Student Loan Debt - NPR - What a Biden Admin may do (1 Viewer)

[wardorican]

Interesting interview. It's 11 minutes long.

What a Biden Administration May Do to Address Student Debt | The Takeaway | WNYC Studios

Collectively, Americans have over $1.6 trillion worth of student loan debt.

www.wnycstudios.org

One tidbit was that students with the most debt often have the best means to pay it. Those with the least debt are most likely to go into default. That's backwards from how I'd think of it, outside of Dr's and Lawyers.

 

[coldseat]

One of my biggest grips right now is how politicized and polarized we've made economic systems and remedies. I think capitalism and socialism each work fine in some instances and not well in others. Making banks the gatekeepers to college for lower and middle class students is a bad idea, IMO.

You and me both. It's so hard to discuss economics with died in the wool conservatives and most Republicans because of their "fact" that socialism is always evil. Instead of recognizing it as an economic system that is a viable and better alternative within certain frameworks and that capitalism isn't always the answer to every economic problem. Not to mention they never acknowledge any of the dangers and excesses of capitalism.

If we could treat both just as economic systems that have their advantages and disadvantages, we could (through government) create a much more equitable and prosperous economic system for all. Health care and higher education are two areas where a socialistic economic approach is more viable long term.

 

[Incumbent]

You and me both. It's so hard to discuss economics with died in the wool conservatives and most Republicans because of their "fact" that socialism is always evil. Instead of recognizing it as an economic system that is a viable and better alternative within certain frameworks and that capitalism isn't always the answer to every economic problem. Not to mention they never acknowledge any of the dangers and excesses of capitalism.

If we could treat both just as economic systems that have their advantages and disadvantages, we could (through government) create a much more equitable and prosperous economic system for all. Health care and higher education are two areas where a socialistic economic approach is more viable long term.

Exactly. Well said.

 

[Eeyore]

 

[brandon]

As someone who paid for his entire undergrad through scholarships and work, and paid for grad school completely out of pocket, and also paid off wife’s $45k student loan...

I’m completely fine with student loan cancelation. It’s good for the economy and it’s good for creating a more educated populace, which we desperately need. Yea, there’s a part of me deep down that’s a little miffed that I’m not going to get any benefit, but the benefits far outweigh my personal situation.

 

[B4YOU]

Okay so don't take this as fact what I'm about to write, b/c I'm basing it off a vague recollection, but I knew someone that worked with the university here. Basically (these numbers are probably wrong) but once upon a time universities like LSU, ULL, etc was funded 70% by the state. Then you had people like Bobby Jindal get elected, and slowly that number went down to 60%, 50%, 40%. I think the universities also had to meet a certain quota of enrolled students to qualify, and that quota would slowly increase as well. So there was pressure on two sides. The cost of classes started to raise b/c the schools had to shoulder more of the burden, I suspect the cuts in school state funding was because Jindal was such an awful governor and sunk the state into billions of debt. These cuts by the state also effected things like raises for university employees. My friend hadn't gotten a raise in years, or if he did it was like 1%. Eventually he left the state and moved to FL, where he did the same job as before but was getting paid like twice as much

This has happened nation-wide. The Republican control of state legislatures and governorships in the 00s with the 07-09 recession have gutted state funding. The difference has been made up with loans.

 

[B4YOU]

She needs to add the taxpayers on the other track. That group includes the previously run over people who have paid their loans.

 

[jdn9201]

Admittedly I didn’t read the article nor listen to the interview. I agree that current student loan debt is a problem but I’m not sure how to fix it. Among the ideas I’d like is make it easier for borrowers to qualify for existing loan forgiveness programs and for them to be able to refinance loans at the prevailing interest rates if they have decent credit. I don’t see why someone’s paying 2-3 times the rate of what you could get on a mortgage for example. Blanket forgiveness I’m uneasy with because someone (taxpayers) wind up paying for it and it’s not fair to other people who already paid off their loans or never got loans to begin with.

I think as a country we need to take a step back and re examine the worth that traditional 4 yr university has considering how fast our society is changing. The problem I see is that many students are graduating with worthless degrees because they can’t get decent paying jobs using what they learned. Too many kids are in traditional college that don’t belong and too few are in technical schools. I also think college needs to be re vamped to be about half work study depending on what field you are in. There are soooo many things that you don’t learn about a profession until you are working in it. I’m in my late 30s and I have both a bachelors and masters in Accounting and my CPA. I funded most of my education with scholarships and went to affordable in state schools and lived at home. For my grad school and CPA tests, about 50% was reimbursed by my employer. I estimate I paid about $5-10k out of pocket for my education. For me, the decision to go to college was a slam dunk even if I had to take out loans for it since I now earn a 6 figure income. I think the debt load for some students is insane but it’s worse when you don’t have the higher income coming in to pay for it. I think the bigger problem is how do you rein in college costs and keep kids from getting useless degrees. Otherwise, we will be back at square one in 10-15 years

 

[brandon]

