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Trump Administration Proposes Borrowing Limits for Some Student Loans
Wall Street Journal ^ | March 18, 2019 | Michelle Hackman and Josh Mitchell

Posted on 03/19/2019 5:28:19 AM PDT by reaganaut1

WASHINGTON—The White House is calling on Congress to cap how much graduate students and parents of undergraduates can borrow in federal student loans, a proposal it said is aimed at curbing rising college costs.

White House officials publicized the proposal as part of a broader set of ideas it is urging Congress to adopt as lawmakers undertake a rewrite of the Higher Education Act, a 1965 law that governs student loans. The law hasn’t been reauthorized since 2008, and Democrats and Republicans agree it is due for an overhaul given the growth of online and other nontraditional degree programs.

The package of proposals, the White House’s first official statement on higher-education policy since President Trump’s election, focuses primarily on the cost of college and workforce training.

“Unfortunately, many colleges and universities have not been providing Americans the education they need to succeed in a cost-effective manner,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said after releasing the proposals.

Graduate students and parents can borrow as much as schools charge in tuition, plus more for living expenses. The White House didn’t specify proposed limits.

Democrats broadly oppose putting limits on the federal student-loan program, as they believe it exists in part to extend credit to people who traditionally have had trouble obtaining private loans.

“The White House’s proposal is a feeble attempt to claim the Trump Administration is helping students by identifying one symptom of rising student debt, while completely ignoring the root cause—that college costs are rising exponentially,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.), the top Democrat on the Senate Education Committee.

The proposed loan caps reflect criticism, particularly from right-leaning academics, that unlimited borrowing for parents and graduate students allows schools to charge higher prices than they would if limits were in place.

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


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: college; studentloans
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To: gcparent

It will discourage lending for useless (”... Studies”) degrees.

It will also discourage lending for law degrees. It’s not like we have a shortage of lawyers. Law-school grads commonly declaring bankruptcy shortly after graduation is what led to the “Student loans not dischargeable in bankruptcy” law.


21 posted on 03/19/2019 6:47:27 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: DuncanWaring

You wrote they should be dischargable in bankruptcy. Why should I pay for someone’s foolishness and poor finances?


22 posted on 03/19/2019 7:12:05 AM PDT by gcparent (Justice Brett Kavanaugh)
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To: reaganaut1

Should be $0 for all. A college loan should be no different than any other loan. Go to a bank like everyone else.


23 posted on 03/19/2019 7:52:29 AM PDT by bgill (when you badmouth women, you are badmouthing your mama and the good women on FR)
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To: nobamanomore

LOL, I am surprised they didn’t just make “Spring Break” an electable course for for 4 credits and add the cost onto the semester fees!


24 posted on 03/19/2019 8:34:04 AM PDT by rlmorel (If racial attacks were as common as the Left wants you to think, they wouldn't have to make them up.)
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To: gcparent

If they are dischargeable in bankruptcy, loans for majors (”... Studies”) that are not likely to lead to gainful employment will not be made, and the only people who lose anything are the “professors” no longer “teaching” those useless subjects.


25 posted on 03/19/2019 8:36:40 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: DuncanWaring

No student loans should be dischargeable.


26 posted on 03/19/2019 8:51:50 AM PDT by gcparent (Justice Brett Kavanaugh)
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To: rlmorel

I’ll bet 75% of the ones with all the loans took a vacation. I tested out if 10 hours, got a year athletic scholarship, which wasn’t renewed, and worked through spring break. I was really happy when I got my $1200 student loan paid off!


27 posted on 03/19/2019 9:06:52 AM PDT by nobamanomore
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To: rktman; reaganaut1; DuncanWaring; Moonman62; mindburglar; Chickensoup; humblegunner; pepsionice; ...
I saw this one article: More than 1 million people default on their student loans each year

Written by CNBC, it has sweet little tidbits like this:
"...Federal loans come with a lot of protections that should make default rare, said Kristin Blagg, a research associate at the Urban Institute, focusing on education. However, she learned, that is not the case: Within four years after leaving school, nearly a quarter of the borrowers had defaulted. “To default is still pretty common,” Blagg said. She added, “I found that these are borrowers who tend to be in financial distress.” Defaulters are less likely than nondefaulters to have types of debt that require a risk assessment, like credit card, auto and mortgage debt. They’re more likely than nondefaulters to have their utility and medical bills fall into collections, as well. Blagg said these additional debt pressures can explain, at least in part, why some borrowers might be putting off their student loan payments.

