The Goat Pen

Education news. The now slimmed down DOE will resume putting students who have defaulted on their student loans into collections. They haven't done this for 5 years.



5 years. So the fed will garnish your wages to pay down your student loans if you haven't made any payments.

I think there needs to be a compromise with student loans. Reading about someone paying 10 years on a student loan and essentially only paying interest is not serving them or the public. The government should not be in the business of profiting from higher education when it serves the national good. That said, the government should also not be in the business of financing expensive college educations.

Interest should drop to 1% on a student loan and the government in the future should only give loans to approved degrees, specifically related to STEM. Additionally I would say anyone paying more than say 12 years on a student loan - never missing a payment and paying whatever is a reasonable amount in an effort to reduce interest and principle should have the debt forgiven. Then all future loans should be capped to a maximum yearly amount that is no more than 1/4 of the average college graduate salary. You eliminate the flood of cheap money in the college marketplace and college tuition will go down while other online/virtual training will develop. Not everyone has the right to go to a big state school with a football team.

People want to get an art history degree, then they need to do it with the intent of getting an education based degree where they can teach - if they want a government backed loan.

finally, the US should have a robust loan forgiveness program where people who provide services in areas of need - teaching in disadvantaged urban or rural areas, serving in the public service or the military should have significantly reduced or forgiven student loans.

The current administration could do this and be a hero to both sides

eCat wrote: ↑Mon Apr 28, 2025 6:35 am I think there needs to be a compromise with student loans. Reading about someone paying 10 years on a student loan and essentially only paying interest is not serving them or the public. The government should not be in the business of profiting from higher education when it serves the national good. That said, the government should also not be in the business of financing expensive college educations.

It’s not the government that is profiting. It is professors and university administrators who are profiting.


Higher education has spent billions, tens of billions over the last 25 years lobbying every congressional democrat in congress with re-election bribe money to make sure three things continue unabated: number one is student loans are guaranteed to everyone at age 18 without any credit checks or collateral, number 2 that the loans be limitless and most importantly number 3, that the loans are unbankruptable. That 3rd part is the most important as the loans would never be underwritten by any bank if there was the slightest chance a student could walk away from the debt.

Following this model, tuition is free to increase limitlessly, any and all degree programs are included in the gravy train, and every bank gets on board as there is almost no risk to them. It is not in the best interest of young adults or the nation in general but it is in the best interests of the universities.

The cardinal rule here is the educational industrial complex can avoid any and all accountability for everything they teach. If the kids can’t earn a dollar, so be it, fuck you, pay off your loan. This is a political problem, not a government problem.

without loan forgiveness, the government would have made $114B off student loans last year.

with loan forgiveness, taxpayers lost $197B

eCat wrote: ↑Mon Apr 28, 2025 2:52 pm without loan forgiveness, the government would have made $114B off student loans last year.

with loan forgiveness, taxpayers lost $197B

That is correct. And that is wrong. There should be no loan forgiveness and only a bank should make money from these loans. But my way demands political policy changes over the incompetence of our fearless leaders and I would be enemy number one for all of higher education.

How are we doing recouping those wall street bailouts? I have no idea. What about the people that got funds for covid like MTG? Weren't they forgiven?

Jungle Rat wrote: ↑Mon Apr 28, 2025 8:19 pm How are we doing recouping those wall street bailouts? I have no idea. What about the people that got funds for covid like MTG? Weren't they forgiven?

TARP was not a Wall Street bailout. It was a loan. The taxpayers loaned Commercial Banks $125 billion to 9 commercial banks at 5% interest. They have since paid it back. Every bank has paid the money back. Plus interest.

The only entity that did NOT pay back their TARP money was the auto industry. By the time it came for GM and Chrysler to reimburse the taxpayer, the CEO told then POTUS Obama that not only didn't they have the billions of dollars to reimburse the taxpayer, but that they would NEVER have the money. They simply will never have it. But too bad, these auto workers are all union and we would have to go bankrupt and shut down the company if you made us pay it and the union members vote democrat. So, Obama had the CFPB write off all those billions of our dollars to the automotive industry for political purposes.

Rat asking hard tough questions like he’s some kind of informed political person is quite the gem. Never seen this before honestly.

"I would be enemy number one for all of higher education."

Don't sell yourself short. You're enemy number one for a lot more than higher education...

"The only entity that did NOT pay back their TARP money was the auto industry"

How much did they get?

Tree wrote: ↑Tue Apr 29, 2025 12:56 am Rat asking hard tough questions like he’s some kind of informed political person is quite the gem. Never seen this before honestly.

I follow politics & know my shit. I just don't discuss it with you losers. You don't have to be a genius to see that Trump is fucking us over.

He never did answer the covid loans that were forgiven.

hedge wrote: ↑Tue Apr 29, 2025 8:11 am "The only entity that did NOT pay back their TARP money was the auto industry"

How much did they get?

Net profit for the US taxpayers for TARP funds to commercial banks: 10.9 billion dollars

Net loss for the US taxpayers for TARP funds to auto industries and union pensions: 9.3 billion dollars

Jungle Rat wrote: ↑Tue Apr 29, 2025 10:58 am

Tree wrote: ↑Tue Apr 29, 2025 12:56 am Rat asking hard tough questions like he’s some kind of informed political person is quite the gem. Never seen this before honestly.

I follow politics & know my shit. I just don't discuss it with you losers. You don't have to be a genius to see that Trump is fucking us over.

Heh. You and Hedge are the only two here who can't formulate any type of worldview or debate. Just twitters and copy/paste. I suspect IB is long game trolling Hedge. Otherwise the two of you don't belong in political discussion.

This isn’t the politics thread any fucking way…

Dave23 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 29, 2025 2:16 pm This isn’t the politics thread any fucking way…

You are correct

When did Tree even start posting in here? Seems like he just showed up one day uninvited and unwelcome, like herpes...

A

People who admit to following politics shouldn’t call others “losers”

They’re all shit.