Give Americans Student Loan Bailouts

[eilen]

Since the fatcats are getting bailed out, how about bailing out the college students and new grads? Is it fair they start out life with cement shoes of debt while execs retire with golden parachutes? Since the economy has tanked and there are no jobs, they might be able to actually move out of their parent's or save for their own house while working at Target.

[oldtime dfl_er]

1. Amen to that

I've been paying my student loans for ten years and still owe $20k. I'll die owing them.

[liberalmuse]

2. I have to go with that.

Thanks.

[texpatriot2004]

3. I'll second that. nm

[Selatius]

4. Bailing out college students would probably reap better long-term dividends in the end anyway.

I always found the notion that a student has to go into debt to learn more punitive in nature, which seems to be counterintuitive if the goal is to make obtaining public education easier.

Sure, if university is made free, obviously, admissions standards and standards in general must be raised, but for those who cannot make the grade, there should be a viable alternative in the form of trade schools/vocational schools.

[Fed_Up_Grammy]

7. Trade schools ans vocational schools often lead to very

well paid jobs and often self-employment.

I'm all for them,even if you can't "make the grade" for university education.

[JPZenger]

43. There are some sleazy vocational schools though

There are plenty of vocational schools and for-profit colleges that also load up their students with amazing amounts of debt at high interest rates. Many present unrealistically rosy pictures to prospective students of their job prospects. "Of Course you can get a high paying job right out of school as a fashion designer."

Students of some for-profit colleges are surprised when their credits cannot be transferred to a 4 year college. Those types of schools also have extremely high rates of defaults in paying off their government loans.

[SammyWinstonJack]

5. Nothing for the peons! We don't matter except when they STEAL our money for their greed!

And even then, WE DON'T MATTER! I have become so cynical, with good reason, I might add. :argh:

[nugzie]

6. oh yes please!!!

if only! I've been out of school about 4 years, and I've barely made a dent. :grr:

[bluestateguy]

8. I pay my loan payments on time every month

If there is to be a bailout of student borrowers then I'll be pissed if it doesn't include me. I should not be left out of any bailout just because I made all my payments on time.

[babylonsister]

9. It's getting ridiculous for fatcats: this is a great idea. Rec'd! nt

[carlyhippy]

10. yes please!!!! Where do we sign up?

Carly

[cherokeeprogressive]

11. ONLY if gubmint gives the same amount to high school graduates.

Some of us didn't HAVE the option of going on to higher education. I didn't. And, I'd venture a guess that I'm as smart and worldly as most college grads. In fact, I KNOW it. I know for a fact that I can string a sentence together as well or better than most of them. I've read the classics. I've been to four continents. I've mastered higher math. Plus, I'm only two generations off of the reservation. My Grandfather (may the Great Spirit rest his soul) was born on the res, and my Mom was the FIRST generation of my family to get a "public" education on that side of my family. The other side is from the hills of PA and NONE of them went to school past 10th grade.

Why should college grads get a piece of the pie that I can't? Cement shoes? Fuck me, some of my relatives didn't HAVE shoes.

[greenbriar]

12. um new grads? I am a teacher, I teach in a Title 1 school Very low SES and I owe

several thousand dollars...


I could use a bail out!!!!!!!!!

I have been teaching 10 years

[intheflow]

13. I'll k&r and "amen!" that!

I owe $70K in student loans but can't find a full-time job! :banghead:

[prioritymale]

14. In fact, Obama promised $4,000 to college students during the campaign

It's in the Obama website. It would be in exchange for 100 hours or so of community service:


Make college affordable to all Americans:

Obama and Biden will create a new American Opportunity Tax Credit worth $4,000 in exchange for community service. It will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university and make community college tuition completely free for most students.

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/education/

[Omnibus]

28. Will he offer $4,000 in loan relief for 100 hrs service?

I'd GLADLY take that deal.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

15. What about people that worked their way through school without loans?

[prioritymale]

16. That means those people had a pretty good job

Or jobs. Or they were people that relied on student grants.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

17. Or maybe they worked three jobs while their wives finished school?

[girl gone mad]

18. A friend of mine worked 3 jobs.

I worked 2.

Never took on any debt because I thought it was a bad deal.

If we're giving away college education, it should be given to all, not just those who already took out loans.

[Horse with no Name]

Or maybe their parents hocked the house

to put them through school?

[RandomKoolzip]

19. I'm workin two jobs while going to school on loans. The two jobs are just for survival.

The loans are for the (hopefully) better job that will follow when I graduate. I'm still taking out loans to afford my education.

I work my ass off.

I want a fucking bailout, too!

[mike_c]

37. what about them? They're clearly not the ones who need help....

Why do you even interject them into the conversation? If they don't have crushing student loan debt, they don't need student loan debt relief.

I worked AND borrowed for my schooling. Had to do both just to make ends meet.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

54. So again we reward people who made bad financial decisions, I'm seeing a trend.

[Greyhound]

44. Yeah and all those Med-School Financiers, er... I mean Finances?

Or law school, dental school, nursing school, etc.

