If there is an afterlife I hope MOHELA roasts in it. They are run BY THE STATE OF MISSOURI meaning that they filed the lawsuit to block debt relief, and then they turned around and with their gravy train intact decided to.....not adequately staff themselves. So payment plan applications already cleared through studentaid.gov are taking months to process and the wait time to speak to someone (since their website can't help you) is measured in hours. I called at the time they opened and had to wait an hour.
They put me on that shiny new SAVE program rather than the ICR plan I applied for, which resulted in my payments being listed at $680 rather than the approved $260 because the SAVE plan thinks I want to pay this loan off in five years which would SUSPICIOUSLY RESULT in me paying off the loan juuuuust before I hit the 25 year forgiveness mark.
I'm sure there's someone at MOHELA responsible for correcting the credit reporting and they have a backlog of about six months to work through.
We are faced with two opposing factions. "progressives" (now a dirty word) people who wish to make progress and change America for the betterment of all, promote education and science and make fact based decisions on issues, and "conservatives" those who wish to return to some mythical time which never existed where all issues and decisions are based upon Bronze Age mythology and fictional accounts of a "pre-woke" America. Choosing which side to endorse should be a "no-brainer"
The problem is, for the MAGA, education is not really necessary, in fact it's a detriment. "Don't need no fancy college degree!" is the rallying cry of the proudly ignorant.
The answer is obvious. The public school system should be changed from k-12 to k-16,. This could be easily and cheaply accomplished utilizing existing school buildings and online programs. Existing colleges and universities would convert to post graduate degree programs only. Eliminating the summer vacation would allow for students to graduate with the equivalent of a Bachelor's degree at the age of 19 or 20. Too simple??? the ""right people" would experience a loss of revenue?? Too fucking bad!!
Uhm, if you want children to learn you need to get them out of school so they don't get demotivated by the trauma. It is a massively hostile environment that is especially hostile to learning. If I had been aware of the option (and if it were legal here) I should have skipped high school and just started studying on my own for university. It took me a couple months to prepare for two subjects on the university entrance exam, and when I was in high school there were 6 subjects taught, so I could have been done in less than two years instead of the five years of torture it took.
I am torn between feeling scared for the Israelis in the areas around Gaza-dozens of hostages, 100 dead so far and nearly 1000 wounded, people hiding out in their houses-and rage at fucking Bibi and his fucking incompetent fascist government for getting caught with their pants down. And of course rage at the subhuman terrorist scum from Ham-ass.
Fucking Hamas murders entire families in their homes, takes grannies in wheelchairs and small children hostage, takes videos of parading corpses of women, and that’s your comment? Fuck off.
My way (1971-75) was Vietnam G.I. Bill and working part-time in a local resort (full-time May-September). UW-Oshkosh also had a program where a student could pay 40% on/before the first day of classes, and two subsequent payments of 30%, with a bit of interest.
I believe most Americans think it's okay to pay collectively for children's education since, after all, we know it's necessary for kids to get a decent education, and many parents can't afford to pay out of pocket. Well, for decades now we've been telling young adults that it's necessary (even if technically optional) for them to graduate from college. But then we allow that achievement to become obscenely unaffordable. If it's so necessary to get a college degree, shouldn't we as taxpayers be fine with substantially subsidizing higher education, just as we're fine with ponying up for public primary and secondary school? That seems reasonable to me. Education is a huge priority, especially for a democratic society, so we ought to treat it that way.
That's true, and even for a good while after that it prevailed in spite of gathering opposition on the right. When I did my graduate studies at a Univ. of California campus during the 1990s, tuition was still quite low. Those days are gone, that's for certain.
I once posted, a million years ago, that AOC reminded me of Pelosi OG who pushed Congress in all kinds of insanely progressive ways like the first AIDS hearing, flying to China to stand for arrested demonstrators, and her endlessly slog towards universal health care. I hope that she chooses a future as Jefferies' Hoyer.
I am a professional font whisperer, so I recommend that to match the letters on Bluto's sweatshirt, use the lower case letters from... you guessed it - College.
Unfortunately the loan servicers are acting like the orange one is still the president. Back in 2021 when the first payment pause was expiring I filed to have my IDR changed to whatever was the lowest payment. At the time, FedLoan moved me from ICR to REPAYE and said the payment would be $90 instead of $326.
Then FedLoan quits and I get moved to MOHELA because they take over PSLF borrowers (Come on Feb 2025!). SAVE gets announced and I expect that when things restart that my payment amount would rise a little. Then MOHELA writes a letter on September 9, which doesn't show up in my account until September 21 and says my monthly payment is going up to $520 under SAVE and it's due on October 10. Yikes! I can't afford that!!
I file immediately for an IDR adjustment and at least StudentAid.gov has modernized and shows what my expected payment amounts will be under other programs, I file to go back to ICR because they say it would lower the payment to $206. However, now it's up to MOHELA to process and when I called the other day to try to work something else they said "Yeah we see your request but we're also 3 weeks behind on processing IDR so you'll have to wait, maybe you can ask for a forbearance." So that's in right now, and hopefully they process that before the due date.
