Posted on 05/30/2021 4:33:37 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
President Joe Biden has said he wants to provide $10,000 federal student debt relief. Some Democrats want that number to be $50,000.
NBC News spoke to people around the country about what student debt cancellation would mean for them. Below is a selection of their stories:
Steven Mewha, 36, grew up in a working-class Irish Scottish family in Philadelphia and is now a lawyer in Hawaii. His is a classic American success story, but it wasn’t without challenges — or debt.
He graduated from Temple University into a recession with around $40,000 worth of debt.
Jess Gawrych and Arielle Atherley, both 28, met at Boston University and have been together ever since. After college, they both pursued master's degrees at George Washington University, in Washington, D.C., where they now reside and work.
Combined, they have about $278,000 in student debt, and together their payments total around $900 a month.
“I wouldn’t even begin to describe how grateful I would be if my debt was forgiven,” Gladys Villegas-Ocampo, of Florida, said.
Villegas-Ocampo, 39, who was born in Ecuador and came to the U.S. as a young child, says when the bills come every month — cars, rent, loans, insurance — she has to choose which to pay.
She will graduate with more than $50,000 in federal student loan debt and a monthly payment of $336.
Alicia Corby, 38, took out more than $225,000 in federal student loans to attend law school. Her current balance now is somewhere around $350,000.
“I owe about $40,000 a year in interest,” Corby, of California, said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
No regrets, the Army paid my way through college, and I graduated in 4 years with zero student debt, and my parents didn’t have to pay a dime to help. I paid for my room and board with my summer job as a forest firefighter in California.
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Under what program and what year?
The Montgomery G.I. Bill (1984) changed what’s available tuition-assistance wise post-service. Sure, if a young E4 gave $600 a month to the pay-in system (leaving him with $180 that month), it was possible in 1984.
Don’t know any enlisted person willing to live on that, unless he or she was a barracks rat.
I remember that all too well.
Why did they go to a college they couldn’t afford?
Ending the H-1b visa would be the greatest help to these young people even more so than repaying loans.
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You are preaching to the choir. Too many people here are tone-deaf.
If jobs were available, this discussion and the discussions on unemployment wouldn’t be necessary.
$120k in loans (I chose the cheapest in-state university - Colorado State University), while it’s $150k at University of Colorado.
No jobs available except mental labor after graduation, even in a STEM field, due to H1Bs and OPTs. Student can never pay off tuition.
That’s how I see it.
.....” At some point, students have to be adults and stop buying what they can’t afford”.....
Exactly!
Their bill is what a new car can cost. I still owe about $10,000 on my 2016 Honda Accord Sport. I want money from the gov’t to pay off my bills.
At some point, students have to be adults and stop buying what they can’t afford”.....
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Yeah, let’s give all the white-collar jobs to foreigners as college for Americans is unaffordable.
Are you willing to have a country where all skilled white-collar work (pretty much all requires a college education) is done by foreigners while the blue-collar and menial labor jobs are done by Americans?
If it wasn’t for college, I would be stuck in low-wage McDonald’s jobs or mind-numbing manufacturing jobs my whole life as I don’t have the muscle or coordination to do skilled blue-collar work. And I suspect about half of the US is similar.
Some schools give an additional scholarship to pay for room and board.
There's a 4 year active duty commitment upon graduation.
Well...true.
Bo-hoo!....You learn to do skilled blue-collar work just like every man who has done it.
Army ROTC 4 Year scholarship. They award 1000 every year. Pays books, tuition, lab fees, plus a monthly stipend during the school year.
Some schools give an additional scholarship to pay for room and board.
There’s a 4 year active duty commitment upon graduation.
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Not qualified since it only took me 1 year to finish my BSc degree (ERAU, summa cum laude), I couldn’t stay in school another 2 years. I started ROTC at ERAU in the 2nd year. due to being prior service.
They asked. The “contract” for transfer students who self-funded at that time was for Juniors on up.
The astronomical debt figures often come from the interest, especially with these payment plans that don’t even cover that interest and keep kids in debt forever.
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Yep, a 1984 $1000 I took out in 1984 (I was 18) turned into a $39000 nightmare. After 36 years, a 3rd party debt collector got s judgement against me. No other legal action, nothing on my credit report for 36 years.
Just a call out of the blue demanding $39000. And a judgement was already issued. Luckily I was, and remained on unemployment (judgement proof) until I got s job in the UK (which starts tomorrow - also judgement proof)
Bo-hoo!....You learn to do skilled blue-collar work just like every man who has done it.
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Why don’t you learn to how to render-out complex broadcast-quality scenes at 60 FPS with millions of polygons, with proper color grading and LOD? Or solve complex fluid dynamics using a physics solver or produce particle systems in Niagara? Or run a 32 to 64 channel audio or lighting console during a live event?
Oh you can’t? It’s not that difficult.
If you can’t do any of the above, what makes you think I can your muscle job nonsense?
I WANT RETRIBUTION!!! GIMMEE FREE MONEY!
Call me when we get IRS Tax Forgiveness. Intel then.........
Letting these deadbeats off the hook would only be the start. Next, it would be “wah wah wah i took out a $500k loan to buy a house. It’s not fair wah wah wah! People 20 years ago could buy a house for half what I paid. I demand the taxpayers pay my loan off wah wah wah!”
You have to be very stupid to get in a large amount of debt going to an Ivy League school.
They are among the most generous with direct-grant financial aid.
Also was able to pay off the house.
My guess is that few would pay off their debts with such a windfall. I was raised by a Scottish father - being in debt was akin to a sin in his eyes.
I’d give every penny of it back to have my loved ones again...
My son is a software engineer - most of the H-1b visas are low-level programmers - and the IT industry has been burned repeatedly by their low level of competence. Son first worked for a white engineering firm - owner was white as were all the engineers he hired - very very prosperous. New firm is based in Japan and doesn’t hire H-1b visas, he works with white and Japanese engineers mostly. He’s never lacked for a job, has transferred around easily and when he’s available, has three - or four immediate offers. The first firm is still trying to hire him back.
So, there is hope out there...
You have to be very stupid to get in a large amount of debt going to an Ivy League school.
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Ha? It’s $120 to $150k at state schools.
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