[knitter4democracy]

46. Are you saying that they shouldn't get loan forgiveness, too?

The average wage for lawyers in Michigan is $45K. If they went to UofM's law school and had debt from undergrad, those loans are going to be hard to pay off.

My husband went to a top-tier med school, and we're still paying off that $175K in loans that had accrued by the time he finished residency. We pay more in med school loans than we do for our house every month, and yeah, it tightens up the budget quite a bit. Plus, if we forgave them, a lot of doctors would be more likely to move to lesser paying areas that are underserved. There is a federal loan forgiveness program for doctors in underserved areas, but Bush has underfunded it every single year, so it's a crapshoot on whether you'd get it or not.

I taught in the Catholic schools (only teaching job I could get out of college) with another English teacher who ended up leaving the job she loved for a job in the public school district nearby just so she could start making enough to start paying off her loans. We lived on my teacher's salary ($18,600 my first year in 1997-98) because SO was in med school. Not everyone in med school has it easy.

[Greyhound]

59. No, not at all.

I was referring to the numerous "professionals" that got through school on the work and with the support of, usually a woman and usually with promises of helping her after he gets done, only to dump her after graduation.

I don't think education should be viewed as another profit center, but as a right.

[knitter4democracy]

61. Well, I would totally and entirely agree with that.

Going through a real marriage crisis myself, I would have to say:
:applause:

[leftofthedial]

20. plus, give the rest of us a year to pile on

I'd LOVE to go back to school

[AtomicKitten]

21. Predatory lending extended into student loans too, so why not?

[Swamp Rat]

22. Best idea I've heard all day!!

[Amonester]

23. Excellent idea!

Visit: http://www.change.gov

This form at the link is asking for all good ideas: http://www.change.gov/page/s/yourstory

Edited to add the link to this form too: http://www.change.gov/page/s/yourvision

[puebloknot]

24. I've been saying this (to myself) for a long time. How can we justify ...

... as a nation, making the future seem to impossible for a whole generation of young people, that they give up on the country, and themselves?

This needs to become a plank in the expectations of We the People that we will return to fairness and practicality in the conduct of our affairs!

[Horse with no Name]

39. Bush gave EVERY young adult the opportunity for a job

Granted it was raping and pillaging a country a half a world away...but the military exists for all the citizens of this great country!:sarcasm:

[puebloknot]

41. Sad that too many join up because they think there's no other choice. nt

[Thothmes]

56. Worked for Lyndon Johnson, why not George Bush

[earth mom]

25. Sounds good to me!

Even though I know we're dreaming here! :argh:

[Omnibus]

26. I agree wholeheartedly.

I'll be paying mine off for 15 more years, otherwise. They currently represent 90+% of my debt.

If Uncle Sam would do that for me, I'd gladly help fire up the economy by spending my loan payment amounts every month.

[madmadmad]

27. forgiveness for ALL student loans, and free college would be nice

clean slate for everybody, and let future generations get education without selling their souls.

*sigh*

[piesRsquare]

29. Yes! Please, Yes!!!

Oh, please please please! Wouldn't that be so wonderful?

It'd be good for the banks, too--right?

[Hubert H. Hubert]

30. HELL yes.

[travelingtypist]

31. Not just new grads.

How about us old farts who have over $20,000 in student loans that we never
could pay off?

[Indenturedebtor]

32. No. Get rid of the high interest debt if anything. Besides college grads

are not the ones who need help the most. Yes I graduated, and yes I have student loans.

[KillCapitalism]

34. That sounds good if a bailout would not work.

Re-financing eveyone's student loans to 0% interest would really help a lot.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[Lyric]

35. If not complete forgiveness, then at least re-financing at a lower rate

for everyone, lower monthly payments, less draconian laws about student loans in default, and some kind of program to help people avoid going into default in the first place. College is more expensive right now than it has ever been before. Today's college students need help in the worst way. :(

[Thothmes]

36. Would not just write off the loans

Would expect a payback for debt forgiveness. Teacher, physicians, dentists, nurses, criminal justice students, civil engineers and a lot of other disciplines could be assigned to work for four or six years in areas of the country that need their services. Others could accept commissions in the armed services of the United States. Other students could serve in organizations like the Peace Corp etc. JMO

[puebloknot]

42. Would you also make this recommendation for *anyone* who takes bankruptcy? nt

[Thothmes]

45. No, bankruptcy is based on an individual inability

to meet their financial obligations. A college student that accepts the governments offer of loan forgivness in exchange for some type of repayment service is entering into a contract. That contract is obligatory on both parties and enforcable. It has nothing to do with bankruptcy.

[puebloknot]

49. But college students who cannot find work in their field are denied ...

... the possibility of bankruptcy.

Why should those a decade older who have, in many cases, misused their credit cards, etc., enjoy the right to just walk away when younger people cannot? In the same vein, why should not their bankruptcy be granted only with the proviso that they *earn it* after the fact?

