Student Loan Debt

[KissMy]

Isn't it grand how the Federal Government has enticed gullible students into taking on such crushing debt, and then rigged the rules so bankrupt people are still on the hook for it?

If they could bankrupt on student loans, tax payers would have to pay every one of them.

 

[GHook93]

I love the answer well just don't go to college. What a fool. It's hard enough for a kid to get a job with a college degree, without one it's nearly impossible. A college degree is necessary for the vast majority of workers that don't want to make minimum wage.

Yet kids getting out of college have $100K+ in student loan debt and it's only getting worse.
We want our kids to go to school, yet it's now makes them slaves to the government shortly thereafter.

College used to be expensive but affordable to the middle class, now it's unaffordable and it's getting worse. The amount of debt is crushing a future generation.

I do think the government should and eventually will fund education. The Europeans do it, the Chinese do it, the Japanese do, the Israelis do it and all these places are scoring heads and toes above our kids!

Sometimes you need to step out of that government is always bad to see they are sometimes necessary.

 

[waltky]

How to find out where student loans stack up state by state...

Student Loan Debt Mapped State by State
August 28, 2014 — Generation Progress has released a 50-state fact sheet that tracks the levels of debt in each state in dollar amounts as well by a headcount.

The organization doesn't shy away from the fact that this is intended as much as an organizing tool as a source of information, and that it is aligned with Congressional initiatives to re-finance student loans, particularly a bill introduced by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) that would enable students to re-finance their student loans — including old Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) with interest rates above the current Stafford loan rate of 3.86%.

Warren's Bank on Students Emergency Loan Re-Finance Act was riding high in April but shot down in May before being killed by the House in June. Another attempt is expected when Congress returns from its summer recess next month. "With 40 million borrowers in the U.S. carrying $1.2 trillion in student debt, nearly one in five households is affected," said Lauren Sills, advocacy associate at Generation Progress. "We released 50 fact sheets to show just how many borrowers in each state could benefit from student loan refinancing.

With the total U.S. population just north of 315 million, according to the US Census Bureau on July 1, 2013, there was an estimated 175 million people in the ten most populous state—California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina. Generation Progress finds that about half of the borrowers in each state would benefit from refinancing their student loans. There were about 26,070,000 people with student loans in those states. Some 12,924,000 would catch a break in a loan re-finance--the kind available to people with home mortgages, credit cards and auto loans, but not student loans.

MORE

 

[sameech]

It's a contract isn't it? Even a flunking freshman law student should be aware that a presidential decree doesn't nullify contract law.

They are called 1L's not freshmen.

 

[Darkwind]

Interesting how we don't hear the outcry of 'predatory lending practices by the Government' from the left....

 

[sameech]

Interesting how we don't hear the outcry of 'predatory lending practices by the Government' from the left....

That is because they are not. There are income contingent plans with write-offs after a certain number of years (20 or 25). The problem isn't the loans, it is what they are getting the loans for. It is just not something that will pay off for a lot of people.

 

[Darkwind]

Interesting how we don't hear the outcry of 'predatory lending practices by the Government' from the left....

That is because they are not. There are income contingent plans with write-offs after a certain number of years (20 or 25). The problem isn't the loans, it is what they are getting the loans for. It is just not something that will pay off for a lot of people.

yeah, yeah...that wasn't the story when the housing bubble burst....Pretty much the exact same practice....but government greed always gets a pass......

BTW...I agree with the notion that the loans for basket weaving should be questioned. Along with any college degree that does not have a legitimate and worthy vocation behind it.

 

[MHunterB]

We are currently short about 50,000 engineers of various sorts EACH YEAR. I am very much in favor of designating such majors as 'citizens first', with the government funding necessary financial aid for all (academically) qualified students. We can do the same thing with nursing and other fields experiencing shortages.

Just one more stupid thing our government is doing: letting tens of thousands of noncitizens matriculate at our technical schools, for degrees which practically guarantee a person a job making a living wage.

