Student Loans through the government now! Yahoo!

[Neubarth]

We finally have student loans that can be acquired through the government as opposed to applying to banks. Obama will sign the bill soon. This is a positive if we are going to economically compete against the other nations of the world with our brainpower as opposed to our muscle.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama prepared Tuesday to sign the piece of his sweeping health care overhaul that makes the government the primary lender to students and strips banks of that power.

Obama's hard-fought legislative victory packaged two of his domestic priorities. Obama already signed the bulk of the health care legislation, but a final set of tweaks provided a route for the education package, the largest rewrite of federal college assistance programs in four decades.

The legislation has a wide reach. About half of undergraduates receive federal student aid and about 8.5 million students are going to college with the help of Pell Grants.

Under the measure, private banks would no longer get fees for acting as middlemen in federal student loans. The government would use the savings to boost Pell Grants and make it easier for some workers to repay their student loans. In addition, some borrowers could see lower interest rates and higher approval rates on student loans.

Obama has touted the changes as a way to make college more affordable for students and their debt load more manageable after graduation. He used his weekend radio and Internet address to cite expected benefits for young people: more student lending, caps on those repayments and more money for minority colleges and universities.

"This reform of the federal student loan programs will save taxpayers $68 billion over the next decade," Obama said in his weekly address. "And with this legislation, we're putting that money to use achieving a goal I set for America: By the end of this decade, we will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/block/2010-03-30-yourmoney30_ST_N.htm

 

[Neubarth]

Like the Mafia, the banks were asking for a slice of pie, a piece of the action, something to wet their beak, viggorish, or what ever you want to call it. We did not need the banks in the middle of a program like that. Let them concentrate on home loans and business loans and stuff like that. Let the Government fund education. Next, we can shut down 99 percent of the public schools and fund private schools for far less money. If Private Enterprise was running the schools all across America, we would not have such a failing school mess like we have now. 97 percent of our Big City schools are failing to educate a majority of their students. That is the poorest result in the whole world.

 

[Truthmatters]

Thats what happens when you deregulate an industry

 

[editec]

It seems much harder for young people to get SCHOLARSHIPS and low interest loans to go to school than when I was a kid.

And of course the cost of education has actually been the ONLY THING in our lives that has risen in price faster than HC costs.

You guys did realize that, right?

HC has far exceded the rate of inflation for decades and higher education's rate of cost increases exceeded even HC inflation.

The next generation is screwed unless we figure out some way to help them.

They come out of school burdened with enormous debts and are entering the worst job market I have ever seen.

Thewse are the people we're going to be counting on to support us in our golden years, but if they're not making enough to help themselves, they're not going to be making enough to support us, either.

There is an intergenerational social contract, and we aren't living up to our committment to the next generation folks.

 

[Neubarth]

It seems much harder for young people to get SCHOLARSHIPS and low interest loans to go to school than when I was a kid.

And of course the cost of education has actually been the ONLY THING in our lives that has risen in price faster than HC costs.

You guys did realize that, right?

HC has far exceded the rate of inflation for decades and higher education's rate of cost increases exceeded even HC inflation.

The next generation is screwed unless we figure out some way to help them.

They come out of school burdened with enormous debts and are entering the worst job market I have ever seen.

Thewse are the people we're going to be counting on to support us in our golden years, but if they're not making enough to help themselves, they're not going to be making enough to support us, either.

There is an intergenerational social contract, and we aren't living up to our committment to the next generation folks.

I have a daughter who has fifty thousand dollars worth of nursing school debt who just landed a nursing job up in Alaska. She went to a private school because the loans to go to state school simply were too hard to get through the banks. The private school had the loans lined up for the students. (The miracles of private enterprise!)

Yes, I know all about rising education costs. It cost me only about $2000 to go through San Diego State University in the Seventies.

 

[dilloduck]

It seems much harder for young people to get SCHOLARSHIPS and low interest loans to go to school than when I was a kid.

