$50,000 Student Loan Forgiveness Plan

I don't necessarily support it purely because I think that would further wreck our country's finances if it is in addition to a 2 trillion stimulus bill, but I feel like most boomers are against it based on a variation of the five monkeys experiment (i.e., I paid for college, these people should have to as well, while neglecting the large discrepancy between wage growth and the inflation of college tuition). But on the other hand, it isn't "fair" (which I guess is the subject of this whole argument) that someone who got a useless degree and lives a lifestyle beyond their means ends up in the same position as someone who planned for their future and lives frugally. So on the one hand, we have to address the fact that students now are in a much worse aggregate situation through no fault of their own (insanely high tuition that's almost required to get a decent job most of the time), but then there comes the problem of it essentially rewards those who didn't plan ahead/sacrifice lifestyle and punishes the hard work by many to put themselves in a decent place financially. Definitely a tricky issue

it's a moral hazard that'll put pressure on the government to forgive other loans as well-- not sure how I feel about that

I think it would be an ok idea IF we fixed the underlying problem, which is how expensive schools have become. If we don’t fix that, we’ll be in the same place 15 years from now. 

I have student loans so my thoughts are... get it done.

It's not fucking fixing the underlying problem. Classic govt solution, just like they do with our roads. Temporary patch that ends up becoming a recurring expense.

This is such a regressive policy. Student Loan borrowers are - for the most part - not impacted by this recession. 

We are a year into this pandemic and it's clear who is hurting the most: those in the entertainment, restaurant, leisure, retail, and hospitality industries. Let's target those people ffs

Instead of a straight $50K per head, what if the forgiveness was a percentage of the outstanding balance? That would deliver immediate relief to borrowers, but still keep them on the hook. For those that don't have any student loan debt, good for you! Obviously you had the means to not rely on student loans or you were in a position to pay them off. 

Reduce interest to 0%. My existing student loans are 6-7%, which is disconnected from the current interest rate environment. I can't refi my original federal student loans with new federal student loans. If I go private, there's no flexibility (e.g. no income driven repayment plans). Private lenders aren't required to defer payments like the federal government has.

Any forgiveness should be applied on a month by month basis, which would automatically defer payments to give borrowers some breathing room. 

IMO, the federal government bares a lot of blame for the student loan crisis. They don't even underwrite the loans, they just give money to who ever applies for financial aid! Obviously helps that loans cannot be discharged in bankruptcy and that tax refunds and wages can be garnished. No private lender would ever lend so blindly. 

The unlimited amount of borrowing (which is deferred for years until graduation) is exactly why colleges/universities and textbook publishers can charge (and get away with) egregious amounts. Not to mention that most colleges/universities are sitting on BILLONS and pay exactly $0 taxes. 

When I was applying to college, I recall some counselors telling me to ignore the price tag, "that's what student loans are for", "you don't have to pay until after graduation", and that "everyone has student loans". 

My Ivy degree has been a great signaling tool, but most of I do for my day job, I learned outside of college, outside of the classroom, and mostly on the job (from scratch). 

Schumer is only saying this, because he is scared of getting primaried by AOC for his Senate seat. 

As for the issue, we need to adopt programs like "income share agreements" and teach kids how loans work before they sign them. Too many kids sign the paper at age 18 and then get a useless degree with little job skills. Also, schools need to work to lower tuition costs or at least freeze them. We cannot continue to have college tuition outpace inflation.

I feel like education is a worthwhile investment and several people cant go to school and are drowning in debt because of it .It does pay off for people who have awful money management skills but you got to look at it overall I think.

Eh... when I was younger this used to piss me off because I could’ve lived a lot more lavishly if this was the case.

Now? IDGAF. The student loan situation is completely broken, and now it’s gen z’s turn to get the shaft. Just so tired of boomers running our country, then blaming younger people for the problems 

I love Biden!!!

Only if they give me the money i paid for my degree with. 

Inflation was under 2% last year and my school raised tuition 6%. There’s the problem. 

Class of 2024 college student here. Would it be possible to extend this for a few years so I can max out my loans instead of paying my tuition with cash? IDK how to pay for my theatre degree. Thx Joe.