There is nothing wrong with giving preference in 'strategic' fields to people who are already citizens. If we'd been giving engineering and hard science programs the kind of support sparked by the shock of Sputnik - we wouldn't need the H-1B visa program H-1B visa - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

 

[sameech]

We are currently short about 50,000 engineers of various sorts EACH YEAR. I am very much in favor of designating such majors as 'citizens first', with the government funding necessary financial aid for all (academically) qualified students. We can do the same thing with nursing and other fields experiencing shortages.

Just one more stupid thing our government is doing: letting tens of thousands of noncitizens matriculate at our technical schools, for degrees which practically guarantee a person a job making a living wage.

There is nothing wrong with giving preference in 'strategic' fields to people who are already citizens. If we'd been giving engineering and hard science programs the kind of support sparked by the shock of Sputnik - we wouldn't need the H-1B visa program H-1B visa - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

I agree to the extent that the government should be giving incentives for people to go into certain fields. I do not agree that those slots should be limited to citizens of the US as far as universities go. Developing nations need nurses and engineers as well.

 

[Rikurzhen]

We are currently short about 50,000 engineers of various sorts EACH YEAR. I am very much in favor of designating such majors as 'citizens first', with the government funding necessary financial aid for all (academically) qualified students. We can do the same thing with nursing and other fields experiencing shortages.

Just one more stupid thing our government is doing: letting tens of thousands of noncitizens matriculate at our technical schools, for degrees which practically guarantee a person a job making a living wage.

There is nothing wrong with giving preference in 'strategic' fields to people who are already citizens. If we'd been giving engineering and hard science programs the kind of support sparked by the shock of Sputnik - we wouldn't need the H-1B visa program H-1B visa - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

I agree to the extent that the government should be giving incentives for people to go into certain fields. I do not agree that those slots should be limited to citizens of the US as far as universities go. Developing nations need nurses and engineers as well.

Hint: Universities exist all around the world. There is no need for a foreign student in America to displace an American student.

 

[sameech]

We are currently short about 50,000 engineers of various sorts EACH YEAR. I am very much in favor of designating such majors as 'citizens first', with the government funding necessary financial aid for all (academically) qualified students. We can do the same thing with nursing and other fields experiencing shortages.

Just one more stupid thing our government is doing: letting tens of thousands of noncitizens matriculate at our technical schools, for degrees which practically guarantee a person a job making a living wage.

There is nothing wrong with giving preference in 'strategic' fields to people who are already citizens. If we'd been giving engineering and hard science programs the kind of support sparked by the shock of Sputnik - we wouldn't need the H-1B visa program H-1B visa - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

I agree to the extent that the government should be giving incentives for people to go into certain fields. I do not agree that those slots should be limited to citizens of the US as far as universities go. Developing nations need nurses and engineers as well.

Hint: Universities exist all around the world. There is no need for a foreign student in America to displace an American student.

Hint: foreign students aren't displacing anybody. They can go to another school or select another major for which they are a better qualified applicant and stop blaming foreigners for their own marginal academic performance or mismatch between their background and their aspirations.

 

[Rikurzhen]

We are currently short about 50,000 engineers of various sorts EACH YEAR. I am very much in favor of designating such majors as 'citizens first', with the government funding necessary financial aid for all (academically) qualified students. We can do the same thing with nursing and other fields experiencing shortages.

Just one more stupid thing our government is doing: letting tens of thousands of noncitizens matriculate at our technical schools, for degrees which practically guarantee a person a job making a living wage.

There is nothing wrong with giving preference in 'strategic' fields to people who are already citizens. If we'd been giving engineering and hard science programs the kind of support sparked by the shock of Sputnik - we wouldn't need the H-1B visa program H-1B visa - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

I agree to the extent that the government should be giving incentives for people to go into certain fields. I do not agree that those slots should be limited to citizens of the US as far as universities go. Developing nations need nurses and engineers as well.

Hint: Universities exist all around the world. There is no need for a foreign student in America to displace an American student.

Hint: foreign students aren't displacing anybody. They can go to another school or select another major for which they are a better qualified applicant and stop blaming foreigners for their own marginal academic performance or mismatch between their background and their aspirations.

