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Student Debt Forgiveness in U.S. to Total $207 Billion in Next Decade, CBO Says. The biggest benefits will go to borrowers who attend graduate or professional school
Wall Street Journal ^ | February 12, 2020 | Josh Mitchell

Posted on 02/13/2020 6:16:23 AM PST by karpov

WASHINGTON—The U.S. government will forgive $207.4 billion in student debt for Americans who take out loans over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday. The biggest benefits will go to borrowers who attend graduate or professional school.

The CBO projects the government will originate $1.05 trillion in new loans from 2020 to 2029. Much of that will end up in income-driven repayment plans, which set monthly payments as a share of a borrower’s income and then forgive balances that remain after 20 to 25 years, or 10 years for workers in public-sector jobs.

The biggest benefits will go to Americans who borrow for graduate school, the CBO said in a report. The government will likely forgive $167.1 billion for such borrowers, or 56% of the amount extended. The forgiven amount includes the original loan amounts, or principal, as well as unpaid interest.

The government will forgive about $40.3 billion on new loans made for undergraduates over that period, or 21% of the original amounts, according to the CBO study, which was ordered in 2018 by the Senate Budget Committee Chairman, Sen. Mike Enzi (R., Wyo.)

Congress created the income-based repayment plans starting in the 1990s. President Obama promoted the plans to stem a rise in defaults after 2007-2009 recession.

Enrollment in the plans has surged in recent years. The CBO says the two main groups of borrowers are those in low-paid jobs and those with large student-debt balances. There is some overlap between those groups. Borrowers with big balances tend to have advanced degrees and land well-paying jobs. Many borrowers with small balances dropped out of college and have low-paying work.

The U.S. government is the nation’s primary lender for college and graduate students. About 43 million Americans owe $1.51 trillion in federal student loans.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government
KEYWORDS: college; graduateschool; loanforgiveness; studentloans
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If 56% of loans for graduate school are being forgiven, they are not loans! If they were accounted for honestly, the budget deficit would be even bigger.

Subsidizing college is bad enough, but why are we subsidizing graduate school? College graduates should be able to save for graduate school and/or get funding from their school, not rely on taxpayers.

1 posted on 02/13/2020 6:16:23 AM PST by karpov
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To: karpov

Bullshit!


2 posted on 02/13/2020 6:19:23 AM PST by polymuser (It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and so few by deceit. Noel Coward)
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To: karpov
The CBO says the two main groups of borrowers are those in low-paid jobs and those with large student-debt balances. There is some overlap between those groups.

Perhaps some of these people are $150,000 in debt because they have advanced degrees in Lesbian Dance Theory and they now work at Starbucks for not much more than minimum wage. I suppose those folks will be the really big winners here.

3 posted on 02/13/2020 6:21:14 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (If White Privilege is real, why did Elizabeth Warren lie about being an Indian?)
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To: karpov

And don’t forget that forgiven debt is TAXABLE INCOME. Watch them squeal when that comes around.


4 posted on 02/13/2020 6:21:54 AM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: polymuser

Now pitchers will have to face 3 batters. I’d prefer to listen to the opinions of Colin Kapernick.


5 posted on 02/13/2020 6:22:16 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
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To: karpov

Just part of THE BIG DEMOCRAT PARTY MONEY MAKING AND MONEY LAUNDERING OPERATION!


6 posted on 02/13/2020 6:22:53 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: karpov

To be clearer — this debt forgiveness is bullshit!

The forgiven will not learn, nor those following. It is indirect welfare for college and university progressive indoctrination centers.

The opposite needs to happen, like garnisheeing of paychecks. Bankruptcy is currently more difficult with college loans, but possible.

And, NO more school welfare for foreign students to come here to study. Use that money for American citizens!


7 posted on 02/13/2020 6:25:06 AM PST by polymuser (It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and so few by deceit. Noel Coward)
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To: karpov

To err is human.

To make mistakes big enough to take the entire company down requires a graduate degree.


8 posted on 02/13/2020 6:25:24 AM PST by chrisser
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To: PeterPrinciple

“And don’t forget that forgiven debt is TAXABLE INCOME.“

Damned well better be!