I had dinner with a co-worker tonight and we discussed her daughter, a senior in high school. Her daughter is smart but was a mediocre student in high school. She's seriously considering going to a Tier 5 private school and paying $90,000 over 4 years for the privilege. I outlined for my co-worker Virginia's community college and state university guaranteed admissions program for legitimately good schools. I just finished running the numbers: if she puts her head down at the community college, she could walk away with a degree from William & Mary, UVa, or Virginia Tech at a total cost (for tuition) of $40-46,000, approximately half of a tier 5 private college.

I have supplied her with this information. The problem is, no one is discussing these options with these kids or their parents--it's not even on the radars of most. They're all sh*tting away their economic futures on worthless degrees from crappy universities that will leave them in deep debt with few job opportunities. 

The educational industrial complex is ravenous and they are more than willing to destroy endless lives to keep the system going. It has to stop. 

Liberal universities scam your youth into paying huge sums to crap and the best you can think so is to have society fund it? Idiotic. Make the universities pay back or drop the issue.

Another win for being irresponsible and getting bailed out. It’s the new American way.

Makes me wish I’d gone to a better college instead of taking the scholarship at a state school... tuition growth is fucked but if you signed up for the debt, that’s on you. Don’t blame the rest of us because you made a bad choice (even if you were encouraged to do so...). Let’s fix the pricing issue instead

Only for federal loans. Those who were smart and refi’d to get a better rate won’t get shit.

“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”

• Benjamin Franklin

Let me a little sell focused, I sacrificed to pay back my wife's law school loans, so most people should pay back their loans.  The only exception I can see would be if a person is choosing a field that is geared towards helping people in need.  

I mean sure, why not. I hate the idea and don't support it. It will just continue to incentivize people to take out unsustainable amounts of debt for an education that at even the best institutions is starting to be watered down in quality by woke leftist ideology. But nothing I support and would suggest as an alternative would be embraced by the Democrats anyway. I guess if they're going to raise taxes, use a largely harmless virus as an excuse to chuck around trillions in federal funding to bail out states that have been poorly run for decades, and try to further restrict the 1st/2nd amendments, I might as well get some debt wiped for putting up with it.

how does this work? biden just signs an EO and it goes away or does it have to pass house and congress? if the later, no way in hell its gonna go through lmao its just posturing 

Lemme git dat

pls forgive my MBA loans mr schumer

i will encourage my future bank to hire your former aides for 500k speeches

It kind of sucks reading about it because I felt like I forfeited more than I should have in general to afford college like living at home, working throughout the week and weekends, etc because I knew I wasn't getting help from government aid or my single parent at the time. I guess kudos to anyone who didn't pay off their loans or took them out, you're in luck. Then again, I still feel like an 18 year old is somewhat smart developed enough to know if taking out xyz amounts of money is worth it for xyz degree at xyz school. The finger pointing and blaming whoever for the lack of responsibility is lame.

I am fine with forgiving student loans if the students did not graduate, as they really are seeing no benefit from having gone to school, while at the same time being punished for not being able to hack it (for whatever reason). The biggest problem with blanket forgiving student loans, as already mentioned, is that you don’t fix the problem, it is a bandaid solution. The other piece of this that I have not seen anyone comment on yet is the fact that the real “fuck you” here from the Democratic Party is not to individuals who were smart and paid off their loans/made wise financial choices, but really to people that decided not to go to college at all because they couldn’t justify the debt burden, i.e. people that are actually poor in the US (bottom 50%).

I graduated in 2020, went to a state school and tried to be as responsible as possible. This forgiveness would personally wipe out all of my debt. I wouldn't be complaining, but it just rewards and incentives the predatory universities to keep charging outrageous prices for a decent education and spend their money irresponsibly, like building a brand new football stadium on campus when you already have a perfectly functioning one (like my school did). I can't see this passing though. The ancient, detached from modern reality boomers in government cannot fathom forgiving student loans because they went to university at the cost of a pack of cigarettes and "worked" for it. Would people be rewarded for being irresponsible and living above their means and getting useless degrees? Yes, but there's also plenty of people who got good degrees and are working to pay off their loans who would benefit as well. We have unlimited money for the military and egregious shit like sending billions of dollars to countries who openly hate the U.S, but student loan forgiveness would be oh so irresponsible. It's all a joke.  

This is largely posturing on Schumer's part, who is openly worried about a primary challenge from the left as he gears up for re-elect in 2022. Biden is open to this, but I have a feeling he's not going to push too hard. But much like universal health care, this is going to snowball and we are all probably going to end up paying for Becky's $200k degree in English and gender studies from Wesleyan in our lifetimes.