Really. How many of these "Defaulters" had mortgages before they graduated from college, and rang up credit card debt IN college? So, they graduated with degrees in Gender Studies, rang up a boatload of credit card debt during and after schooling, then got a government guaranteed mortgage, all before they discharged their college loan debt?

This is like kids murdering their parents and then begging the court for leniency because they are orphans!

And we pick up the bill for them, because this is what happens when the government guarantees the loans, not a bank. If it were a bank, and THEY were responsible for picking up the default, the conversation would go like this when applying for student loans:


BANK LENDING SPECIALIST: Nice to meet you, have a seat. Tell me what you are doing and what kind of loan are you looking for?

PROSPECTIVE STUDENT APPLYING FOR LOAN: Well, I have been accepted at Harvard, and the tuition there is $120K dollars a year, so I am looking for...ah...$480K dollars, plus some more for books, fees, some minor living expenses, and room and board.

BANK LENDING SPECIALIST: I see. What are you going to major in?

PROSPECTIVE STUDENT APPLYING FOR LOAN: Gender Studies.

BANK LENDING SPECIALIST: I see. And what kind of "minor living expenses" were you looking to cover?

PROSPECTIVE STUDENT APPLYING FOR LOAN: (smiles slyly) Well, someone told me I could get money included in the loan, so if I needed to go skiing or on Spring Break, I would have a little extra to do it with, and could pay that back later. (still smiling, but sheepishly and conspiratorially)

BANK LENDING SPECIALIST: Do you currently have a job?

PROSPECTIVE STUDENT APPLYING FOR LOAN: Er, no. I get an allowance.

BANK LENDING SPECIALIST: Do you have any collateral such as a Trust Fund?

PROSPECTIVE STUDENT APPLYING FOR LOAN: What's 'collateral'?

BANK LENDING SPECIALIST: Ah. I see. Well, imagine you wanted to borrow $500 from a friend, and to make sure your friend knew you intended to pay him back, you gave him that nice Rolex on your wrist and told him he could keep it if you don't pay him back.

PROSPECTIVE STUDENT APPLYING FOR LOAN: (eyes widening) Uh, really? My friends wouldn't make me do that! Is this something new?

BANK LENDING SPECIALIST: (smiles sympathetically) Well, it is new now that the US Government won't agree to give us a Rolex if you don't pay us back. We don't mind being your friend as long as you give us a Rolex worth $500K dollars. Hm. Yours isn't the gold one with the diamonds, so the watch won't suffice.

PROSPECTIVE STUDENT APPLYING FOR LOAN: Well, I am going to Harvard, and I can pay you back once I get a job. Doesn't that count for anything?

BANK LENDING SPECIALIST: Perhaps if you had the top 10% grades in high school, and you were taking Chemical Engineering, we might consider taking that risk with lower collateral, but...you were a little above average in high school, and your major 'Gender Studies' isn't exactly going to fill your pockets with money to pay us back, so you can understand we are a little reluctant to lend you money without collateral.

PROSPECTIVE STUDENT APPLYING FOR LOAN: Wow. I had heard how greedy banks were...but I had no idea! Doesn't my word count for anything? Can't you have some faith in me?

BANK LENDING SPECIALIST: Well, if you were willing to shoulder the burden to be an Electrical Engineer from Harvard, we might consider it. But more likely you will be a lower paid worker in a Human Resources department somewhere, if you use your degree at all. More likely you will be a bartender or waiter. So, without collateral, and sufficient collateral at that, we cannot give you a loan. Perhaps your parents might co-sign for the loan, or put their house up for collateral?

PROSPECTIVE STUDENT APPLYING FOR LOAN: No. They wanted me to go to Medical School, and they were pissed that I wanted to go into Gender Studies. I wasn't all that interested in cutting people open and stuff, or having to look at old people's white, wrinkly butts, and Gender Studies seemed way more interesting to me. So, no. They won't sign for the loan.

BANK LENDING SPECIALIST: We can't lend you the money. If the government offered to pick up your debt if you didn't pay, we would lend you all the money you want, and more. But with the passage of the "Stop Anally Screwing the Taxpayers for Debt Incurred by Useless No-Loads Who Have Gender Studies Degrees Act of 2019", we have to look out for ourselves and stop lending to people who will never pay it back.

