U.S. forgives 40k student loans • Hacker News Board

Re: U.S. forgives 40k student loans

#121

Post by 300bps » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 4:37 PM UTC

edmcnulty101 wrote: post #65

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #26

I know every European seems to ask this of every American but what is the resistance to a welfare state? if you look at a government as investing in its citizens like a VC fund, then providing education and medical care is sensible, and some will turn out fine and others will be Bezos and then you can get your investment back via tax. I am honestly trying to avoid the flame war here - but I do it know how else to fra…

I am fully on board with this idea. The government provides education for people who want it. They better themselves, they better the economy and taxes. A side benefit is that educated people also better the human race as a whole.

They better themselves, they better the economy and taxes

What if they want to get a PhD on how autumn leaf colors in New England impact the emotions of rattlesnakes from Texas? You want to pay for that?

Re: U.S. forgives 40k student loans

#122

Post by ohCh6zos » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 4:37 PM UTC

juskrey wrote: post #6

How about giving back money to people who paid back their loans, possibly going through even greater difficulties to do that.

I ended up working 60 hour weeks to not take out student loans. People talk about having a good time at college but all I remember is getting up at 4am to go to my first job, doing class all day and working my second job until 10pm. No spring breaks and no summers or holidays because I could work those hours to stay out of debt. It is hard to have much sympathy for people asking for student loan forgiveness.

On the plus side I ended up graduating with $20 and no debt.

Re: U.S. forgives 40k student loans

#123

Post by phaistra » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 4:37 PM UTC

manuelabeledo wrote: post #71

theandrewbailey wrote: post #2

If we're going to be forgiving loans, we shouldn't be giving them out in the first place. Otherwise, we're going to be in the same spot in one generation's time.

The cost of higher education in the US is a joke. Universities are tax exempt, and highly profitable. Many have endowments over $1 billion [1]. Yet, the average cost in state is $10,000 per year, and almost $30,000 if out of state. For comparison, the tuition at Oxford College, one of the most prestigious institutions in the world, is $12,000 per year. Student loans may be considered even predatory [2], adding to the…

I always found the following expression amusing:

"Universities are actually hedge funds that happen to have a school attached to them".

Re: U.S. forgives 40k student loans

#124

Post by bombcar » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 4:37 PM UTC

musicale wrote: post #88

gzer0 wrote: post #37

My master plan is to eventually have 13 graduate level Master's degrees under my belt. Why you may ask? If one is enrolled as a full time "student", the student loan monthly payments are paused. Since, at least for me, I can handle being a full time Master student and also my full time remote-only job, this isn't an issue. The reason I am doing this is because there is $1.6 trillion in student loan debt; the governme…

> the student loan monthly payments are paused And the interest is capitalized at the end. That's what the banks are counting on.

He who dies with the most debt wins.

Re: U.S. forgives 40k student loans

#125

Post by fortran77 » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 4:38 PM UTC

mrep wrote: post #92

fortran77 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. Tuitions will drop like a rock.

Maybe for the bottom schools but there are enough rich parents to pay/cosign a loan for like the top 50 schools and I highly doubt they would reduce tuition/spending and risk hurting their rankings.

Who cares about the top 50 schools? I went to Hofstra University, graduated with no debt (worked while going there and commuted by bus!) and I did just fine. I’ll be damned if I’ll subsidize someone else’s 4-year country club experience at a “top school”. Noting terrible will happen if only kids with rich parents went to them.

Re: U.S. forgives 40k student loans

#126

Post by guhidalg » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 4:38 PM UTC

vnchr wrote: post #97

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #26

I know every European seems to ask this of every American but what is the resistance to a welfare state? if you look at a government as investing in its citizens like a VC fund, then providing education and medical care is sensible, and some will turn out fine and others will be Bezos and then you can get your investment back via tax. I am honestly trying to avoid the flame war here - but I do it know how else to fra…

Personally, I’m concerned about our government’s track record of mismanagement and infighting that is detached from the needs of the people. Without that implicit trust, giving them more power is a general concern. Speaking geopolitically, the US military is the most powerful force in history including present day and our economy is the largest globally, which makes us coveted by those who seek to wield power for the…

> I’m not trying to equate welfare with tyranny, of course.

But that's exactly what your first paragraph did, at least in the case of the US. Why do you think welfare "works" for Sweden and would not work for the US? Is Sweden tyrannical?

Re: U.S. forgives 40k student loans

#127

Post by pmoriarty » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 4:39 PM UTC

loourr wrote: post #12

It's crazy to cancel student loans and still keep issuing the exact same loans. If we believe the loans are unjust then the government should stop handing them out as the very first step.

School should just be free in the US, as it is in other civilized countries.

Re: U.S. forgives 40k student loans

#128

Post by exabrial » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 4:39 PM UTC

When you say "cancelled", do you mean "told the creditors to eat shit" or "we paid the creditors off"? Because everyone thinks #1 is happening, when usually it's #2.

Re: U.S. forgives 40k student loans

#129

Post by tedivm » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 4:39 PM UTC

branon wrote: post #91

endtime wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's where the 40,000 in the headline comes from. But the article also says this: > Several thousand borrowers with older loans will also receive forgiveness through income-driven repayment (IDR) forgiveness, plus another 3.6 million borrowers will receive at least three years of additional credit toward IDR forgiveness, the Education Department said in a statement.

Does this mean full-time public service workers with pre-PSLF loans, or are the feds debating broadening the scope of loan forgiveness to include persons in other careers as well?

They aren't changing the scope at all- they're just fixing some problems that meant people who should have gotten their loans forgiven but didn't will finally get that problem corrected, and they're granting credits for people who are already in the system. This will now allow a single person outside of that program to benefit, and it won't add new people to the program.

This may change with future actions, but quite frankly it's kind of embarrassing that they're claiming this is a win when all they did was follow through on a promise made years ago that was basically ignored.

Re: U.S. forgives 40k student loans

#130

Post by moralestapia » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 4:39 PM UTC

I could imagine there's a lot of people who:

1. Are paying/had paid their mortgage properly. Usually implies being down to earth and choosing a home you can actually afford.

2. Paid their student loans.

3. File and pay their taxes properly.

4. Have never went unemployed, or better yet, they're self-employed.

5. Never played stock market bets, as they're more conservative and prefer to save money in a predictable way through the years/decades (yes, decades).

6. Didn't get bailed out for COVID as they were not eligible because of 4, or they didn't need it because of 5 and their own savings bailed them out.

They should feel really pissed off right now, with just cause.