Free Republic

Stick a fiscal fork in ’em: These student loan debtors are done.As they contend with a second legal setback to President Biden’s estimated $430 billion student debt cancellation plan, some exasperated borrowers told The Post they won’t ever pay another penny toward their massive tabs — regardless of how it might impact their future finances. Rather than having up to $20,000 forgiven as Biden vowed in August, the fed-up debtors remain among the more than 45 million borrowers who owe a total of $1.6 trillion in federal student loans. The average undergraduate borrower leaves college with nearly $25,000 in debt,...

The move is part of the borrower defense program, which offers loan repayment forgiveness for students who feel they were misled by an institution of higher education.

Changing the financial rules about college moving forward is a separate debate. Changing the rules retroactively, however, is dishonorable and unjust.Two massive potential federal programs to ease the financial burden of college are being debated. One involves some type of free college program, and the other some type of student loan bailout. There is, however, a fundamental ethical difference between the two. The first affects the decisions of students moving forward, while the second rewards only select people based on past actions.Even at a very young age, children know it’s blatantly unfair to change the rules of a game while...

... Student loans neared $1.5 trillion in the second quarter of 2019, a more than fivefold increase since the beginning of 2003. The rapid growth was fueled by increases in both the number of borrowers—there are approximately 43 million borrowers in 2019, compared with only 19 million in 2003—as well as a near tripling of the average balance per borrower, a rise to $33,500 in 2019, up from $13,300 in 2003. Although these factors explain the rapid growth of aggregate student debt, there remains a large number of borrowers with smaller balances. The distribution of borrowers by balance reflects this;...

Universities and the media: arrogant, ignorant, and ripe for reform. (Read the rest at the link. Site does not want me to copy for some reason. It could just be my computer, but don't allow that glitch to cause you to miss this fine article by VDH. He's ripping and roaring this am.)

Our health care system and our system of higher education have a lot more in common than you might think. As I explained in a previous column at Forbes, in both systems a third-party payer pays a good portion of the bill, leaving consumers and producers with perverse incentives to take advantage of it. The financing of both systems is dysfunctional. There is much waste and inefficiency. And low-income families are the least well served. Here is what I wrote two years ago: We spend about twice as much as other developed countries as a fraction of national output. Yet...

Humorist Lee Siegel wrote in The New York Times that he unashamedly and without remorse defaulted on his student loans. Am I a deadbeat? In the eyes of the law I am. Indifferent to the claim that repaying student loans is the road to character? Yes. Blind to the reality of countless numbers of people struggling to repay their debts, no matter their circumstances, many worse than mine? My heart goes out to them. To my mind, they have learned to live with a social arrangement that is legal, but not moral. Congratulations, Mr. Siegel.  You have figured out liberty....

At the time, the president proposed tying federal aid to the rating system to incentivize schools to help their students graduate with an affordable education.President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will host an event on college affordability next Thursday at the White House. While White House press secretary Jay Carney did not provide details about the event, it is likely a make-up of a summit with college presidents and members of the private sector that had been planned for early last month. The White House was forced to scrap that event after the death of South African President Nelson...

Baby boomers are easing into retirement, but some may find their golden years are haunted by student loan debt that could follow them until they die. It's not their children's debt, however -- it's their own. Many boomers returned to graduate school during the recession to bolster their skills, reports the Chronicle of Higher Education. Student loan debt is actually growing fastest among people over 60, the report notes. More than 2 million Americans over 60 owe student loan debt, with the average balance standing at about $19,500, up from just under $11,000 in 2005, according to the Federal Reserve...

People with an Associate’s degree may earn less in their lifetime, but they might just be earning more right now. New data shows that an Associate’s degree may impart the ‘middle skills’ which are the ticket to the middle class. “Nearly 30% of Americans with associate’s degrees now make more than those with bachelor’s degrees, according to Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce,” reports Jon Marcus for CNN Money. “In fact, other recent research in several states shows that, on average, community college graduates right out of school make more than graduates of four-year universities.” However, “Although these...

