<p>I wonder if this is what will finally make it clear that education costs have become unsustainable, when the graduates stop repaying their loans?</p>
<p>Protesters</a> advocate making student loan debt disappear - US news - Life - msnbc.com</p>
<p>it will also take students/parents refusing to pay those huge tuitions or take out loans etc…maybe means going to a different school…but if no one would pay and their enrollment goes down, they might have to look at their rates…as long as people find a way to justify 55K per year, they will keep charging it</p>
<p>This makes me sick. People should pay back their loans. Not paying mortgage loans is what put us into this mess in the first place.</p>
<p>Based on the info in the article, 1/3 of undergrads have no loans at all; about 1/3 have less than $20K in loans, which is a very manageable balance; and only 10% have over $40K in loans. I’m just not seeing the crisis here.</p>
<p>If people want to protest the cost of college, then they should stop applying to expensive colleges! Go to a cc and state school - why is that so hard to figure out?</p>
<p>I agree with Bay - Go the the community college and/or the state university. When students stop applying to these overpriced privates the prices will stop going up. Supply and demand people. Last time I checked the loan came from the bank. If you don’t pay the bank back how does the college feel any pain? Think about it. You are stealing from the bank if you don’t pay back your loan. You are not affecting the overpriced college that you choose to go to. They already got their money.</p>
<p>
It should be when students/parents quit taking out loans and using that money to pay the schools. They especially shouldn’t take out a loan they don’t intend to pay back. Refusing to pay back the loan like some are proposing is theft, pure and simple. The term ‘forgiveness’ doesn’t even enter the equation. If enough people wouldn’t agree to pay what the particular college wants to charge the college will be forced to change their rates or go out of business. There are lots of choices for college - don’t pick one you can’t afford. It’s really pretty simple.</p>
<p>
Interesting article … even more interesting are the comments following the article.</p>
<p>There are a LOT of folks in this country who didnt pursue post HS education because they couldnt afford it and didnt want to become burdened with debt.</p>
<p>Oh Snap! Had I known student loans would be forgiven, I surely would have encouraged my son to borrow as much as possible, instead of foolishly saving for years and advising him to never borrow. My son has a friend who maxes out his student loans every semester, whether he needs the money or not. Sometimes the funds go towards tuition room and board, while other times the money goes for musical instruments and equipment.</p>
<p>Actually with a moment to think about it didn’t somebody post a link that said most of the defaults were at the lower priced schools. So perhaps the kids at the higher priced schools still somehow manage to get jobs in this economy, but the lower priced schools aren’t so lucky. You can’t pay if you are unemployed. But still the college already got its money. You are stealing from the bank.</p>
<p>^or, it could be that the students at the lower priced schools do not have parents or family members capable of helping to pay off their loans.</p>
<p>poetgrl: How do you feel about a bail-out?</p>
<p>I guess I’m in the minority here. My kids are done with college and never needed loans. I don’t understand the economics of this but would be in favor of a student loan bail-out if it is possible. Wouldn’t it be better for the economy if the money spent on loan payments went someplace other than to the banks?</p>
<p>I don’t pretend to understand economics.</p>
<p>Nobody forced these people at gunpoint to take out loans.</p>
<p>If someone is unemployed, then the loan can be postponed, but it should not be forgiven.</p>
<p>This reminds me of a post I saw on CC where some girl declared that a college education is a “right”, and should be for free.</p>
<p>If someone is 25 years old and cannot pay their loan, they still have about 40 years left of working to at least pay back some of it.</p>
<p>The previous posts deploring this latest give away program are both eloquent and well stated. </p>
<p>“I shouldn’t have to pay my mortgage, because I bought my house at too high a price”</p>
<p>“I shouldn’t have to pay back my student loan, because it is too big”</p>
<p>“I don’t like paying ATM fees, so that should be for free too”</p>
<p>“Simply have the government print up $250 billion in the back room, and bail out the banks”</p>
<p>Forbearance of loans—yes.</p>
<p>Forgiveness—no</p>
<p>By the way, I am 56 years old, and am still paying my student loans. I have four college degrees, so I racked up a lot of student loans. Do I like doing it? No. But do I expect the rest of the taxpayers to pay my loans? No also.</p>
<p>I was just listening to the radio and here is what I understand regarding today’s student loan news. Please correct if I am in error.</p>
<p>Current law: (this is either current or to take effect in 2014- can’t remember) Students only have to pay a cap of 15% of their income for 25 years and if there is still a balance due, it will be forgiven.</p>
<p>New/proposed law: (in effect 2012) drops to 10% and 20 years. </p>
<p>While this makes the monthly payment affordable, it dramatically increases the dollars paid by the end of the loan. $100,000 loan at 4% over 5 years = $110,000. Over 20 years = $140,000. </p>
<p>At the end of 20 years do the taxpayers absorb the original loan amount or the one with 20 years of interest???</p>