And of course the cost of education has actually been the ONLY THING in our lives that has risen in price faster than HC costs.

You guys did realize that, right?

HC has far exceded the rate of inflation for decades and higher education's rate of cost increases exceeded even HC inflation.

The next generation is screwed unless we figure out some way to help them.

They come out of school burdened with enormous debts and are entering the worst job market I have ever seen.

Thewse are the people we're going to be counting on to support us in our golden years, but if they're not making enough to help themselves, they're not going to be making enough to support us, either.

There is an intergenerational social contract, and we aren't living up to our committment to the next generation folks.

I don't remember signing any intergenerational social contract.

 

[Neubarth]

Thats what happens when you deregulate an industry

You and I totally agree on that. Banks need to be heavily regulated and restricted in what they can do. Allowing Goldman Sachs to manipulate the stock market the way they do is outrageous..

 

[Zoom-boing]

My daughter is a sophomore in private college. The tuition/room/board went up 5% last year and we just got a letter saying that it will continue to rise every year but they are doing their best to keep it under 4%. It went up 3.5% from last year. Stafford loans and Pell Grants increase each year but . . . what's the point? It's like the increase in loan/grant is there just to cover the increase in cost but nothing is being done about the rising costs. Personally I think college is a huge rip-off. Yeah, yeah education . . . . super. My kid's school requires over-priced meal plans, 'use it or lose it' flex dollars (that's on top of the price of the meal plan) and the pricing of things! Cripes they charge $24 for a case of water, 'fees' out the whazoo, etc.

 

[editec]

It seems much harder for young people to get SCHOLARSHIPS and low interest loans to go to school than when I was a kid.

And of course the cost of education has actually been the ONLY THING in our lives that has risen in price faster than HC costs.

You guys did realize that, right?

HC has far exceded the rate of inflation for decades and higher education's rate of cost increases exceeded even HC inflation.

The next generation is screwed unless we figure out some way to help them.

They come out of school burdened with enormous debts and are entering the worst job market I have ever seen.

Thewse are the people we're going to be counting on to support us in our golden years, but if they're not making enough to help themselves, they're not going to be making enough to support us, either.

There is an intergenerational social contract, and we aren't living up to our committment to the next generation folks.

I have a daughter who has fifty thousand dollars worth of nursing school debt who just landed a nursing job up in Alaska. She went to a private school because the loans to go to state school simply were too hard to get through the banks. The private school had the loans lined up for the students. (The miracles of private enterprise!)

Yes, I know all about rising education costs. It cost me only about $2000 to go through San Diego State University in the Seventies.

Well at least her education is still in a field where she can find a job.

A huge percentage of people were trained in fields where jobs are damned scarce.

I went to Boston University in the late 70s.

No way in hell I could afford to do that today.

Tuition and Fees. $38,440. Room and Board. $11,848.

I mean, seriously $50,000 a year?!

How many people's families can afford that kind of expense?

I think BU tuition cost me about $8,000 a year back then.

And just about any full time job mind numbing retail job paid 12 or 15 thousand back then.

Our kids, generally speaking, are screwed, folks.

 

[Neubarth]

Tuition and Fees. $38,440. Room and Board. $11,848.

I mean, seriously $50,000 a year?!

How many people's families can afford that kind of expense?

I think BU tuition cost me about $8,000 a year back then.

And just about any full time job mind numbing retail job paid 12 or 15 thousand back then.

Our kids, generally speaking, are screwed, folks.

Pell grants are still free money. Since my wife and I raised thirty children, we qualified for Pell Grants for the older ones, and the youngest ones since I retired. That is a good deal.

