Posted on 04/28/2012 6:42:37 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
We need to start taking student loan debt seriously, both as a troubling moral issue and as a ticking economic time bomb. By some reports, student loan debt will exceed 1 trillion dollars this year, more than the credit card debt of all Americans.
A whole generation of young Americans is at risk in this excessive borrowing. They fall further and further behind in “servicing their debt” because they have no way to keep up with the payments as many of them are unemployed or underemployed. They will delay starting marriage and families; they dare not take the risk of quitting a paying job (if they have one!) and starting their own business to create jobs, and they certainly cannot save to buy a home. They are trapped.
Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12) Forgiving debt is a moral issue. Forgiving some of the worst of this student debt is crucial literally to save this American generation.
President Obama has recently taken steps to ease student loan debt burdens. But the problem is too big. Some of this student debt needs actual legislation to deal with the whole system of the debt as Robert Applebaum calls for on his Web site, ForgiveStudentLoanDebt.com.
Applebaum contends that executive orders can only do so much. It will take legislation that covers predatory practices as well as other changes to the way student loans are structured such as how interest is compounded. Applebaum also argues persuasively that forgiving student loan debt will stimulate the economy.
The kind of moral equality that Jesus asks us to pray for in the Lord’s Prayer can be seen in Applebaum’s argument. Jesus calls on us to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Really. I probably wrote and researched as much there as I did on any of my degrees.
What's wrong with pay as you go? I worked nights and went to school days. My company was nice enough to help with tuition as long as I maintained a certain GPA. It took me a little longer, but I graduated debt free.
When China forgives us our trillions of dollars in Giveaway spending come talk to me,or when the Bank says you dont have to pay your Mortgage,or your car payment come talk to me. Until then ,work your way through a college you can afford and you wont have to woory about Mountains of debt. The government never should have been put in charge of student loans or Home Loans . With the Crew running the Country now this was all too predictable,election time Forgive everyones debt the suckers who are still lucky to have a Job will Pay the freight for those living beyond their means,vote for me
Yep - and another version uses the word 'tresspasses" to indicate it is things we have done wrong, not "gifts" we have received. I hate it when folks pervert the BIble's Truth in order to push an agenda. Happens way too much, even in Churches.
The Old Testament told folks to forvive debts after seven years - that was for individials, not for a "collective" like the government who steals from us to pay others. I also believe it was for the peace of mind of the one whoi didn't get paid back - forgiving the tort is a way to provide closure and put it behind you so it doesn't continue to eat your lunch and make you think and act in ways you wouldn't ordinarily do.
The Bible is Human Nature Exemplified and Explained with Common Sense Advice, inspired by He who created us and should know how we rock and roll.
Nothing wrong at all with that - My nephew and niece did so but not everyone is as hard working as them I suppose!
Mel
Maybe just liberals should take on the tax burden of all the defaulted student loans. After all, it was liberals who decided that every person was entitled to a college degree at top tier university and that it was the government’s duty to provide the money for that person to attend.
If you dissented, you were called anti-education.
Of course, the goal was to enslave another demographic group to big government.
“Wow Susan! Way to misquote the Bible to advance your own progressive agenda!”
That’s for sure...as if there is only monetary debt. The version I first learned was “Forgive us our trespasses...as we forgive those who trespass against us.” That actually gives it an entirely new literal meaning.
Besides that, when did any of these libs ever give a hoot what The Bible says about anything?
RE: Besides that, when did any of these libs ever give a hoot what The Bible says about anything?
ANS: When their interpretation of a passage advances their personal agenda.
Having taught college myself for the past six years, I have to disagree with your projections. Yes, there is some course content that could be covered online, and when I was a student I took one online course (rather useless, as it turned out), and several of my other professors offered copious online resources for independent learning. Now that I’m on the other side of the desk, I also make good resources available to my students, but quite frankly nothing can replace conscientious hard work, let alone class discussion. And even when I do put stuff online, a very small percentage of my students rely on it, since they know I cover most of the important material in lecture.
Perhaps more to the point, putting a class online doesn’t drive costs down anywhere near the “tens of dollars a unit” that you suggest. Instructor salaries are roughly the same for online and in-person courses, and while class management software isn’t quite as expensive as physical classroom buildings, the college still has to invest a lot in infrastructure, bandwidth, etc. It’s simply not true that an online course consists of a few static HTML pages followed by “click here to take the final exam”!
The debt does not vanish, “forgiving” debt is merely forcing someone else to pay for it.
Someone else did not accrue the debt.
Why should they pay for it??
Under my proposal, You'd be out of a job. Isn't that true?
Inasmuch as you are one of those who benefits from the high cost of education, I don't see how you can look at this objectively. The fact of the matter is that very few students actually participate in live classroom discussion and an online undergraduate course could be viewed by thousands of students at a time, thus significantly reducing the cost of a worthless liberal arts degree.
