Posted on 01/17/2022 12:43:02 PM PST by grundle
Democrats think that innocent taxpayers should be forced to pay off student debt.
I think this is a horrible idea.
I’m a Libertarian, which means that I am against punishing innocent taxpayers.
It also means that I, unlike Democrats, understand the horrible incentives that would be created if innocent taxpayers were forced to pay off student debt. Such a policy would encourage colleges to raise their tuitions even more than they already have, and would also encourage future students to borrow even more money than what had been borrowed by past students. This would make the problem of student debt worse, not better.
By comparison, my proposal would not do these harmful things. On the contrary, my proposal would cause colleges to think very hard before they encourage their students and potential students to borrow money. It would also encourage colleges to reconsider their current policy of offering worthless majors that cause their graduates to end up working at Starbucks.
Too many young people get loans for college degrees which don’t pay off in the job market.
If people got loans to get degrees in fields which lead to good paying jobs and careers, it can make sense to borrow for the schooling needed to get degrees which qualify for those jobs.
I think part of the problem, is that we see 17 and 18 year olds taking out these loans, and they have no real concept of how they will pay it off. They probably have hazy ideas that down the road they will make enough money to repay, but have never sat down to figure out how much out of their monthly budget is needed to repay loans.
Some may just be clueless about the whole situation.
If Universities truly believe that they provide quality education and select the most qualified students then they should underwrite their students’ loans.
Or better yet, make people responsible for their own dumbass decisions.
This isn’t like an 8 year old downloading ‘Candy Crush Saga’ to mommies cell phone and running up $ 300 phone bills.
Thes are supposed to be young adults, or even not so young adults, who should be able to read a contract and do an internet search to look for useful career training.
Several years ago, my husband and I were at a restaurant in Ga and talked to the waitress. She was 19, had signed up to go to online classes at Phoenix College, got a student loan for about 20k, went to 2 classes and dropped out because it was online and she had a difficult time with it.
She still owes the 20+k and will never be able to pay it back. She is screwed and I wonder how many others are just like her with these crap colleges who ruin young adult’s lives. They will most likely never be able to buy a home, get a nice car and have a decent life as the interest accrues.
She said it was so easy to get approved for the loan. Predators.
anything to bring DJT negatively back into play.
Got my BSEE at a public college on the GI bill. I wanted to major in physics, but EE meant a *much* better chance of a job out of college. Then I did my MS on the GI bill nights while working a day job.
My interest in paying off some else’s MFA (Master of Fine Arts) is roughly 0. Actually -10 on a scale of 1-5.
The Education-industrial complex is a key left/Democrat base
Its absolutely important to their rule and control, thus there will be bailouts
If the congress is bound and determined, they should assume student debts and renegotiate minimal interest rates. Instead of saddling the rest of us with someone else’s kid’s voluntary debt.
Not a Trey Gowdy fan, but I think it was he who years ago proposed that the Universities should have to co-sign the loans.
As w/ all his talk, it went nowhere of course.
College is not a jobs program.
NO degrees are “worthless”.
Anybody who goes to college expecting a payoff (unless it’s medical, dental, or vet school), or unless they graduate with a credential that guarantees a job (BSN) is an idiot.
Get the government out of the student loan business. Most universities have huge endowment funds that should be used for student loans or at least a majority (70%) of the students’ loans.
That way universities would have an incentive to graduate students that can pay back the loans with a money-earning degree rather than a worthless humanities degree.
The universities would have an incentive to graduate students on time so they can pay back the loan sooner & borrow less money.
Universities would have an incentive to accept the best students with a good chance of completing their education & getting a good job to pay back the loan.
Universities would focus on education rather than who has the best indoor climbing wall & other costly amenities. The attraction would be education leading to a job, rather than the “goodies”.
Basically, the universities would have some skin in the game.
So, was she required to fork over the entire $20K before starting her first 2 classes? Cause THAT should have been a huge red flag with flashing red lights.
If she took out a loan, paid for just 2 classes and dropped them, I wonder what she did with the rest of the 20K.
Here in my state, we have the Hope Grant for education. Early on in the program, I heard of people gaming the system by getting approved for a grant, signing up for vocational classes, dropping the classes, and getting the money refunded to the student! I think they have changed this, but it went on for a while.
Administrative staff at Universities has doubled or tripled over the last 40 years, with an inverse impact on the quality and cost of education.
No, it is not the kids fault for being expected to get degree since they first can remember, picking a degree based on some fantasy of a kid, and not being shown the responsibility of a loan.
And colleges\universities would have incentive to limit or shut down worthless “studies” degrees maybe even reduce the number of do-nothing administrators.
What jobs and/or careers would those be?
Exactly
Add lawyers and CPAs to your list.
IIRC, everything she got went directly to the college. The amount may have been a little less and the 20k was after interest.
This was a young AA girl who really seemed to have a great attitude and work ethic. But she was losing hope and saw she couldn’t go back to any school and get a scholarship or any other thing that required a loan.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.