We have a new generation of young people who start their adult lives saddled with enormous debt. Their alternative was not to get an education. In many cases, that might have been the wiser choice, but we deny education to our young people at the peril of the nation.

For the record, I'm the mother of a 30ish young woman who chose to get a degree and came out of it deeply in debt. We discuss ways to creatively pay off the loan early, not attempt to avoid it. But I know that it's a shadow over my daughter's life. And she is one of millions.

[Thothmes]

57. Uncle Sam did not foot the bill for the users of credit cards

We were discussing repaying the American tax payers for funding a persons education. In my origial post are listed some of the ways to repay the tax payers for their investments. If they desire to avoid years of loan payback they would be employed by the Federal, State, Local governments or some type of Charitable organizations in the types of programs I describe. By signing up for this program, a student will avoid decades of loan payments, be paid a living wage while in the governments employ and gain experience in his chosen field. The need for bankruptcy caused by student loans would go away.

[knitter4democracy]

47. Those programs already exist. Bush doesn't fund them right.

If you're saying we should expand them, then are you paying for the moving costs, too? How would you handle the drop in pay? Would you help with that, too, so as to really convince people that it's in their best financial interest to take the deal?

[Bill McBlueState]

53. the payback

is a highly educated, creative citizenry who are free to take jobs that allow them to make a difference, instead of working as indentured servants at whatever job pays kind of well.

[mike_c]

38. absolutely!

Recommended!

[racaulk]

40. Absolutely!

K&R

[JimboBillyBubbaBob]

48. Student Loans

Hey, I'll drink to this idea. Talk about freeing up capital and motivating folks.

[ecstatic]

50. Every tax payer should get 30,000-which should be automatically

assigned to past due debt first. Those who aren't behind on their bills can spend the 30k any way they choose.

I believe that plan would do much better than the plan to just give the banks the money.

[OhioChick]

51. Hell Yes! n/t

[pinstikfartherin]

52. Hell yes!

I'm in the middle of my degree, working full time so I can have money to live off of. Sometimes I wonder if my education is worth all of the debt I am getting myself into.

[Quantess]

60. Hell yes!

For me, my degree did not pay off.

[taught_me_patience]

55. This will never fly... nor should it.

It seems a bit unfair to those who worked their way through school or chose a cheaper, in-state, school that didn't require student loans.

[Midlodemocrat]

63. At the risk of getting flamed here,

what about folks like me who are paying for their children's colleges because we saved the money instead of spending it frivolously?

There needs to be some equality here in the bailout in some manner.

[QC]

64. And people with cancer shouldn't get chemo, since I'm not getting it.

Of course, I don't have cancer, so I don't need chemo, but it's the principle of the matter!

[taught_me_patience]

65. Poor analogy

Taking on student loans is a financial decision that people must make. It is not a life or death decision and has perfectly viable alternatives. Chemotherapy is a life or death procedure and there are no alternative (unless you are prepared to die).

[QC]

66. Actually, it's a pretty decent analogy, though not the best.

People who do not need assistance with their loans naturally will not get it.

It is increasingly difficult to get through college without loans, as aid has shifted dramatically from grants to loans since the Reagan years, and the cost of college has risen at twice or more the rate of inflation in that time. (And then there's the reality of Sallie Mae and their methods of doing business--that consist mostly of driving people into financial hell and then profiting from the collections fees--which can be up to a third of the loan balance!)

No matter how frugal you are, it's damn hard to get through college these days without loans.

It's not like the old days, when college was basically free. Something has got to be done.

But I understand how you feel. I have not bought a house, because I knew that I could not afford one, but now I am expected to shed many, many tears (and dollars) for the fools who borrowed ten times their incomes on 80/20 ARMs so that they could buy ostentatious McMansions, rather than get a modest house on a real mortgage they can actually pay back.

[Orrex]

67. And CEOs who run their companies into the ground shouldn't get bailed out, either. But here we are.

The hypothetical student loan bailout could be based fairly readily on circumstance and ability to pay. And in cases where people made extraordinary efforts to go it alone--and succeeded--perhaps a reimbusement of some sort would take the sting out of it?

Or, failing that, how about simply clamping down on Sallie Mae so that everyone who partakes of their services isn't fucked forever? It's very likely that my wife and I will be paying off our loans until our grandchildren are dust in their graves, and it's not as though we spent frivolously or used the money for lavish junkets to the Bahamas.

Perhaps they could cancel those crippling and exorbitant "collection fees," or at least cap them. My loans totalled a little over 20K. I paid them down for three years and then fell into default. I now owe $25K. Or should I say my great-grandchildren will owe on my $25K?

I'm delighted that some people are able to make a go of it without getting yoked with an eternity of inescapable debt, but everyone's circumstances aren't yours.

[LiberalEsto]

58. Absolutely!

I'm struggling to pay $768 a month for my two daughters. One's unemployed and going to community college; the other can barely pay for rent and food.

[skeewee08]

62. Amen!