I think as a country we need to take a step back and re examine the worth that traditional 4 yr university has considering how fast our society is changing. The problem I see is that many students are graduating with worthless degrees because they can’t get decent paying jobs using what they learned. Too many kids are in traditional college that don’t belong and too few are in technical schools. I also think college needs to be re vamped to be about half work study depending on what field you are in. There are soooo many things that you don’t learn about a profession until you are working in it. I’m in my late 30s and I have both a bachelors and masters in Accounting and my CPA. I funded most of my education with scholarships and went to affordable in state schools and lived at home. For my grad school and CPA tests, about 50% was reimbursed by my employer. I estimate I paid about $5-10k out of pocket for my education. For me, the decision to go to college was a slam dunk even if I had to take out loans for it since I now earn a 6 figure income. I think the debt load for some students is insane but it’s worse when you don’t have the higher income coming in to pay for it. I think the bigger problem is how do you rein in college costs and keep kids from getting useless degrees. Otherwise, we will be back at square one in 10-15 years

While I generally agree with the sentiment that a pile of loans for a worthless degree is a terrible investment, I also think we need higher education more than ever right now, and the current trend against higher education in the name of trade schools I think is going to backfire more than we expect as we add more low-education voters to the populace.

And while trade schools may help bridge the economic divide, it will do nothing to bridge the intellectual divide that we currently have in this country.

 

[Incumbent]

I'm less inclined to view degree programs as "useless", though obviously some degrees are recognized as more immediately practical or more in demand. What holds a lot of graduates back is the lack of a plan beyond school, a poor transcript, a limited social network, deficiencies in other skills, etc.

There are still employers who just want a four year degree of any kind, as it helps them narrow the applicant pool, and the successful completion of a degree program can demonstrate the ability to commit to a plan and complete a major goal. Depending on organizational needs and culture, a bright, energetic philosophy graduate can be viewed as a stronger candidate than an underperforming, socially awkward business major.

There are also a number of important career paths that typically don't pay well but are vital; education being chief among them. Social services, too. Loan forgiveness, as you mentioned, could be an expanded remedy to help with that.

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Yeah not really related to the student loan crisis (but sort of is)- is the fact that there is a certain percentage of the population who simply looks at a college degree in terms of “ROI”... Rreturn on investment isnt always measured in terms of the salary you can expect, though sometimes it is.. As alluded to in a post above, one reason it benefits society to have an educated populace that achieves a higher education is that it makes people more well-rounded, and able to think critically.. that doesnt always translate to a higher salary.. Someone could get a Bachelors degreee, then go on to Med school, law school, MBA, etc.. Or do like i did, get a very generalized 4 yr degreee, then do somehting completely unrelated for a career.. Though I’m still paying off my loans, i have had some years where i was highly paid, and in those years I’ve put much more $$ toward paying off the SLs.. Unfortunately I’m in sales (Healthcare) so it’s very up and down, lean times mixed in with the prosperous times.

 

[wardorican]

Yeah not really related to the student loan crisis (but sort of is)- is the fact that there is a certain percentage of the population who simply looks at a college degree in terms of “ROI”... Rreturn on investment isnt always measured in terms of the salary you can expect, though sometimes it is.. As alluded to in a post above, one reason it benefits society to have an educated populace that achieves a higher education is that it makes people more well-rounded, and able to think critically.. that doesnt always translate to a higher salary.. Someone could get a Bachelors degreee, then go on to Med school, law school, MBA, etc.. Or do like i did, get a very generalized 4 yr degreee, then do somehting completely unrelated for a career.. Though I’m still paying off my loans, i have had some years where i was highly paid, and in those years I’ve put much more $$ toward paying off the SLs.. Unfortunately I’m in sales (Healthcare) so it’s very up and down, lean times mixed in with the prosperous times.

Yeah, like getting a degree in Social work and only being able to get a job for $35k/year in a metro area. Most of those professions want a masters degree so you can work towards an LCSW (licenses clinical social worker.. which I believe takes at least a year after grad school). Even those jobs tend to pay like $50k.

Engineering usually starts around 50-60k/year with a Bachelors. (more depending on the industry)

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Yeah, like getting a degree in Social work and only being able to get a job for $35k/year in a metro area. Most of those professions want a masters degree so you can work towards an LCSW (licenses clinical social worker.. which I believe takes at least a year after grad school). Even those jobs tend to pay like $50k.

Engineering usually starts around 50-60k/year with a Bachelors. (more depending on the industry)

Pretty much.. There is a certain segment of America who thinks that if you dont pursue a “STEM” degree, then you shouldn’t bother even getting an education at all.. and i just dont see how you fix that type of flawed thinking.

 

[JRad]

Pretty much.. There is a certain segment of America who thinks that if you dont pursue a “STEM” degree, then you shouldn’t bother even getting an education at all.. and i just dont see how you fix that type of flawed thinking.

I mean and even that isn't entirely true. We have 16 people where I work, and I think only 2 or 3 have degrees in IT related fields. I skipped college entirely and ~12 of those employees work under me.