In a previous blog entry I discussed reasons not to go to law school, namely, the high debt and low employment ratio. It seems that medical students are facing a similar situation, as reported by the Washington Post’s Sarah Kliff. “But there’s also a downside to heading to medical school these days: Students’ odds of getting in a residency program are rapidly shrinking — and medical students have begun to live in fear of this very scary chart,” writes Kliff. The chart contrasts medical residency applications rising steeply, with a gradually increasing line of open 1st year residency positions. As...

Arthur C. Brooks is the president of the American Enterprise Institute, a preeminent think-tank in Washington, D.C. What you may not know about him is that he finished his three degrees via correspondence before he landed a job as a Syracuse University professor. “I possess a 10K-B.A., which I got way back in 1994,” writes Brooks for the New York Times. “And it was the most important intellectual and career move I ever made.” The 10K-B.A. is a Bachelor’s degree that costs approximately $10,000. “I took classes by mail from the University of Washington, the University of Wyoming, and other...

As recently reported by USA Today, one third of millennials have earned four-year degrees. In my previous blog entry I discussed the financial perils facing these students, who often graduate unable to find a job in their major (unemployed or underemployed) and saddled heavily with debt. However, it looks like the job market for those with Bachelor’s degrees is creeping upward somewhat, according to a new report issued by Michigan State University (pdf). “The new college labor market inches ahead with a 3 percent gain over last year across all degrees,” it states. “Strong demand for marketing, finance, human resources,...

One of the major pitfalls in education policy is viewing education as intrinsically valuable in and of itself. This is like saying that a dollar is valuable for being a dollar, rather than what can be bought with said cash. A recent article by Mary Beth Marklein, with USA Today, notes that one third of millennials have earned a four-year degree. This is “up from 28% in 2001 and 2006 and 17% in 1971,” according to U.S. Census data, she reports. “They may live with their parents and they may owe thousands of dollars in student loans, but a larger...

Student loans from the federal government cannot be discharged in bankruptcy and have severe consequences upon default. For example, upon default the federal government can garnish your wages and your credit will plummet as your loan account is assigned to a collection agency. With these consequences in mind, the Obama Administration has just recently finished its rules for the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) program. “Today the U.S. Department of Education issued final regulations that will help many more federal student loan borrowers lower their monthly payments and avoid default,” stated The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) on...

As Occupy Wall Street and its imitators disrupt cities across America, one of their complaints is the debt incurred while attending universities.

A new report suggests Nevada put budget woes ahead of savers' interests. Could other states follow? Recent controversy over one state's use of the funds in its college savings plans has raised new concerns for parents and students across the country with money in 529 plans. In a game of fiscal hot potato, the Nevada legislature moved money from a state scholarship fund into the state's general fund last year; the state later took $4.2 million worth of fees from its 529 plans to cover the gap in the scholarship fund, according to a recent report from the Nevada Policy...

Forget term papers and roommate conflicts. For many students, the biggest college stress comes after they leave school. Six months after graduation, those first student loan bills start arriving and for a Florida student in 2009, the average amount owed was about $21,000, according to the California-based Institute for College Access & Success. In this market, many graduates are unable to get the high-paying jobs needed to pay that debt. Student loan debt nationwide now tops $913 billion and surpassed credit card debt for the first time last year, a study from college financial aid website FinAid has found. The...

A. It’s not. So why in the name of all that’s holy are we seeing provisions for taking over the college loan business, as well as disbursements to “historically black” colleges and “underrepresented students” in this abortion of a healthcare bill that may be foisted upon us before the Vernal Equinox? ...

You may have seen the recent story about the 41-year-old doctor who graduated from medical school in 2003 with student-loan indebtedness of $250,000 that has swelled to more than $555,000. She is now scheduled to pay $990 per month until she is 70. Ouch! This is an extreme example of a widespread problem. Only 40 percent of the $730 billion of outstanding student loans actively are being repaid. This isn't healthy for financial institutions or for many young Americans. It's easy to say those who borrow to pursue their post-secondary education bear the primary responsibility. The first rule of survival...