Student debt forgiveness argument

mule_eer

Freshman
May 6, 2002
20,439
59
48
I read yesterday where Senate Dems and Biden are at odds about the up to $50k loan forgiveness. Schumer and Warren are asking for it to be done by executive order. Biden is saying that it should be done through legislation. I'm not arguing that this should happen, but,if it's going to, why not push this spending through the normal process?
 

Airport

All-American
Dec 12, 2001
86,295
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I read yesterday where Senate Dems and Biden are at odds about the up to $50k loan forgiveness. Schumer and Warren are asking for it to be done by executive order. Biden is saying that it should be done through legislation. I'm not arguing that this should happen, but,if it's going to, why not push this spending through the normal process?
Because they can't. They would be forced to goon the record and with an election in 2 years, they're afraid of losing the house and more senate seats.
 
Jan 4, 2003
44,736
537
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I read yesterday where Senate Dems and Biden are at odds about the up to $50k loan forgiveness. Schumer and Warren are asking for it to be done by executive order. Biden is saying that it should be done through legislation. I'm not arguing that this should happen, but,if it's going to, why not push this spending through the normal process?
I do NOT agree with the 50 grand.....unsure of the 10 grand.........having said that my first year at Glenville was 892.00 for everything except spending money and my 4 year total was less than 5 grand....but if we are forgiving student debt then they owe me $1100 and I want it back now!!
 
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Airport

All-American
Dec 12, 2001
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I do NOT agree with the 50 grand.....unsure of the 10 grand.........having said that my first year at Glenville was 892.00 for everything except spending money and my 4 year total was less than 5 grand....but if wed are forgiving student debt then they owe me $1100 and I want it back now!!
In 72, my tuition at wVU was $90 per semester, with room and board amounting to 750 per semester. As soon as the fed govt started guaranteeing these loans, everything started to sky rocket. Unreal what I'm paying for two right now.
 

Pospecteer

All-Conference
Dec 8, 2006
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The legislature will not touch this...it has to be done be executive order. Interesting that Higher Ed is not supporting this...they do not want this to happen. This is a campaign stunt turned bad idea...
 

cam_blev

Senior
Oct 7, 2005
6,458
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My question is with student loan "forgiveness" does this mean they are making the lenders forgive the loans or does this mean Federal Government will pay off those loans? I guess i could feel differently about each of those scenarios.

BTW Federal student loans are the reason the price of tuition has sky rocketed.
 

Mntneer

Sophomore
Oct 7, 2001
10,192
196
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My question is with student loan "forgiveness" does this mean they are making the lenders forgive the loans or does this mean Federal Government will pay off those loans? I guess i could feel differently about each of those scenarios.

BTW Federal student loans are the reason the price of tuition has sky rocketed.

Tuition has also sky rocketed because of things like the Student Rec Center. Universities are spending money by the millions on facilities and amenities in an attempt to draw even more students to campus. Federal Student loans ensures that pipeline, but they spend more to bring in more and therefore have no alternative then to increase tuition rates.

First thing they could do. Strip down a Bachelors Degree to 3 years as opposed to 4. Secondly, work with employers to stop pushing for Masters when it comes to employment.
 

cam_blev

Senior
Oct 7, 2005
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Tuition has also sky rocketed because of things like the Student Rec Center. Universities are spending money by the millions on facilities and amenities in an attempt to draw even more students to campus. Federal Student loans ensures that pipeline, but they spend more to bring in more and therefore have no alternative then to increase tuition rates.

First thing they could do. Strip down a Bachelors Degree to 3 years as opposed to 4. Secondly, work with employers to stop pushing for Masters when it comes to employment.
But the option to raise tuition is only there because the loans are federally guaranteed, without this risk being subsidized by the federal government (and US taxpayers dollars) no bank would have taken the risk to loan that kind of money to 18 kids with no collateral or credit history.
 

mule_eer

Freshman
May 6, 2002
20,439
59
48
I do NOT agree with the 50 grand.....unsure of the 10 grand.........having said that my first year at Glenville was 892.00 for everything except spending money and my 4 year total was less than 5 grand....but if wed are forgiving student debt then they owe me $1100 and I want it back now!!
I tend to agree with you on this, and I was in a similar boat for tuition. My last semester at WVU, tuition cracked the $1000 mark per semester, barely. I left school with no debt.

