Gour lets just talk about student loans for a minute. Do you really want me to feel sorry for people who didn't bother to read the loan details and terms? They all had a choice.
Ron, I get what you're saying but set aside the individual for a moment and think about the effect on society.
A person who was unable to meet the requirements for the loan, or for the school, etc., costs society a tremendous amount of money and resources. This person likely will be unable to return to school, even when they are ready (who says they are ready at 18?), and will likely become a net drag on society as a whole.
It would be cheaper, more cost-effective, and would generate greater economic growth overall if education costs were not an individual responsibility for many individuals not equipped to handle that responsibility. Instead, if society handled the costs of education, we wouldn't be talking about student "loans" but instead better ways to get a return of investment from our education system.
Does this make sense?
My dumb ass sister in law has over 120k in student loans. Why? She went to TCU her father said take loans out and ill pay them all off when you graduate. Fast forward she graduates he throws all his money away and cant pay now. My little brother came home bragging to me that with the student loan forgiveness they were going to get rid of 80 percent or so of her debt. Poof.... gone... I was pissed and I explained it to him. Its unfortunate her father screwed her if you want to call it that, but a debt is a debt.
I get this, and I understand your frustration - but I think you might be missing my argument. I'm not talking about debt forgiveness. I think that's a problem in itself, and it's a bullshit solution without total reform. I'm talking about completely overhauling how we approach secondary and higher education and eliminating the concept of tuition
entirely. Just as you don't pay tuition to attend public high school, you should not pay tuition to attend college. It should be covered, entirely, within the federal budget.
Again, why
not do this? The vast majority of kids in America attend college at some point. How does federalization of collegiate funding make the situation worse than it is at present?
I have no issues with student loans but like all loans they should meet certain requirements. Just white wash away the debt because people are dumb (yes i know this is offensive) and didn't bather to understand the terms of repayment is fiscally irresponsible. They need to pay their debt and learn their lesson.
I do have a problem with student loans. I think they are generally counterproductive. What position does the bank have in this arrangement, particularly when the loans are backed by the federal government to begin with? Why not simply remove the "loan" concept from the equation - or use the federal government and the tax system (IRS) as the lender and then loans would assuredly be paid back. There are so many solutions that simply don't involve private consumer banks issuing loans to teenagers, and all of these solutions seem to make a great deal more sense than our present system. However, since student loans are profit centers for many issuing banks, we don't move legislation forward that can change the status quo. Again, corruption at the corporate level, in the private sector causing as much harm as corruption in the public sector (as if the two were separate to begin with).
I also would have zero problem with how Germany does it but to just clean the slate on billions of debt? We can not afford to do that.
Well, you've answered my larger point by saying you'd agree to a socialized education system. I think that's the most important issue. The loans, for me, are a smaller issue because I'm more inline with your thinking on this rather than most liberals. If you take out a loan, you really need to pay it back.
I do think we can have some form of debt restructuring program for student loans, as well as some level of debt forgiveness for banks that directly benefited from TARP funds.