PROSPECTIVE STUDENT APPLYING FOR LOAN: Wow. You sure are a dick. I won't be coming back here for a mortgage when I am ready to buy a house!

BANK LENDING SPECIALIST: If you come back here to get a mortgage with a Gender Studies diploma in one hand, and your palm out in the other, due to the repeal of "The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977" and all legislation that branched out of that, along with the "Stop Anally Screwing the Taxpayers for Debt Incurred by Useless No-Loads Of All Stripes Who Should Rent Instead of Buying Houses Act of 2019" in which the government no longer pays when people default on mortgages they should have never had in the first place, we won't be giving you a loan for a house, either. Sorry Buttercup.


Well, one can always dream, right?
28 posted on 03/19/2019 9:26:48 AM PDT by rlmorel (If racial attacks were as common as the Left wants you to think, they wouldn't have to make them up.)
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To: nobamanomore

THAT is because honor and principle mean something to you.

When you signed on the dotted line for that loan, it meant that you promised to pay back the money, not that you would pay back the money if a 65” flat screen television, vacations to Barbados, and a $75K black Chevy pickup with all the frills didn’t get in the way.


29 posted on 03/19/2019 9:30:10 AM PDT by rlmorel (If racial attacks were as common as the Left wants you to think, they wouldn't have to make them up.)
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To: DuncanWaring
Get the government out of the student-loan business, and that’s not a problem.

Amen.

It's not doing a great favor to young people when they graduate from college owing $100,000 in student loans and a slim chance of repaying them or someday buying a house.

1965 was a really bad year for America, with the Viet Nam war heating up, LBJ's Great Society programs like Medicare and Medicaid put into law, and this student loan program which gave many anti-Vietnam protesters a ticket to graduate school.

How many of those leftist students are now in charge, having moved up the academic ladder from teaching?

Higher education is a cesspool.

What are Republicans going to do about it, though?

30 posted on 03/19/2019 9:30:53 AM PDT by logician2u
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To: rlmorel

That was good


31 posted on 03/19/2019 10:21:15 AM PDT by nobamanomore
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To: nobamanomore

I just have fun writing it, I can just imagine the conversation...:)


32 posted on 03/19/2019 10:24:47 AM PDT by rlmorel (If racial attacks were as common as the Left wants you to think, they wouldn't have to make them up.)
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To: gcparent

Uh, sadly we already are. Welfare, trespassers, overstays. But social security is in danger of failing.


33 posted on 03/19/2019 10:25:15 AM PDT by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: rlmorel

I can tell you for certain that because of her upbringing, Mrs rktman was bound and determined to pay hers off and never be late making a payment. Weird huh? LOL!


34 posted on 03/19/2019 10:26:47 AM PDT by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: gcparent

Sure they should.

If they were, loans that weren’t likely to be repaid would rarely be made, and the default rate would be minuscule.


35 posted on 03/19/2019 11:00:12 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: DuncanWaring

The goal is to not put people into bankruptcy. Not to tell students what they can study. Not to let them walk away from commitments. You dont tell someone you can’t major in philosophy or Latin. Where do you draw the line? Loan amounts should be reasonable like getting a mortgage & repaid.


36 posted on 03/19/2019 11:11:31 AM PDT by gcparent (Justice Brett Kavanaugh)
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To: DuncanWaring

Amen....that is the only real fix


37 posted on 03/19/2019 11:23:24 AM PDT by RFEngineer
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To: gcparent

I am not going to draw the line; that’s up to the (non-governmental) lender; they’re free to lend as much or as little as they want, based on their assessment of how likely they are to be repaid.


38 posted on 03/19/2019 11:28:38 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: DuncanWaring

Sounds like we agree.


39 posted on 03/19/2019 11:56:21 AM PDT by gcparent (Justice Brett Kavanaugh)
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To: rktman

I think upbringing does have something to do with that mindset, no doubt.

A movie I really liked was “Cinderella Man” with Russell Crowe...about a man who didn’t like that he had to take a handout from the government and was determined to pay it back.


40 posted on 03/19/2019 12:52:23 PM PDT by rlmorel (If racial attacks were as common as the Left wants you to think, they wouldn't have to make them up.)
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