[Reddy]

Trump’s a negotiator.

Hopefully, this is just a tactic and he can start with this as a basis for talking about the student loan crisis. We all know what is causing the crisis (cough government), so getting the government out of student loans may be his bottom line. Hopefully.

[Sybeck1]

He needs to call out universities on why the costs have sky rocketed.

[NEMDF]

That is what I was thinking. Plus, he said they have to make (all) payments for 15 years. Perhaps missing one payment or being late on two would disqualify someone from the forgiveness program, actually leaving few eligible.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

I honestly don't think it's a tactic. I think, on this issue, the status-quo will remain.

The Dems and even most Repulicans will never address the root cause of the student loan bomb - government subsidizing the Hell out of it. That's why tuition rates are skyrocketing, liberal college professors are making six figures bashing America, books are costing $1,000 every year, and we got African studies or Transgender studies instead of the basics.

The solution is to simply end all federal government involvement in education. The funding, the regulations. From Head Start to people getting their Ph Ds. End it all.

[Nothingburger]

I think you nailed it right there.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

What is to negotiate? These are federally guaranteed student loans, for the most part (roughly 85% of the $1.3T outstanding, the rest is private, with no recourse to the taxpayer.) The money was disbursed. Paid to the college, the campus bookstore, the apartment landlord, whatever. It's a loan from a lender like, say Wells Fargo. It conforms to the Department of Education requirements, and has a federal guarantee that the lender will be repaid. Does Trump imagine that by personal suasion he is going to get the lender to accept 59 cents when it is presently guaranteed $1? I don't think so. The loans that are outstanding are cast. The only thing that pandering politicians (Obama, in his forgiveness program for public service employees, Hillary in her pronouncements on the trail, and now Trump) are offering is that instead of the borrower repaying the amount owed, the Federal government (read: general revenue taxpayer) will pay some portion. They can argue amongst themselves over the portions, but the point remains that it is entirely unfair to the federal taxpayers, many of whom never went to college, to be tasked, retrospectively, with this burden. Education is, for most people, enhancement of personal capital. It is portable and follows you where you go, within a career, geographically, etc. It is nearly the antithesis of a public good.

I realize it may be a bit late to argue this point, since we have long since slid down the slope to free everything, for everyone. I just think it is sad to see Trump getting on the bandwagon. It seems a strategic mistake - for every student debt laden millennial he might gain the vote of, he probably loses 2-3 among conservative voters who can see where the free money comes from.