Politics Thread

[Mrs. Garrett]

I honestly have no idea what in state schools vs. private schools cost these days. My son is going into second grade. What I do remember is my brother went to an in state school for less than we went to catholic high school. That includes room and board. They had a $75 per semester book rental fee. That was early 2000s, so I have no idea if it is still the same. But my point is - do some research and figure out what you can afford. Don't spend over $30k a year on school if your goal is to be a social worker.

What's next? Mortgage forgiveness?

[bjf123]

Those students, or their parents, would borrow money from the federal government at a much lower cost under Sanders’ plan. His legislation caps the interest rate on all types of new federal student loans at 1.88 percent. The current rate on new federal student loans ranges from about 4.5 percent to about 7 percent, depending on the type of loan."
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/...s-plan-1296863

$200,000 at 1.88% is still a lot of money to pay back. How long before those students would start asking to have their loans wiped out? Maybe make the loans dischargeable in a bankruptcy. I don’t think that’s possible now. That would get the student to think more about the loans.


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[STL_XUfan]

$200,000 at 1.88% is still a lot of money to pay back. How long before those students would start asking to have their loans wiped out? Maybe make the loans dischargeable in a bankruptcy. I don’t think that’s possible now. That would get the student to think more about the loans.


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I agree completely. While I am not sure if full forgiveness is the right call, significantly lowering the interest rate needs to occur and they should become dischargeable in bankruptcy. Maybe a compromise would be to cancel out all or some of the interest?

I am really concerned about what is going to happen when the Income Base Repayment discharges start happening in a few years. Essentially these people agreed to pay 10% of their discretionary income towards the loan for a period of 25 years (now 20), and the remainder would be forgiven. The issue is that when they are forgiven they will be treated as a cancellation of debt and income towards the borrower. Likely anyone using this program has seen the balance of their loan balloon significantly over the past 25 years.

Further, do not even get me started on the complete and utter bulls*** Betsy Devos is pulling concerning the public service loan forgiveness program. Talk about pulling the rug out from under people.

I have no idea what the right answer is at this point, but this problem is only going to get worse if it is ignored. At some point it needs to be addressed or it will ripple out into the rest of the economy. So while I do not agree with Bernie, I hope it causes Trump and the rest of the Democrats to come up with their own plans.

[bigdiggins]

I honestly have no idea what in state schools vs. private schools cost these days. My son is going into second grade. What I do remember is my brother went to an in state school for less than we went to catholic high school. That includes room and board. They had a $75 per semester book rental fee. That was early 2000s, so I have no idea if it is still the same. But my point is - do some research and figure out what you can afford. Don't spend over $30k a year on school if your goal is to be a social worker.

What's next? Mortgage forgiveness?

It's not just about being a social worker. You know what the difference in starting salary for a nurse that graduated from X vs UC is...$0. You know what the difference in starting salary is for an accountant that graduated from Wright State vs UD...$0. If you want to pay more for the experience of a private school, there is something about them you value, than great go there. However, don't then whine that it cost too much.

[GoMuskies]

I am really concerned about what is going to happen when the Income Base Repayment discharges start happening in a few years. Essentially these people agreed to pay 10% of their discretionary income towards the loan for a period of 25 years (now 20), and the remainder would be forgiven. The issue is that when they are forgiven they will be treated as a cancellation of debt and income towards the borrower. Likely anyone using this program has seen the balance of their loan balloon significantly over the past 25 years.

So what's the problem? "Only" 75-80% of the loan ends up getting discharged because tax needs to get paid. Seems like a pretty sweet deal.

[STL_XUfan]

So what's the problem? "Only" 75-80% of the loan ends up getting discharged because tax needs to get paid. Seems like a pretty sweet deal.

I mean on a $100,000.00 loan at 7.5% (Grad unsubsidized in 2008) in which you paid $300 a month for 25 years, the amount of your loan forgiveness would be $383,000.00. So you would have paid $90,000.00 towards your loan and just owe in a lump sum on your taxes that year between $76,600 and $95,750. I am sure they will have that lying around to make a lump sum payment.

[GoMuskies]

That's still a fantastic deal, by the way. If you can't manage to take advantage of that deal...

[STL_XUfan]

If you can't manage to take advantage of that deal...

You made a risky investment when you were 18 that didn't pan out and should be allowed protection under the bankruptcy laws?

[GoMuskies]

Under those terms, that's not a risky investment.

[noteggs]

Sanders Proposes to Wipe Out All Student Debt With Funds Raised From Wall Street - WSJ

If you ever want to see Elizabeth Warren look reasonable, put her next to Bernie Sanders.

I really think this is her new campaign strategy. They saw some Sanders supporters loving all this free stuff he was promising and the moderates saw him as bat shit crazy. Warren’s campaign realized giving away free stuff sells but wanted to make it somewhat more palatable for the moderates. IMO, this has changed the direction of her campaign and making a surge in her polls numbers. Of course it doesn’t hurt that Joe is being Joe.

Will there ever be a a time when the government runs out of things to give away?