When we got married 20 years ago, my husband owed 27K in undergrad loans. A few years later, when he told me he now owed 29K, I assumed he had lied about the lower amount. I was wrong: he was one of millions "paying off" a debt that just got larger due to interest. There was no end in sight.
Until Joe Biden. My husband got one of those emails last week. His payments (paused during Covid) had already been dropped to 66.00 from over three hundred. Now he's done. Free to teach high school English for the sky-high salary of 57K, which should have been sufficient to clear him of debt long ago.
I'm cool with all the loan forgiveness for people who don't make much money and have been paying for decades on amounts that have exploded by abusive servicers not applying forgiveness rules.
That said we need a revamp of education policies so they don't encourage students to casually take on debt that contributes to the explosion of higher ed costs results in a lot of defaults because people are making bad decisions.
Up to a point this could make sense but this could backfire if not implemented well. A lot of 18-22 year olds are not responsible yet and could waste a lot of taxpayer money.
Thanks for your descriptions of the loan forgiveness efforts by the Biden administration! It cuts through all the BS put out by the right-wing haters who don't want to help anyone but their wealthy donors.
Every time I see an article like this, I bless my mom and dad for having paid for every dollar of my very expensive education, even though we were way far from rich. They truly were wonderful to me.
And I think this loan forgiveness program is an insult to their memories.
That last sentence was nonsense, of course. But it's exactly what Maria Bartiromo said on Fox News about her own parents while discussing the last round of loan forgiveness. Just when I thought that woman couldn't possibly be any more of a ninny...
I don’t like the term ‘loan forgiveness’ when so far it’s been giving people who have fulfilled the terms of their contract have been told that they now have a balance of zero.
Like should have been done years ago.
I’m glad that Biden has gotten that working properly. I just want people to know that he did it by following the law, not by ignoring it.
Ta, Dok. The deceased roommate would have had his loans forgiven; he made payments for YEARS. Despite that, the interest was far more than the total of the original loans. Fortunately, that monster was slain by his death.
Everyone else, let me add my voice to the esteemed Doktor Zoom's: go to the website and see what's what.
I dunno' Dok, but after NOT hearing fuck all from the last round of chiselers (oops, loan servicers) for like 6 or 7 years, I have been reluctant to open that can of worms. IIRC, the last correspondence I got had a balance that was more than I borrowed for 3 years of law school in the 90's. And I had paid a whole lot in between.
But I think you've got me convinced to finally take the plunge. They can't get blood out of stone, and its entirely possible that I'd qualify for a bunch of forgiveness or at least nominal or zero payments.
Thank you so much for all of your reporting on this.
I love Happy Time news like this!!
(and I have no student loans - never did - and we got my husband's paid off years ago - still Happy for other people!!)
When we got married 20 years ago, my husband owed 27K in undergrad loans. A few years later, when he told me he now owed 29K, I assumed he had lied about the lower amount. I was wrong: he was one of millions "paying off" a debt that just got larger due to interest. There was no end in sight.
Until Joe Biden. My husband got one of those emails last week. His payments (paused during Covid) had already been dropped to 66.00 from over three hundred. Now he's done. Free to teach high school English for the sky-high salary of 57K, which should have been sufficient to clear him of debt long ago.
If it was high school science, he could have broke bad and paid off those debts, lib. Blue meth and bootstraps! This is why STEM is so important.
The whole education system is stuck somewhere in the 1930s. It never came back from WWII
$7.4 Billion!!! OMG!!! Get me to the fainting couch whilst I clutch my pearls!! Relax DOD spends that much in less than 4 days.
College could easily be free Change K-12 to K-16 Eliminate summer vacation and people graduate at 20
I'm cool with all the loan forgiveness for people who don't make much money and have been paying for decades on amounts that have exploded by abusive servicers not applying forgiveness rules.
That said we need a revamp of education policies so they don't encourage students to casually take on debt that contributes to the explosion of higher ed costs results in a lot of defaults because people are making bad decisions.
Or we could just make higher education free.
also the for-profit and less scrupulous educational institutions would see this as a potential windfall
Up to a point this could make sense but this could backfire if not implemented well. A lot of 18-22 year olds are not responsible yet and could waste a lot of taxpayer money.
Education doesn't have to be as expensive as your country makes it.
Thanks for your descriptions of the loan forgiveness efforts by the Biden administration! It cuts through all the BS put out by the right-wing haters who don't want to help anyone but their wealthy donors.
I took out a loan for college and paid it off, and funnily enough, I have no resentment of these kids getting a break.
Same. Paid off my grad school loan, and was fortunate to be able to do that efficiently.
This is great use of government.
Every time I see an article like this, I bless my mom and dad for having paid for every dollar of my very expensive education, even though we were way far from rich. They truly were wonderful to me.
And I think this loan forgiveness program is an insult to their memories.
That last sentence was nonsense, of course. But it's exactly what Maria Bartiromo said on Fox News about her own parents while discussing the last round of loan forgiveness. Just when I thought that woman couldn't possibly be any more of a ninny...
Spoiled brat
So, what time Tuesday will we be seeing the announcement of impeachment hearings for Miguel Cardona?
Mm
Mmm
I don’t like the term ‘loan forgiveness’ when so far it’s been giving people who have fulfilled the terms of their contract have been told that they now have a balance of zero.
Like should have been done years ago.
I’m glad that Biden has gotten that working properly. I just want people to know that he did it by following the law, not by ignoring it.
Almost 6 years ago to the day, a fat orange crook who also happened to be POTUS was made to pay 25 million to settle a lawsuit due to his "swindling thousands of Americans out of millions of dollars through Trump University". https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/judge-finalizes-25-million-settlement-trumps-fraud-case-msna1090761
That was a great day. If he hadn't been running for President, he'd still be dragging the cases out.
Ta, Dok. The deceased roommate would have had his loans forgiven; he made payments for YEARS. Despite that, the interest was far more than the total of the original loans. Fortunately, that monster was slain by his death.
Everyone else, let me add my voice to the esteemed Doktor Zoom's: go to the website and see what's what.
Well, fuck. Have some brane klenzer.
https://substack.com/@hamiltonthecrew/note/c-52780099?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=a1wc2
TOE BEANS!! He's such a handsome cat.
I dunno' Dok, but after NOT hearing fuck all from the last round of chiselers (oops, loan servicers) for like 6 or 7 years, I have been reluctant to open that can of worms. IIRC, the last correspondence I got had a balance that was more than I borrowed for 3 years of law school in the 90's. And I had paid a whole lot in between.
But I think you've got me convinced to finally take the plunge. They can't get blood out of stone, and its entirely possible that I'd qualify for a bunch of forgiveness or at least nominal or zero payments.
Thank you so much for all of your reporting on this.