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I Judged Student-Loan Borrowers … Until I Became One. If loan dollars are to flow, borrowers should be made to understand the terms.
James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | November 18, 2022 | Joseph Warta

Posted on 11/21/2022 9:20:51 AM PST by karpov

Student loans have been at the forefront of higher-education policy discussions for quite some time. The recent actions taken by the Biden Administration on student-loan forgiveness have made the issue all the more prevalent. One of the key arguments of those who favor forgiveness is that students didn’t know what they were getting themselves into when they signed up for huge loans. While I don’t entirely buy that argument, my own experience with student loans suggests that it has a surprising amount of credence.

According to a survey conducted by the Brookings Institution, only 52 percent of surveyed students could accurately identify, within a $5,000 range, what they paid for their first year of college. According to the same survey, only 30 percent of first-year students were able to estimate their student-loan balance within 20 percent. In fact, 28 percent of first-year students weren’t even aware they had federal student loans to begin with.

Similarly, a Business Insider survey found that 29 percent of student-loan borrowers say they either didn’t understand the terms and policies of their loans at all, or didn’t understand them well.

It is easy for an outside observer to balk at these surveys. The concept of student loans is simple: You receive money to go to school, and when you graduate you have to pay it back. I was among those who scoffed at the suggestion that students didn’t know what they were getting themselves into when they took out loans.

But now that I have gone through the experience of taking them out myself, I am shocked to see just how easy it is to receive the money and how hard it is to get the details.

(Excerpt) Read more at jamesgmartin.center ...


TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: studentloans
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1 posted on 11/21/2022 9:20:51 AM PST by karpov
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To: karpov

parents have to sign off on those, it’s not just the kid deciding


2 posted on 11/21/2022 9:22:56 AM PST by TexasFreeper2009
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To: TexasFreeper2009

>>parents have to sign off on those, it’s not just the kid deciding

Not true. Maybe some private loans, but not the govt ones.


3 posted on 11/21/2022 9:24:34 AM PST by qwerty1234
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To: karpov

Stupid should hurt, not be encouraged.


4 posted on 11/21/2022 9:24:42 AM PST by glorgau
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To: karpov

My thinking is that all those taxpayers who would get a $10k credit would be getting royally screwed. They are still going to have to pay $20k or more in taxes to fund the deadbeats who get their $10k.


5 posted on 11/21/2022 9:26:10 AM PST by ImJustAnotherOkie
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To: karpov

dont spend it at a ridiculously expensive college

Get your first 2 years done at a local community college


6 posted on 11/21/2022 9:26:15 AM PST by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing obamacare is worse than obamacare its ? And the ambassador to Ukraineelf)
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To: qwerty1234

>>Not true. Maybe some private loans, but not the govt ones.

and not saying I approve of debt forgiveness - I absolutely do not - but all of my kids took out a small amount of loans (we paid 75% of the cost out of pocket), and I never had to sign for any loans.


7 posted on 11/21/2022 9:26:46 AM PST by qwerty1234
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To: glorgau

But the ignorant are far easier to rule.

Just ask Deep State.


8 posted on 11/21/2022 9:27:42 AM PST by mewzilla (We will never restore the republic if we don't first secure the ballot box.)
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To: karpov

I do agree that students taking useless majors like gender studies or whatever need to be warned that they will earn nothing from those degrees they are taking out hundreds of thousands in debt to obtain.


9 posted on 11/21/2022 9:27:51 AM PST by TexasFreeper2009
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To: karpov

no pity...


10 posted on 11/21/2022 9:28:29 AM PST by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. #FJB)
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To: TexasFreeper2009

or better yet, loans shouldn’t even be given to people majoring in useless degrees.


11 posted on 11/21/2022 9:28:34 AM PST by TexasFreeper2009
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To: karpov
According to the same survey, only 30 percent of first-year students were able to estimate their student-loan balance within 20 percent.

The same could be said about anything else. Most people couldn't tell you within 20% what principal remains on their mortgage. Or their credit card debt. Or what is sitting in their 401k account.

Some people manage money well. Many others don't and they go through their entire lives that way.

Maybe they could teach money management in college instead of gender studies.

12 posted on 11/21/2022 9:29:18 AM PST by SamAdams76 (4,572,414 active users on Truth Social)
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To: karpov

A loan is borrowing money, with the expectation of payment with interest back to the lender. What is so hard to understand?


13 posted on 11/21/2022 9:29:18 AM PST by kosciusko51
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To: karpov

Before FAFSA your private loan company in college forced you to sit and listen to the conditions of your loan.


14 posted on 11/21/2022 9:29:32 AM PST by struggle
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To: karpov

LMAO.


15 posted on 11/21/2022 9:29:35 AM PST by for-q-clinton (Cancel Culture IS fascism...Let's start calling it that!)
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To: karpov

So Snowflakes being able to sign for a college loan was a dumb idea. Kind of like allowing them to vote. They didn’t understand getting a college loan has consequences. You have to pay it back. Now I would like to hear bozo explain why those who got Pell grants get a $25,000 bonus because, although they went to college, they are still “po’ folks” with no job or money.


16 posted on 11/21/2022 9:29:50 AM PST by FlingWingFlyer (You can vote your way into socialism but you have to shoot your way out. Remember that Snowflakes!)
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To: karpov

The article cites a survey by Business Insider. Business Insider is as reliable as the tabloids with stories about spotting Elvis on Mars.


17 posted on 11/21/2022 9:30:45 AM PST by T.B. Yoits
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To: Mr. K

Worked for me.


18 posted on 11/21/2022 9:31:27 AM PST by FlingWingFlyer (You can vote your way into socialism but you have to shoot your way out. Remember that Snowflakes!)
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To: T.B. Yoits

BI is a liberal rag. A big defender of Hillary Clintoon.


19 posted on 11/21/2022 9:33:26 AM PST by FlingWingFlyer (You can vote your way into socialism but you have to shoot your way out. Remember that Snowflakes!)
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To: Mr. K

IF this loan forgiveness does go through (I am Not a fan).

It should also be that the GOV gets completely out of the Student Loan business entirely.

Let the private sector handle the loans. Let students default on loans.

Then as this happens watch the cost of higher ed come down immensely.


20 posted on 11/21/2022 9:33:41 AM PST by uranium penguin
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