What I want to know though is how my info got so grossly miscalculated that SAVE actually raised my payments versus the former REPAYE calculation, but no one seems to have a good answer right now.
I am in the SAME BOAT right now and I think it is because ICR is looking at "what is the least amount you could pay and still pay this back in a reasonable amount of time, understanding you could pay more interest" and SAVE is saying "OBVIOUSLY you want to pay more to save on interest, right?" Which...no, no I do not.
Yeah, that's not how it should work at all. Some have speculated SAVE is not correctly calculating if you're married filing separately on your taxes, which we are due to me being a high earner and lower student loan debt compared to my spouse. In the past when we have run the calculations against other IDR plans, any tax savings (about $650/month) would be immediately eaten by the expected student loan payment for his loans ($1500/month!). It would be nice for some help in those situations.
Also looking at that SAVE amount I got, it's like they're hoping I would just pay most of it off before hitting PSLF.
I'm married filing jointly--at the 2022 tax return I was the higher earner and had all the student debt (and now I'm the lower earner with all the student debt!)
I 10000% think they are calculating the SAVE amounts to pay off before any kind of forgiveness kicks in.
Seems like it, and that kind of defeats the point of it. In the 15 months I have left before PSLF kicks in, I would pay 8K towards the 17.8K I have left if I stay on SAVE.
I'm on the phone with my servicer now, they claim they got me switched back to ICR and down to the $206, but now I'm in a different hold line waiting to talk to someone to see if I can get the $520 due tomorrow to be lowered. Paying that is a hardship though it can be done.
"$5.2 billion in new debt relief for 53,000 borrowers, "
That's... almost a million pp. That's insane!
I was one of those who had the debt forgiven in August 2023 - received a letter from MOHELA stating such.
My online account balance at MOHELA is $0. My online account balance at StudentAid.gov is $0.
Yet, my credit report as of 10/07/23 says my MOHELA balance is $129,571.97.
I've complained to the CFPB that MOHELA reporting this balance to all three credit reporting agencies and nothing is being done.
This nightmare just won't end!
Oh no you've activated my trap card.
If there is an afterlife I hope MOHELA roasts in it. They are run BY THE STATE OF MISSOURI meaning that they filed the lawsuit to block debt relief, and then they turned around and with their gravy train intact decided to.....not adequately staff themselves. So payment plan applications already cleared through studentaid.gov are taking months to process and the wait time to speak to someone (since their website can't help you) is measured in hours. I called at the time they opened and had to wait an hour.
They put me on that shiny new SAVE program rather than the ICR plan I applied for, which resulted in my payments being listed at $680 rather than the approved $260 because the SAVE plan thinks I want to pay this loan off in five years which would SUSPICIOUSLY RESULT in me paying off the loan juuuuust before I hit the 25 year forgiveness mark.
I'm sure there's someone at MOHELA responsible for correcting the credit reporting and they have a backlog of about six months to work through.
FLAMES. FLAMES ON THE SIDES OF MY FACE.
Those of us old enough to remember the "Good Old Days" know that they were not all that good/. Especially if you were non-White or female
We are faced with two opposing factions. "progressives" (now a dirty word) people who wish to make progress and change America for the betterment of all, promote education and science and make fact based decisions on issues, and "conservatives" those who wish to return to some mythical time which never existed where all issues and decisions are based upon Bronze Age mythology and fictional accounts of a "pre-woke" America. Choosing which side to endorse should be a "no-brainer"
The problem is, for the MAGA, education is not really necessary, in fact it's a detriment. "Don't need no fancy college degree!" is the rallying cry of the proudly ignorant.
The answer is obvious. The public school system should be changed from k-12 to k-16,. This could be easily and cheaply accomplished utilizing existing school buildings and online programs. Existing colleges and universities would convert to post graduate degree programs only. Eliminating the summer vacation would allow for students to graduate with the equivalent of a Bachelor's degree at the age of 19 or 20. Too simple??? the ""right people" would experience a loss of revenue?? Too fucking bad!!
Public college should be free.
Uhm, if you want children to learn you need to get them out of school so they don't get demotivated by the trauma. It is a massively hostile environment that is especially hostile to learning. If I had been aware of the option (and if it were legal here) I should have skipped high school and just started studying on my own for university. It took me a couple months to prepare for two subjects on the university entrance exam, and when I was in high school there were 6 subjects taught, so I could have been done in less than two years instead of the five years of torture it took.
I am torn between feeling scared for the Israelis in the areas around Gaza-dozens of hostages, 100 dead so far and nearly 1000 wounded, people hiding out in their houses-and rage at fucking Bibi and his fucking incompetent fascist government for getting caught with their pants down. And of course rage at the subhuman terrorist scum from Ham-ass.
Israel has treated the Palestinians like crap since 1948.
Fuck, and I mean this sincerely, all the way off.
What???
Fucking Hamas murders entire families in their homes, takes grannies in wheelchairs and small children hostage, takes videos of parading corpses of women, and that’s your comment? Fuck off.