Now, that's obviously a your mileage may vary circumstance, and I had to reply on a bit of nepotism for this and my last job since I didn't have that degree to back up my experience. So I don't think a degree really makes or breaks your ability to do a STEM job either - more your ability to get one.

 

[Ayo]

This is evolving into a discussion of the purpose of higher education. And it always does.

Discussions around removing the federal government from providing loans is not going to help. Privatizing the loans isn't going to help. Not at all. It's only going to exacerbate the issues we have in postsecondary education. And that will effect how we teach high school and how we organize students in high school.

This would have a *devastating* effect beyond what Incumbent alluded to when he was talking about the period of transition. Way beyond.

So, it's not worth talking about right now.

When we start talking about the 'feasability' of degrees, that's kind of an arbitrary criterion, too, isn't it? I mean, the market is flooded with lawyers right now. I know a lot of MBAs who are under-employed. There is a glut of engineers in certain fields in certain areas. So by what criteria are we *REALLY* going to start telling people "You can get money" and "You can't."

University is not designed as Job Prep, Corp. It never was. And, I would argue now - more than it has been the case in a very long time - the initial purpose of a university education is critical. It's about being broadly informed. It's about learning from and with others. It's about learning how to absorb, evaluate, and weigh information.

This notion that university is only as useful as the job it can give you, therefore we will only fund those is death to a democracy.

Democracy is an idea. If we funnel out the ideas because things like literacy and philosophy and morals and ethics and political science and history and geography and on and on and on don't practically and directly relate to $$$$$$ then we are no longer a nation of ideas.

It is so discouraging to see education distilled down to skills.

That's only part of it. And I would argue the smaller part.

We stop thinking and we're only going to grow increasingly susceptible to the absolute, nearly incredible, and violent, hateful absurdity we are witnessing so frequently.

 

[wardorican]

This is evolving into a discussion of the purpose of higher education. And it always does.

Discussions around removing the federal government from providing loans is not going to help. Privatizing the loans isn't going to help. Not at all. It's only going to exacerbate the issues we have in postsecondary education. And that will effect how we teach high school and how we organize students in high school.

This would have a *devastating* effect beyond what Incumbent alluded to when he was talking about the period of transition. Way beyond.

So, it's not worth talking about right now.

When we start talking about the 'feasability' of degrees, that's kind of an arbitrary criterion, too, isn't it? I mean, the market is flooded with lawyers right now. I know a lot of MBAs who are under-employed. There is a glut of engineers in certain fields in certain areas. So by what criteria are we *REALLY* going to start telling people "You can get money" and "You can't."

University is not designed as Job Prep, Corp. It never was. And, I would argue now - more than it has been the case in a very long time - the initial purpose of a university education is critical. It's about being broadly informed. It's about learning from and with others. It's about learning how to absorb, evaluate, and weigh information.

This notion that university is only as useful as the job it can give you, therefore we will only fund those is death to a democracy.

Democracy is an idea. If we funnel out the ideas because things like literacy and philosophy and morals and ethics and political science and history and geography and on and on and on don't practically and directly relate to $$$$$$ then we are no longer a nation of ideas.

It is so discouraging to see education distilled down to skills.

That's only part of it. And I would argue the smaller part.

We stop thinking and we're only going to grow increasingly susceptible to the absolute, nearly incredible, and violent, hateful absurdity we are witnessing so frequently.

I agree with all of this. I may write more later.

It makes me think of a class I really enjoyed, taught by a biology professor who dabbles in philosophy.

Questions that make you stop and think.

What is art?

What is your name and how do you know it is yours?

What's bigger; A ghost or an electron?

I always enjoyed my writing classes, even though many of my fellow engineering students complained about them. If you have an open mind, they're easy and fun things to think about. It exercises a different part of the mind.

 

[SaulGoodmanEsq]

I still have a significant amount of educational debt but I consolidated it a long time ago so not entirely sure if it's eligible for these cancellation plans. That said, I'm glad I'm not a youngster today because college tuition is insane.

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

I still have a significant amount of educational debt but I consolidated it a long time ago so not entirely sure if it's eligible for these cancellation plans. That said, I'm glad I'm not a youngster today because college tuition is insane.

My loan, which I’m still paying after 20 yrs, is held by a company called Navient.. i know that my loans were originally through the govt, i guess at some point they were sold to Navient? Does anyone know if that makes me likely ineligible if there is SL forgiveness? If so then what can i do to get them transferred back to the govt next week?? J/k.. even i dont directly benefit, i think that SL forgiveness is the right thing to do.

 

[Incumbent]

My loan, which I’m still paying after 20 yrs, is held by a company called Navient.. i know that my loans were originally through the govt, i guess at some point they were sold to Navient? Does anyone know if that makes me likely ineligible if there is SL forgiveness? If so then what can i do to get them transferred back to the govt next week?? J/k.. even i dont directly benefit, i think that SL forgiveness is the right thing to do.

Navient was launched by Sallie Mae and services federal student loans, while Sallie Mae is focused on private loans now.