I don't live in magical liberal land where scarcity is an alien concept, so I'll just leave you stranded in that intellectual bubble of yours. Best of luck.

 

[waltky]

Granny says if dem students can party an' sing Boola-boola, dey can pay dey's student loans...

Students Get Pounded by Department of Education Debt Collectors
Sep 5, 2014 — The National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) is calling on the Department of Education to end the use of private debt collectors to recover money on defaulted Federal student loans.

In its report, “Pounding Student Loan Borrowers” released on Tuesday, NCLC asserts that ED has created a system of incentives that encourages debt collectors to flout Federal law, specifically the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Higher Education Act to maximize profit. It also alleges that the use of private collection agencies is incompatible with the equal access goals of the Higher Education Act and with the goal of giving broke borrowers a fresh start.

At the heart of this matter is ED’s use of incentives to drive collection agency behaviors, which the NCLC says harms consumers — a conclusion reached by ED’s inspector general, when it found that the Federal Student Aid Office did not ensure that the private collection agencies it hired abided by federal debt collection laws and flouted the terms of their contracts.

“The government must balance the need to collect loans with the need to assist borrowers,” the NCLC report stated. “Yet the current system favors high pressure collection tactics and private company profits. The system fuels widespread violations of consumer protection laws and prevents borrowers from accessing their rights.”

MORE

 

[waltky]

Social security not safe from student loan debt...

Unpaid Student Loans? The Feds Can Grab Social Security Benefits as Payment
Sep 15, 2014 — Americans who have reached retirement age comprise a small percentage of student loan borrowers — less than 5%. But the dollar amount of those loans has increased by leaps and bounds. In 2005, people 65 and older held $2.8 billion in student loan debt. According to a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released on Wednesday, that number was north of $18 billion by 2013.

And in 2014, the Senate Special Committee on Aging met Rosemary Anderson of Watsonville, Calif., who testified that the unpaid balance on her student loan, over $125,000, seemed beyond what she could ever expect to pay off. Loan modifications were too little, too late. The specter of default is top of mind, no matter what solutions become available. “No matter what I become eligible for, there’s always that fear,” said Anderson on Wednesday.

When she was in her 30s, she borrowed about $64,000 to obtain a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree. She completed both and now works for the University of California at Santa Cruz. But with the impact of a divorce, health problems, periods of unemployment and an underwater home mortgage, the 57-year-old Anderson is worried that those loans will follow her into retirement and sap her Social Security benefits. Anderson testified that she hasn’t made a payment in eight years, as multiple loans have gone into forbearance programs and consolidation, and while she said the current consolidated loan is in good standing, the interest capitalizes, adding to the loan balance. “I find it very ironic,” she testified, “that I incurred this debt as a way to improve my life, and yet I sit here today because the debt has become my undoing.”

Parents paying off loans taken out to send their kids to school have made headlines, but those loans amount to about 25% of student loan debt for borrowers 50 and over. The GAO study found that over 70% of seniors' student loan debt was incurred to finance their own educations. Social Security began the direct deposit of benefits in 1996 as a pilot program. Since then it has become the only way to get paid. The last paper check was supposed to have been mailed in March 2013 except for unbanked recipients.

But while the Federal government giveth electronically, it’s an easier way for it to repay itself for certain types of Federal debt. The common law right of set off, which essentially allows a creditor to reconcile what it is owed by a debtor, gives the Treasury Department first dibs on some Federal debt, and the government withdraws up to 15% of borrowers' Social Security benefits straight from their accounts to pay for Federal student loans. These benefit grabs have often been described as garnishments, especially when a loan is in default, but unlike garnishments, Uncle Sam does not need a court order to take the money. People like Anderson, who expect to see their incomes decline in retirement, also expect to be pushed closer to the edge as their golden years become leaden. “Some people may think of student loan debt as just a young person’s problem,” said Florida Democrat Bill Nelson, chair of the Senate Committee. “As it turns out, that’s increasingly not the case.”

Unpaid Student Loans The Feds Can Grab Social Security Benefits as Payment - Page 3 - MainStreet