If we are doing loan forgiveness, I want it targeted. There are several programs for that available to people now. Most have to do with providing a service to an under served community, teaching, medical, social services, etc. I would be ok with building on that idea for more loan forgiveness programs, but not blanket forgiveness.
 

mule_eer

Freshman
May 6, 2002
20,439
59
48
Tuition has also sky rocketed because of things like the Student Rec Center. Universities are spending money by the millions on facilities and amenities in an attempt to draw even more students to campus. Federal Student loans ensures that pipeline, but they spend more to bring in more and therefore have no alternative then to increase tuition rates.

First thing they could do. Strip down a Bachelors Degree to 3 years as opposed to 4. Secondly, work with employers to stop pushing for Masters when it comes to employment.
Another issue is support for state schools. I think WV actually does pretty well with that. Colorado does not. The stupidity taxs in CO partially go to education. You would think that would help lower the tuition rates, or at least keep them stagnant. It does not. It's no more expensive to send a CO kid to WVU than it is to send them to CU.

Edited to define stupidity taxes: lottery and pot taxes.
 

dave

Senior
May 29, 2001
60,601
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I read yesterday where Senate Dems and Biden are at odds about the up to $50k loan forgiveness. Schumer and Warren are asking for it to be done by executive order. Biden is saying that it should be done through legislation. I'm not arguing that this should happen, but,if it's going to, why not push this spending through the normal process?
Congress doesnt want to do anything anymore. Its part of the reason both Trump and now apprently Biden have to act via EO.
 

Darth_VadEER

All-Conference
Dec 14, 2010
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Silly idea imo, but if the principal amount has been paid, perhaps they could find a deal for remaining interest.

You gotta payback what you took. There needs to be accountability.

The bigger problem is addressing why tuition is so grossly expensive.
 

mule_eer

Freshman
May 6, 2002
20,439
59
48
Congress doesnt want to do anything anymore. Its part of the reason both Trump and now apprently Biden have to act via EO.
I totally agree. The article I read quoted Biden as saying he'd sign it if the bring the bill to his desk. Their response was that EO would be faster and easier. He bought them 8 months with an EO pausing payments and interest accrual. They can't pass this important bill in 8 months with both houses? Lazy.
 

Pospecteer

All-Conference
Dec 8, 2006
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Lot's to unpack here.
  • There are only a couple of private student loan providers left. Wells Fargo was the most recent to leave the space. Those loans require a co-signer 95% of the time for traditional students.
  • Federal Loans are out of control and everyone qualifies.
    • The most indebted to federal student loans are in Medicine and Law. I think the avg. PT comes out of WVU $90,000 in debt. An MD is over $200,000. Law is over $100,000
  • There are lots of Federal programs to cancel debt
    • Teach America
    • STEM forgiveness
    • Practicing medicine in an underserved community
    • rural health initiatives
    • If you work in higher ed (maybe gov) for 10 years, your debt is forgiven
    • Military service (before and during
  • One thing is certain, if they forgive debt...free community college will be next...which will really hurt a school like WVU and the smaller state schools. WVU Keyser is growing and now offering programs in construction...it's growing faster than other schools.
 

op2

All-Conference
Mar 16, 2014
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They should make the universities pay back the banks so that former students currently in debt will owe the universities. Then if the universities want to forgive the debt they can.

I can't find the graph now but the cost of college has soared over the past 40 years even after adjusting for inflation. Forgiving student debt without addressing why it came about in the first place is pointless.
 

Pospecteer

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Dec 8, 2006
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I totally agree. The article I read quoted Biden as saying he'd sign it if the bring the bill to his desk. Their response was that EO would be faster and easier. He bought them 8 months with an EO pausing payments and interest accrual. They can't pass this important bill in 8 months with both houses? Lazy.

Student loan pausing has been going on since Covid started.
 