9 posted on 02/13/2020 6:26:55 AM PST by polymuser (It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and so few by deceit. Noel Coward)
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To: polymuser

Nonsense.

Colleges benefitted from this scheme and should pay. Use college endowments and real estate sales to pay off the student load debt.

Make colleges underwrite the loans in the future (the future being tomorrow.

Problem solved.


10 posted on 02/13/2020 6:31:04 AM PST by Chickensoup (Voter ID for 2020!! Leftists totalitarian fascists appear to be planning to eradicate conservatives)
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To: Chickensoup

Nonsense? How so?


11 posted on 02/13/2020 6:33:27 AM PST by polymuser (It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and so few by deceit. Noel Coward)
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To: karpov

why?
Please forgive my taxes for next 10 years.


12 posted on 02/13/2020 6:33:49 AM PST by va22030
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To: polymuser

We need to put the responsiblility where it belongs, on the schools, and we need to stop the CONTINUED programming that will trap other students.


13 posted on 02/13/2020 6:41:04 AM PST by Chickensoup (Voter ID for 2020!! Leftists totalitarian fascists appear to be planning to eradicate conservatives)
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To: polymuser

My college loans equaled about $7K for 4 years, 1969 - 1973. According to website... https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1969?amount=7000
Would now equal to about $50K in 202 dollars.

$7,000 in 1969 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $49,058.75 in 2020, a difference of $42,058.75 over 51 years. The 1969 inflation rate was 5.46% . The current inflation rate (2019 to 2020) is now 2.05% 1 .

Our oldest son went to U of Houston. Our daughter graduated from UT. I don’t remember how much it costs, but she figured equal to a new Ferrari. Our youngest grad from Concordia Irvine Ca where it cost $75K a year for tuition/room/board/books, etc. We paid it all. Not easy, but we did it. You don’t go on expensive trips, you don’t buy a new car very often. We bought a car in 1975, 1980, 1996, and 2011. That is all. You don’t eat out a lot, you cook less expensive food at home. You don’t buy expensive designer label clothes all the time. You scrimp and save.

I want OUR money back BEFORE anyone else gets theirs! hee hee


14 posted on 02/13/2020 6:44:35 AM PST by buffyt (~ It is not a CHOICE, it is a CHILD! ~)
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To: karpov

Confiscate it from college endowments and professor pensions, as they were the beneficiaries of the largess.


15 posted on 02/13/2020 6:46:55 AM PST by Darteaus94025 (Can't have a Liberal without a Lie)
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To: karpov

How about not giving loans to meaningless degrees? Only give loans to Science, Computers etc., where placement after graduation is pretty much a sure thing. Also base all loans pending a reasonable GPA. IMHO


16 posted on 02/13/2020 6:48:59 AM PST by duckman ( Not tired of winning!)
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To: karpov

Convenient how kids were told they NEED a college degree, money be damned, and now along come the socialists to save their financial life situations with just a vote.

(Just my little conspiracy theory)


17 posted on 02/13/2020 6:52:14 AM PST by jughandle (Big words anger me, keep talking.)
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To: jughandle

I think your conspiracy theory is spot-on.
I think the Democrats deliberately created this situation so that they’d be able to buy themselves an election when they needed it the most.


18 posted on 02/13/2020 7:02:14 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer)
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To: karpov

If you finance school with loans and don’t pay back the loan, you should have the credits taken back, just like they do with houses and cars. If you have a professional certification bases on those credits, you lose your certification.


19 posted on 02/13/2020 7:35:41 AM PST by CMAC51
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To: karpov
Subsidizing college is bad enough, but why are we subsidizing graduate school?

My graduate school in a STEM program was funded by grants, fellowships, and work-study programs. That means that it was all taxpayer funded.

I think the primary issue here is that people are getting loans to study subjects that have low rates of leading to successful careers, causing them to be unable to repay their loans. Rather than subsidizing unproductive degrees, we should be encouraging people to look at the long term opportunities in their selected course of study.

People who receive STEM degrees have very low unemployment rates. Even in the Obama years, people who had a Ph.D. in a STEM field had a 1-2% unemployment rate.

20 posted on 02/13/2020 8:07:05 AM PST by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org)
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