<p>This is absolutely crazy and is what got Americans into the mess that many of them are in today, borrowing more than you caan afford to pay…now we’re going to forgive them? Call me crazy, but I firmly believe that if you can’t afford it, you don’t buy or pursue it, if you take out the loan, you also take the responsibility for it. As for forgiving it and this new Obama idea…I HATE it. We do without, so we can pay for our kids eucation…it’s what all should do! This is no different, than people overbuying and filing for bankruptcy and leaving the responsiblility to the responsible people that pay their bills.</p>
<p>The 20 something who was featured in the article on student loans in today’s LA Times was not sympathetic at all. He was accepted to a state school but chose to attend an expensive private. He majored in English and now claims he cannot find a job. He wishes he had never gone to college and has tens of thousands in debt. He wants student loans forgiven. So instead of looking for work, he is part of the Occupy Wall Street crowd. </p>
<p>Foolish choices on top of foolish choices. </p>
<p>There are people who want someone else to pay for everything.</p>
<p>To those kids applying to college now:</p>
<p>Do you think the government will make student loans to you kids that are now applying to college if the kids who already got loans simply refuse to pay?</p>
<p>There is absolutely no reason to wipe out those loans. Payments can be stretched out. Or deferred if you are unemployed. Those are things I agree with.</p>
<p>But when a 25 year old demands that his loans be forgiven, he in my opinion is just a freeloader.</p>
<p>He will be working another 40 years. Let him pay the loans back over 40 years if need be.</p>
<p>Example–</p>
<p>Kid A was responsible, and went to the state university, and therefore did not rack up massive student loan debt.</p>
<p>Kid B decided he wanted to go to a fancy private college, and he incurred tons of student debt.</p>
<p>Why should Kid A’s tax money go to bail out Kid B ???</p>
<p>Seems like the Wall Street protestors have finally found a cause they can all agree on----</p>
<p>“free money for all of us”</p>
<p>This is the era of the bail out. Wall Street, GM, UAW, European Banks, sub-prime mortgages . . . soon college debtors.</p>
<p>
Well, since the money came from the banks in the first place then that’s where it should go back to - i.e. the definition of a loan. And if that didn’t happen with regularity then perhaps the banks will get out of that student loan business and there’ll be no loan money available at all even for responsible and moral students (i.e. the ones who pay back what they promised to pay back and actually feel that they morally should pay their debts). </p>
<p>But the solution to that is to do a government ‘bail-out’ of the loans which only shifts the burden to responsible taxpayers. That might keep the banks in the business of still providing loans, which is a good thing, but we taxpayers shouldn’t be on the financial hook for the decisions these irresponsible people made. And if it’s known beforehand that the loans will routinely not need to be paid back it’d be pandemonium with a rush for loans with no practical regard and those funds will start to be used for all kinds of things - no more cheap apartment with roommates, time to get an upscale place by yourself, no pressure on actually graduating in a reasonable time, instead take as long as you want with as light of a load as possible, truly consider job prospects and the practicality of actually paying back the loan or simply don’t even think about it since ‘someone else’ will pay it for them.</p>
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</p>
<p>I think it’s complicated.</p>
<p>I have felt, for a long time, ever since I read of it on CC (We are full pay no loans) that the practice of including student loans in the financial “aid” package given to students is highly unethical. It is aid for the schools not aid for the student.</p>
<p>I was pleased to hear that this practice will be reformed under the new plan introduced by Obama.</p>
<p>I do not feel an eighteen year old, who we do not even consider old enought to drink, understands the life altering consequence of the debt they have been encouraged to take on by the culture and the schools. this debt is aid to the schools, on the backs of our kids, not aid to the kids. </p>
<p>I have noticed on the “we are the 99%” website that almost everyone is burried under student loans and feels as if they were cheated. </p>
<p>Finally, I do not believe that anybody takes out of social security the same amount of money they put into social security, same with medicare. So, if we are going to spend so many millions on our elderly, perhaps we might want to consider what it is to educate our youth. So many of us benefitted from low cost educational options when we were this age. It was possible to go to college on the amount of money I made working. So, I see this from the perspective of someone who put herself through school.</p>
<p>I have plenty of money to put my kids through school. I had enough to put myself through school. I think it is incredibly unethical and shortsighted that we believe it is right that our kids should graduate with so much debt for the same thing we could have at a reasonable rate.</p>
<p>the loans created the education bubble. </p>
<p>The kids did not create the loans or the bubble, but they need a college degree to sell jeans, practically, at the gap.</p>
<p>Student loan forgiveness isn’t fair if done like this. As a college freshman, I’m biased, since I chose to go to a community college because I couldn’t take out loans…couldn’t these kids have done the same?</p>
<p>^^^ You were raised right and taught to not bite off more than you can chew…Good job! You will be a responsible adult!</p>