[SMGFan]

Full of garbage like his deceased father & all Dems.

[ClearCase_guy]

We need an “Affordable College Program” which will quadruple the cost of an education. I think Obama’s working on it.

[ilgipper]

What is causing this increase? I carried Direct Loans for more than 15 years, and the interest rate was always much lower than any other borrowing rate. How high is it supposed to go?

[Sopater]

It will only affect those who are foolish or desparate enough to borrow money to pay for school.

[tgusa]

So ....you borrowed a buttload of $$ to get your liberal arts degree and now you can’t find a job? Mommy and daddy don’t want to bail you out? And you voted for Obama - how could this be happening?

Sucker.

[silverleaf]

if everyone has enough extra money for higher taxes, carbon taxes, and for obamacare (which this guy’s party pushes), then why dont they have enough extra money to pay higher interest on a loan?

to democrats- why don’t higher taxes, carbon fees on coal, inflation and obamacare fees threaten to cause “devastation”?

inquiring minds want to know

[dfwgator]

[Vigilanteman]

Using the logic of the open borders crowd who insists we cannot have any piecemeal legislation on immigration, I'll offer that what we really need is "comprehensive student loan reform."

If any bank operated on the same basis as SallieMae, the government owned student loan monopoly, they would be hauled into congressional hearings and probably be litigated out of business.

Among their abuses are:

• Easy to get, hard to repay loans which make zero effort to distinguish between marketable and unmarketable degrees.
  
• Highly paid senior executives who have little or no accountability.
  
• Interest only loans and hidden fees designed to keep the borrower in debt forever.
  
• Interest rates which are typically two to three times larger than prevailing home loan rates.

  Remember BO bragging about making the student loan business more efficient during his re-election campaign by eliminating the middleman, IOW, competition to the government?

  This is the next bubble waiting to happen-- millions of borrowers saddled with debt which they have little hope of repaying and cannot discharge. A homeowner who is foreclosed, at least, can walk away from the debt through the bankruptcy process.

  The only real long-term solution is to phase out SallieMae and privatize the student loan business. The outline of such a plan to do just that:
  

• Immediate write-off of 30% of outstanding balances, 25% loan forgiveness to the borrower, 5% as a fee to the educational institution where the loan originated to collect the remaining 70%.
  
• Authorize the originating institution to suspend degrees and transcripts on loans that become delinquent or to sell them at a discount to third parties.
  
• Originating institutions still unable to collect or liquidate the loans would be subject to a lien on their endowments, real estate or other assets.
  
• Those which have sold worthwhile marketable degrees would have little to fear. Those which have not maybe deserve to have their asset base reduced accordingly.

  In conjunction with this program, all borrowers which are current on payments after provision #1 kicks in would be able to apply and get an interest rate less than or equal to the rate they are paying on their primary residence. It makes no logical sense to have people paying more than double the rate on student loans than they are paying for mortgage loans secured by real property.

[Vince Ferrer]

Encourage students to get a free online education.

[DannyTN]

"Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have said they don’t want rates to double next week, but they have proposed different solutions.

House Republicans want to overhaul interest rates, making them variable rather than fixed. That plan would save about $3.7 billion over 10 years, according to the CBO.

I'd say No to making them variable. That will cause a crisis when rates go up. And you can't bankrupt on student loans which makes a variable rate all the more scary. Crap like this makes me ashamed to be a Republican.

An $8.3 billion Democratic plan supported by President Obama would have extended the 3.4 percent rate for two years (it didn’t muster enough votes to block GOP opposition).

I don't see any reason not to extend the rate.

Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has proposed setting rates at .75 percent for one year, replicating a rate the Federal Reserve charges banks for emergency loans. Today, Payne said he supports Warren’s plan.

If you are going to go that low, you might as well make it 0 and be interest free.

What neither party addresses is

• whether the loans are going for reasonable degrees that are employable.
• whether the cost of a degree is reasonable.

  Perhaps there are already things in the stafford loans that cover this. I'm not that familiar with them.

[SW6906]

Elections have consequences.....

[grania]

I checked a few day ago. In 2009 the average student loan upon graduation was $30,000. I figure after that we had the recession and anyone who got larger loans is just plain dumb, so the issue of them being accepted is between them and the college.

That's doable. Cheaper car, double or triple up on an apartment rental, no eating out, and these students should stop whining and pay the loan off.

I've run into people in my adventures in substituting who have these debts, then go further in debt for another degree because they can't find a job. I've met others who got Associates degrees, sub as aides and take the courses for a four year degree nights and have no debt. So why should I feel sorry for the ones who leave the work force and go further in debt? Some people make good economic choices, some bad ones. As near as I can figure, debt for a college degree is dumb.

[informavoracious]

I do feel somewhat sorry for those who are not savvy to the college game, like first generation college students. Their “Guidance Counselors” encourage them to study their “dream” major at their “dream” school and not to count the cost because, after all, they are preparing for their future “dream” job. With no one else to set them straight, they fall for the sell and wake up cold and deeply in debt.

[Newbomb Turk]

No more then 40 years of Democratic sponsored taxes on every thing they earn or own after college.

Until death shall we tax.

[blackdog]

Taking out student loans is like adding a 50 pound weight to your belt every year until you graduate, and then jump in the water.

[LibLieSlayer]

Then they should never have borrowed the money. We know what happens when government steals our wages to redistribute our wealth in bailing out stupid people and corrupt banks... and it ain’t pretty.

LLS

[plain talk]

double? Not sure why that is the case but even if it is, so what. Interest rates are at a historic low rate. These young college age Obama voters are spoiled rotten compared to where rates were in the 70s and 80s. Screw them.

[NVDave]

Good.

I like to see pain and misery visited upon those who voted this administration into office.