Shirley Knott

Redshirt
May 26, 2017
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My question is with student loan "forgiveness" does this mean they are making the lenders forgive the loans or does this mean Federal Government will pay off those loans? I guess i could feel differently about each of those scenarios.

BTW Federal student loans are the reason the price of tuition has sky rocketed.
Forgive the loans and declare the diplomas voided. Worthless education equals worthless diplomas...
 

COOL MAN

Sophomore
Jun 19, 2001
34,700
110
63
In 72, my tuition at wVU was $90 per semester, with room and board amounting to 750 per semester. As soon as the fed govt started guaranteeing these loans, everything started to sky rocket. Unreal what I'm paying for two right now.

When I started in 1974, I distinctly recall in-state tuition as something like $140/semester (as an out-of-stater, I was paying $625/semester)....I had no idea it was below $100 as recently as 2 years prior.

As for paying kids' tuition, all I can say is I'm glad (or lucky) that both of mine graduated in 2016.....though I wonder what it'd be like if I hadn't folded the leftovers of my own federal loans into a re-fi'd mortgage.
 

op2

All-Conference
Mar 16, 2014
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Why should college kids get their tuition paid, which includes the cost not only of the education but also all the many amenities on campus, but kids that go to school to learn HVAC repair or whatever not get their tuition paid? If anyone should get free schooling on that it should be the latter.
 

Airport

All-American
Dec 12, 2001
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When I started in 1974, I distinctly recall in-state tuition as something like $140/semester (as an out-of-stater, I was paying $625/semester)....I had no idea it was below $100 as recently as 2 years prior.

As for paying kids' tuition, all I can say is I'm glad (or lucky) that both of mine graduated in 2016.....though I wonder what it'd be like if I hadn't folded the leftovers of my own federal loans into a re-fi'd mortgage.
When I tell that to students now,I get all kinds of responses. Did they let u break that up?
 

Pospecteer

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Dec 8, 2006
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Why should college kids get their tuition paid, which includes the cost not only of the education but also all the many amenities on campus, but kids that go to school to learn HVAC repair or whatever not get their tuition paid? If anyone should get free schooling on that it should be the latter.

Tech school students also receive federal student loans.
 

roadtrasheer

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Sep 9, 2016
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Since they want someone else to pay for what makes their living, can I get someone to pay for my new welding rig ? 47,000 ...
Please ?
We live in a free country, we all have the freedom of choice on what we will do for a living. A person with a touch of common sense does a little research to find out if they will recoup their investment on education & chooses a career that will pay for their education. Instead of graduating & spending money like a drunken pipeliner coming off a 7'12 job people need to pay there tuition off then move on to bigger & better things .I believe financial responsibility or lack off is the biggest problem.....people want something for nothing.
 

op2

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Mar 16, 2014
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Tech school students also receive federal student loans.

Loans are one thing but free schooling is another. Also, tech school kids get loans for their tech school education but the loans don't cover their gym membership or their health care, etc like kids in college get. If we're going to pay of school loans, let's pay off only the part for the actual education. It's not fair to tech school kids for college kids to get the other parts paid off unless they're going to pay off tech school kids for their past gym memberships and the like.
 

Darth_VadEER

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Dec 14, 2010
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What about schools doing direct financing and assuming the risk?

Essentially a mortgage. A down payment and then financed into long term monthly payments.
 

op2

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Mar 16, 2014
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What about schools doing direct financing and assuming the risk?

Essentially a mortgage. A down payment and then financed into long term monthly payments.

I'm all in favor of that but the schools won't be because that means they'll have to actually start to deliver a product that is worth the price, which they don't want to do. They'd rather rip the students off and then when the students are in big debt down the road, have the taxpayers bail the students out.
 

Darth_VadEER

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Silly question, but in our digital age do current students still purchase books like we all did?

Or are they digital but at the same price?

It was always a fun night when people started selling their books back...what a corrupt system.
 

op2

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Mar 16, 2014
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Silly question, but in our digital age do current students still purchase books like we all did?

Or are they digital but at the same price?

It was always a fun night when people started selling their books back...what a corrupt system.

