money that is used to "blow off" all of that debt racked up by others.

But hey....it's a one for all, all for one utopian society evolving now under Obama.

So what the hell.

 

[BDBoop]

Though Obama didn’t blow anyone away during his two undergrad years at Columbia, he made history at Harvard Law School. He arrived there in 1988, at 27 years old, after working for four years as a community organizer in Chicago. He became a research assistant to Laurence Tribe, a renowned professor working on an article applying physics to the law. (Title: "The Curvature of Constitutional Space: What Lawyers Can Learn From Modern Physics.") By the end of his first year, Obama had won a position on the Harvard Law Review, widely considered the most influential and prestigious law publication in the nation. In 1990, Obama earned national recognition for the first time when he was elected the Review’s first black president. Obama graduated magna cum laude and moved back to Chicago to direct Project Vote, a grassroots voter-registration program. "I thought … his talents are such that there's no ceiling to what he could achieve — and that included becoming president of the United States," Tribe told New York. "He's the only student about whom I've ever had that thought."

Electopedia 2012 - How Barack Obama and Mitt Romney Did in Law School -- New York Magazine

We both know they're sealed. He graduated magna cum laude. You know what that means, and for some reason that makes no sense, you insist that apparently? It didn't happen. Even if it did. Obviously.

 

[Liability]

Though Obama didn’t blow anyone away during his two undergrad years at Columbia, he made history at Harvard Law School. He arrived there in 1988, at 27 years old, after working for four years as a community organizer in Chicago. He became a research assistant to Laurence Tribe, a renowned professor working on an article applying physics to the law. (Title: "The Curvature of Constitutional Space: What Lawyers Can Learn From Modern Physics.") By the end of his first year, Obama had won a position on the Harvard Law Review, widely considered the most influential and prestigious law publication in the nation. In 1990, Obama earned national recognition for the first time when he was elected the Review’s first black president. Obama graduated magna cum laude and moved back to Chicago to direct Project Vote, a grassroots voter-registration program. "I thought … his talents are such that there's no ceiling to what he could achieve — and that included becoming president of the United States," Tribe told New York. "He's the only student about whom I've ever had that thought."

Electopedia 2012 - How Barack Obama and Mitt Romney Did in Law School -- New York Magazine

We both know they're sealed. He graduated magna cum laude. You know what that means, and for some reason that makes no sense, you insist that apparently? It didn't happen. Even if it did. Obviously.

We know they're sealed. We also know he can have that seal removed. He chooses not to. So, we don't "know" that he graduated with honors. No matter how often you repeat it, that doesn't make it so.

So, we take the words of some journalist absent confirmation?

No thanks.

HE might very well have graduated with honors.

But we have no confirmation.