As xzins and I pointed out, we both learned more in our online discussions on theology in the Free Republic Religion Forum than he learned in all his college courses leading to his advanced theology degree. If college were online and the discussions were set up like Free Republic, then I think we could make an undergraduate degree something that NOBODY would have to go into debt to obtain.
Tell me, what was your undergraduate degree in, and what did you learn that you could not have learned in an online environment much cheaper?
And inasmuch as you’re a dumbass who’s already prejudiced against both the liberal arts (my degrees are in literature, to answer your question) and who wants to fire anyone who holds different political views, I see no reason to waste my time with you.
Appalling, isn’t it? Every time, every single time, the govt gets involved, costs and economic mechanisms go out of control.
The govt forced banks to make mortgage loans without the borrowers establishing they had any way to repay .. we had the mortgage crisis. Govt forced banks to lend tuition/room/board/fees/living expenses loans to students without any way of showing those loans can be repaid and, presto, a looming student loan crisis.
There was a time when students went to the college or university they and/or their families could afford. The student might have had to alternate going to work for a year/going to school for a year until graduation. But they didn’t graduate with impossible debt because there were virtually no loans available, much less loans forced on lenders by a generous government.
Insults. The last refuge of a man who has no arguments. Typical of a liberal.
I have to agree that a literature degree and $5 will buy you a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Am I prejudiced against liberal arts degrees? When they are literally worth less than a certificate from a cosmetology school and cost 200 times as much, then I guess I am prejudiced against them. If getting a degree in Literature was as cheap as getting a degree in hair cutting, then I would not care one bit about the cost of a worthless education. But people are literally spending $200,000 to get a "Literature" degree from a University, when they can read all that crap online for free at Gutenburg.org.
Tell me, do you think it is wise in this day and age to borrow $200,000 to get a degree that is literally not worth the paper it is printed on? Would it not make sense to make getting that degree as cheap as getting a Cosmetology license or an X-Ray Technician license? Both of those jobs pay better than starting teachers and both of them are in more demand.
“...is this fair democracy to all the past generations who have paid their student loan debt as they agreed to do?”
That may be true for you and others posting here, but student loans were made exempt from dischargeability even in bankruptcy precisely because so many who came before did not honor their student loan repayments.
The author can forgive all the student debt she wants - with HER MONEY!
The problem is, the libtards want to forgive debt that isn’t owed to them but is owed to the taxpayer. That’s ME.
I’m sick and tired of carrying the deadwood in this country. Let ‘em get off their dead butts and pay down their own student loans. I pay my dues in life - it’s time for the liberals to pay theirs.
Let’s review.
You learned nothing in college, by your own admission.
Yet, you claim to know enough about how higher education works to replace it for less than 1% of the cost.
When I calmly explained to you why your conclusions were incorrect, you refused to grant my argument any legitimacy. Now you have extended your prejudice to include every single person who has a degree (i.e. who is smarter than you) in an intellectual field.
Sounds like you’re the liberal one here. Don’t let the door hit you on your way out of the thread.
I am a Christian, but since when is the Washington Post Christian? If the nation wishes to embrace the teachings of Christ I support that, but those teachings come as a bundle, not a la carte. Take them all or remain separate from the church.
I have a liberal arts undergrad with a Juris Doctorate post grad. I have been a practicing attorney for over 25 years and I am a certified expert in my field of practice. I borrowed a total of $12,000 to get all my degrees.
Frankly I could have learned all the crap I learned in Law School by just studying and participating in online courses. There was nothing magical about the classroom experience that made me what I am.
The only reason people think they need a degree from a Brick and Mortar university is because they think they need a degree from a Brick and Mortar University. As this article points out, today a 4 year degree in anything other than pre-med, engineering or chemistry is not worth the paper it is printed on, much less the $200,000 that some people are borrowing to get one.
I worked full time while going to law school. I had three kids at the time. I didn't spend my days going to school and my nights drinking and partying and borrowing money that I hoped I'd never have to pay back and that the government would one day forgive.
Sounds like you’re the liberal one here. Don’t let the door hit you on your way out of the thread.
LOL. I'm not the one arguing for keeping the unsustainable status quo. I'm arguing for conservative solutions to the high cost of education. You're just mad because my solutions might just bring down your salary and are threatening your distinguished career as a "Literature" Professor.
Are you actually encouraging your current students to get a degree in Literature? Do you know how many Starbucks baristas have advanced degrees in Literature and English and Women's Studies and other stupid liberal arts subjects? I would venture to say MOST of them. Most of the rest are either on the unemployment lines or sitting in some "Occupy Something" protest and refusing to bathe.
Bwahaha!
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