I don't know, but between the digital age and the virtual age, college costs should have gone down over the past few decades. Instead they went way up.
 

COOL MAN

Sophomore
Jun 19, 2001
34,700
110
63
When I tell that to students now,I get all kinds of responses. Did they let u break that up?

Not exactly sure what you're asking me, Air.......but if you mean how I managed the two college loans; all I did was take the total balance of those two loans and re-fi that added amount with my remaining mortgage balance. I then simply wrote checks to Uncle Sam to zero-out the two college loans; and I've been paying off the combined tuition/mortgage balance ever since.

In other words, mine was nothing more than a simple debt consolidation from three loans into a single loan. And if I misunderstood the question you were asking, please advise........
 

Pospecteer

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Dec 8, 2006
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Loans are one thing but free schooling is another. Also, tech school kids get loans for their tech school education but the loans don't cover their gym membership or their health care, etc like kids in college get. If we're going to pay of school loans, let's pay off only the part for the actual education. It's not fair to tech school kids for college kids to get the other parts paid off unless they're going to pay off tech school kids for their past gym memberships and the like.

Federal Student loans are basically $5,500 per year for undergrad regardless of where you go to school. After that, it's a Parent Plus or other federally backed loans based on income etc.

At WVU, the Rec. center is not part of tuition, it is paid for with the additional $650 +/- per semester fee that covers the cost of sporting events etc....Not all schools have that fee. At PSU, places like the rec. center are an additional charge and paid individually.

The other thing is Cost of Attendance. Each school has it and you cannot borrow more than the COA based on where you live etc. If you went to tech school and did not live at home, you could get a loan to cover the cost of housing and food which could also include a gym membership.
 

Darth_VadEER

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Dec 14, 2010
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I don't know, but between the digital age and the virtual age, college costs should have gone down over the past few decades. Instead they went way up.

My local school district, where teachers retire making $100K+ with beautiful pensions, are already spewing local media with woe as me stories...priming us for a tax raise.

My kids have been virtual nearly all year. The teachers work from home. I drive pass the schools daily and the parking lots are empty.
 

Pospecteer

All-Conference
Dec 8, 2006
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Silly question, but in our digital age do current students still purchase books like we all did?

Or are they digital but at the same price?

It was always a fun night when people started selling their books back...what a corrupt system.

It's mostly Digital now. It's the same price...where they get you are the codes that you need to access the homework etc for each class. My daughter just spent over $500 for on-line access but she does not have one book...easier on the back...
 

spartansstink

Redshirt
Sep 24, 2005
3,374
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Something you get for free has less value than something you pay for.

This is why public education is reeling in mediocrity at best. People simply aren't valuing it because they don't have to pay directly for it. Ergo, our students standing in the world has been steadily falling through the generations.

Our institutions of higher learning have much better esteem. Take away the price tag, make it free, and slowly watch it turn into the failures of the public school system in less than a generation.
 
Jan 4, 2003
44,736
537
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In 72, my tuition at wVU was $90 per semester, with room and board amounting to 750 per semester. As soon as the fed govt started guaranteeing these loans, everything started to sky rocket. Unreal what I'm paying for two right now.
do a few more root canals....problem solved
 

bornaneer

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Jan 23, 2014
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In 72, my tuition at wVU was $90 per semester, with room and board amounting to 750 per semester. As soon as the fed govt started guaranteeing these loans, everything started to sky rocket. Unreal what I'm paying for two right now.
I think I paid 300 several years earlier and was living at home. I'm sure it was 300 because I had to go to a Morgantown bank and get a loan after promised money never showed up at the Western Union the morning of registration at Stansbury Hall.
 

Darth_VadEER

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Dec 14, 2010
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I think I paid 300 several years earlier and was living at home. I'm sure it was 300 because I had to go to a Morgantown bank and get a loan after promised money never showed up at the Western Union the morning of registration at Stansbury Hall.

I graduated in 05-06 and I think I was paying near $17K with room/board/meal plan. Maybe $12K just tuition, as an out of state student...

I could be wrong, just top of my head.