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U.S. Student Debt in ‘Serious Delinquency’ Tops $166B

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Re: U.S. Student Debt in ‘Serious Delinquency’ Tops $166B

#131
post #127

From a European perspective I can only shake my head at this. It doesn't seem like a good idea at all to indebt a significant part of the young population (which I presume creates a lot of avoidable stress) while the rich gain in wealth and power year after year. But I guess longer-term thinking has been thrown overboard in economic decision/policy making anyway, because that would make the numbers not grow fast enou…

Yep, we are pretty hosed.

Re: U.S. Student Debt in ‘Serious Delinquency’ Tops $166B

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In principle I agree, but in practice, it seems like private lenders are empirically doing a bad job evaluating risk. Rates for private loans are so high they can only be explained by a high default rate, even among "low-risk" demographics. These rates are very high even for students that we'd view as a low credit risk (e.g. studying CS and not music therapy). I think this shows the private market is doing a poor job…

> In principle I agree, but in practice, it seems like private lenders are empirically doing a bad job evaluating risk. Rates for private loans are so high they can only be explained by a high default rate, even among "low-risk" demographics. These rates are very high even for students that we'd view as a low credit risk (e.g. studying CS and not music therapy). I think this shows the private market is doing a poor j…

[deleted]

Re: U.S. Student Debt in ‘Serious Delinquency’ Tops $166B

#133
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See the other comment: Banks will lend less, to people they think will pay it back. Which means schools will have to charge less, particularly for non-profitable majors.

The govnement is the creditor, not the banks like they would be for a traditional loan.

Hmm, I didn't realize that federal loans were the overwhelming majority of the student loans (I guess the pseudo-governmental status of Sallie Mae and getting federal loans serviced by banks was a bit confusing). That does complicate matters, and suggests that universities are enjoying the government guarantee of funding to increase costs. Making them dischargeable in bankruptcy would mean the programs would have to change.

Re: U.S. Student Debt in ‘Serious Delinquency’ Tops $166B

#134

No creditor would give a loan to someone who doesn't have a chance of paying it back. There are kids going to school for music therapy that are taking $100K in debt. It's time to end government subsidized loans, at least in the current form. The private market does a great job of evaluating risk, the only thing that needs to be done is ensure there is ample competition so it self-regulates.

In principle I agree, but in practice, it seems like private lenders are empirically doing a bad job evaluating risk. Rates for private loans are so high they can only be explained by a high default rate, even among "low-risk" demographics. These rates are very high even for students that we'd view as a low credit risk (e.g. studying CS and not music therapy). I think this shows the private market is doing a poor job…

I think that the difficulty is future adverse selection. Four years after loan is made, we know whether or not the student graduated and got a good job. There is now a student loan refi market, and the risk of someone who now has a degree and a job is much lower. Almost everyone who graduates and finds a job will refi. The loan therefore has to be priced for college dropouts, because those are the only people who won't refi.

Re: U.S. Student Debt in ‘Serious Delinquency’ Tops $166B

#135
post #127

From a European perspective I can only shake my head at this. It doesn't seem like a good idea at all to indebt a significant part of the young population (which I presume creates a lot of avoidable stress) while the rich gain in wealth and power year after year. But I guess longer-term thinking has been thrown overboard in economic decision/policy making anyway, because that would make the numbers not grow fast enou…

Don’t mean to sound defensive (I’m not American), and I mostly agree with you.

But, from a non-European perspective, Europe doesn’t seem to be doing well? It seems the EU is slowly disintegrating, and the monetary union isn’t working. Also the political landscape seems to be in turmoil as well.

Re: U.S. Student Debt in ‘Serious Delinquency’ Tops $166B

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a rather simple way of stopping the ever growing tuition bubble, one that is employed in the Netherland, but I feel like it won't be popular in the US: Cap the tuition a college is allowed to charge and restrict them from charging additional fees.

Actually, the simplest way to put downward pressure on tuition in the US is to allow the loans to be dischargeable in bankruptcy.

Maybe make them dischargeable 10 years after graduation/disbursement? This might help avoid people from planning to declare bankruptcy immediately out of college to get rid of the debt, and 10 years later most people would have some assets to go after during bankruptcy proceedings

The upside is that lenders would still have to consider whether the borrower is actually likely to be able to pay back their loan

Re: U.S. Student Debt in ‘Serious Delinquency’ Tops $166B

#138
Let it burn down. No one should pay back their student loan debt. Seriously, just stop. This is a scheme in which they've fucked over a large portion of the population with the skyrocketing prices of education. Further, this education is the regularly accepted means of increasing your production. Society says you have to do this, and then continuously increases the price, without reason.

The gist of this is; some shithead, many years ago decided to increase his bottom lines by fucking with future generations and our ability to output... when they started this whole fucking problem, and you know what? Let it burn to the ground.

You know who's not gonna lose a bunch of money? The people in student debt, we already fucking have.

Re: U.S. Student Debt in ‘Serious Delinquency’ Tops $166B

#139
post #127

From a European perspective I can only shake my head at this. It doesn't seem like a good idea at all to indebt a significant part of the young population (which I presume creates a lot of avoidable stress) while the rich gain in wealth and power year after year. But I guess longer-term thinking has been thrown overboard in economic decision/policy making anyway, because that would make the numbers not grow fast enou…

Don’t mean to sound defensive (I’m not American), and I mostly agree with you. But, from a non-European perspective, Europe doesn’t seem to be doing well? It seems the EU is slowly disintegrating, and the monetary union isn’t working. Also the political landscape seems to be in turmoil as well.

I don't see how that relates. Maybe you see something I don't?

Re: U.S. Student Debt in ‘Serious Delinquency’ Tops $166B

#140
post #127

From a European perspective I can only shake my head at this. It doesn't seem like a good idea at all to indebt a significant part of the young population (which I presume creates a lot of avoidable stress) while the rich gain in wealth and power year after year. But I guess longer-term thinking has been thrown overboard in economic decision/policy making anyway, because that would make the numbers not grow fast enou…

Don’t mean to sound defensive (I’m not American), and I mostly agree with you. But, from a non-European perspective, Europe doesn’t seem to be doing well? It seems the EU is slowly disintegrating, and the monetary union isn’t working. Also the political landscape seems to be in turmoil as well.

Most Europeans do not associate themselves with the EU but rather with their nation state. Also - not all Europeans are in the EU to start with.
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