Funny, I found out that with all of those kids in my home I qualified for Food Stamps. I was making very good money as a manager for Pacific Bell Telephone, but to think that I was eligible is funny. I should have taken advantage of my right. After all, I have been paying taxes for most of my life. (Mostly sales taxes in the past 20 years)

 

[Douger]

Here Newbarth.
You'll appreciate these top two videos
60 Minutes Exposes United States Financial Collapse

 

[Supposn]

Neubarth, I agree with you.

This will decrease federal net expenses but it may actually appear as an increase of our immediate annual deficits.

I’m not an accountant. How does our budget handle the investment for loans as opposed to the students' debts to the federal government?

The federal government was subsidizing the difference between market rates and the interest rates charged to students for such loans. The U.S. Treasury Department borrows money at a lower interest rate than that available to banks. Federal risk exposure is the same because the federal government insures the banks for any loan defaults. Banks earned riskless profits.

Respectfully Supposn

 

[Supposn]

It seems much harder for young people to get SCHOLARSHIPS and low interest loans to go to school than when I was a kid.
And of course the cost of education has actually been the ONLY THING in our lives that has risen in price faster than HC costs. .....................HC has far exceded the rate of inflation for decades and higher education's rate of cost increases exceeded even HC inflation.

 
Editec, I believe that the manner of determining the amounts of government direct or subsidized student loans is a major inducement for higher education prices to increase faster than the rate of the U.S. dollar’s inflation.

The prices of the chosen school are a major factor in determining the (annual maximum) amount of the student’s loan.

This, (I believe) has great affect upon school’s determination of their prices and the amounts of any scholarships they grant with regard to student’s financial needs. Students and their families realize that the school’s tuition prices are almost inconsequential to the difference between their annual expenses and the annual amounts of their loans. This significantly induces private schools to increase their prices more than otherwise.

Public Colleges and Universities that attempt to control their tuition prices appear to be selling a lesser quality product.

Too often students choose higher priced private schools due to their status. That status is in part due to differences of tuition and board prices. Public schools fail to attract what would otherwise be a greater proportion of more able students. The expectation of lower quality education then becomes a self perpetuated prediction.

Respectfully, Supposn

 

[rdean]

Yea, it's expensive. I attended Roosevelt University in Chicago. I received the GI bill and 8 thousand from where I work. And by time I finished, I STILL owed 56 thousand dollars in loans (imagine if I didn't have the GI bill).

I didn't qualify for any grants. The woman at the aid office laughingly told me I was too young, too old, too male, too single, too white, and at 14 thousand a year on an assembly line, I made too much money, the bitch.

But it was worth it. The loans are paid off, the family is taken care of and I really enjoy my job.

If you are going to school for a degree in "art appreciation" or some such, prepare to have a hard time. There was a guy who worked in the stock room who had a doctorate in some exotic field, paleontology or something. He worked there for nearly a year until he got a job teaching at a university. From the stock room to Doctor in one job. He could have still been in the stockroom.

 

[rdean]

Here Newbarth.
You'll appreciate these top two videos
60 Minutes Exposes United States Financial Collapse

This is hilarious. For the last year, I've been writing on this board that the problem has come from Wall Street buying mortgages, bundling them together and selling them to investors overseas. More than 70% of these mortgages used to come from Freddie/Fannie, where they were required to have a job and can prove they can pay for the mortgages. During the Republican administration, due to deregulation, these mortgages moved to Wall Street. Suddenly, it was Wall Street that was providing more than 70% of the mortgages.

This was the beginning of the meltdown.

You will never get the Republicans to believe otherwise. Once imprinted with lies, that's all they know. They are like geese. The first moving thing they see is Mama.

 

[Supposn]

RDean,
refer to this board’s topic, “Regulation of the financial industry”.
Respectfully, Supposn

 

[RodISHI]

Thats what happens when you deregulate an industry

Student loans were privatized with a guarantee from 1980 legislation that was approved by a Democrat based congress and president Carter. With that in mind, it has taken thirty years to get this subsidy program that has been abused by many banks and universities back under government control where it should have been all along. Next needs to SBA loans.