What should do the Palis do, after being harassed since 1948?
STILL RIDIN' WITH BIDEN (AND HARRIS, TOO)
Mine’s gone. $2400 in 1983 dollars that interest swelled up to $11k. Boom, vanished. Thanks, Diamond Joe!
I paid for college playing in a bar band on weekends. NO student loans at all. Can't do that today
My way (1971-75) was Vietnam G.I. Bill and working part-time in a local resort (full-time May-September). UW-Oshkosh also had a program where a student could pay 40% on/before the first day of classes, and two subsequent payments of 30%, with a bit of interest.
I believe most Americans think it's okay to pay collectively for children's education since, after all, we know it's necessary for kids to get a decent education, and many parents can't afford to pay out of pocket. Well, for decades now we've been telling young adults that it's necessary (even if technically optional) for them to graduate from college. But then we allow that achievement to become obscenely unaffordable. If it's so necessary to get a college degree, shouldn't we as taxpayers be fine with substantially subsidizing higher education, just as we're fine with ponying up for public primary and secondary school? That seems reasonable to me. Education is a huge priority, especially for a democratic society, so we ought to treat it that way.
As I say above, and have been saying for years, should be k-16 not k-12
Up through the 60s that was already the understanding.
That's true, and even for a good while after that it prevailed in spite of gathering opposition on the right. When I did my graduate studies at a Univ. of California campus during the 1990s, tuition was still quite low. Those days are gone, that's for certain.
Long time reader who has donated when she could, first time non-commenter. I've been too intimidated to say until now (wine-based courage!). So, hi!
Hi there!
Hi Claire! I too lurked forever. My courage was beer- and weed-based though. It's a great community.
Hi, Uncle Andy! Thank you for the warm welcome :)
(sigh)
*deducts $152 from checking account for October...*
higher education = higher pay = higher income tax collected … if higher education were free it would pay for itself …
I once posted, a million years ago, that AOC reminded me of Pelosi OG who pushed Congress in all kinds of insanely progressive ways like the first AIDS hearing, flying to China to stand for arrested demonstrators, and her endlessly slog towards universal health care. I hope that she chooses a future as Jefferies' Hoyer.
Really not that OT, since it's about the header photo of America's Greatest Senator, John "Bluto" Blutarski:
𝘕𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵; 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘧 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥.
I am a professional font whisperer, so I recommend that to match the letters on Bluto's sweatshirt, use the lower case letters from... you guessed it - College.
https://www.dafont.com/college.font
Unfortunately the loan servicers are acting like the orange one is still the president. Back in 2021 when the first payment pause was expiring I filed to have my IDR changed to whatever was the lowest payment. At the time, FedLoan moved me from ICR to REPAYE and said the payment would be $90 instead of $326.
Then FedLoan quits and I get moved to MOHELA because they take over PSLF borrowers (Come on Feb 2025!). SAVE gets announced and I expect that when things restart that my payment amount would rise a little. Then MOHELA writes a letter on September 9, which doesn't show up in my account until September 21 and says my monthly payment is going up to $520 under SAVE and it's due on October 10. Yikes! I can't afford that!!
I file immediately for an IDR adjustment and at least StudentAid.gov has modernized and shows what my expected payment amounts will be under other programs, I file to go back to ICR because they say it would lower the payment to $206. However, now it's up to MOHELA to process and when I called the other day to try to work something else they said "Yeah we see your request but we're also 3 weeks behind on processing IDR so you'll have to wait, maybe you can ask for a forbearance." So that's in right now, and hopefully they process that before the due date.
What I want to know though is how my info got so grossly miscalculated that SAVE actually raised my payments versus the former REPAYE calculation, but no one seems to have a good answer right now.
I am in the SAME BOAT right now and I think it is because ICR is looking at "what is the least amount you could pay and still pay this back in a reasonable amount of time, understanding you could pay more interest" and SAVE is saying "OBVIOUSLY you want to pay more to save on interest, right?" Which...no, no I do not.
Yeah, that's not how it should work at all. Some have speculated SAVE is not correctly calculating if you're married filing separately on your taxes, which we are due to me being a high earner and lower student loan debt compared to my spouse. In the past when we have run the calculations against other IDR plans, any tax savings (about $650/month) would be immediately eaten by the expected student loan payment for his loans ($1500/month!). It would be nice for some help in those situations.
Also looking at that SAVE amount I got, it's like they're hoping I would just pay most of it off before hitting PSLF.
I'm married filing jointly--at the 2022 tax return I was the higher earner and had all the student debt (and now I'm the lower earner with all the student debt!)
I 10000% think they are calculating the SAVE amounts to pay off before any kind of forgiveness kicks in.
Seems like it, and that kind of defeats the point of it. In the 15 months I have left before PSLF kicks in, I would pay 8K towards the 17.8K I have left if I stay on SAVE.
I'm on the phone with my servicer now, they claim they got me switched back to ICR and down to the $206, but now I'm in a different hold line waiting to talk to someone to see if I can get the $520 due tomorrow to be lowered. Paying that is a hardship though it can be done.