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Should taxpayer money be used to pay for student loans?

Rocketman

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I read a USA Today article this week where a former student was whining because his student loan had a balance of $58,000 forcing him to file chapter 13 but interest on this loan would keep climbing. Are we supposed to feel sorry for him? He spent it, he should pay it back.
 
I read a USA Today article this week where a former student was whining because his student loan had a balance of $58,000 forcing him to file chapter 13 but interest on this loan would keep climbing. Are we supposed to feel sorry for him? He spent it, he should pay it back.

if he can not find a job, how can he pay it back?
 
I think you can still feel sorry for someone and say that it's not your obligation to pay their debts.
 
I read a USA Today article this week where a former student was whining because his student loan had a balance of $58,000 forcing him to file chapter 13 but interest on this loan would keep climbing. Are we supposed to feel sorry for him? He spent it, he should pay it back.

fortunately, declaring bankruptcy to get out of student loans, I believe, has become a lot harder
 
fortunately, declaring bankruptcy to get out of student loans, I believe, has become a lot harder

It was always hard...at least in my recent memory. Maybe it was easy in the 70s or something.

Of course, there are ways around it - if you know the loopholes.
 
fortunately, declaring bankruptcy to get out of student loans, I believe, has become a lot harder

Yes, this guy was only doing it so he could put more toward his loans versus his mortgage. I don't understand why these stupid kids borrow all that damn money, well I do, they have stupid parents that tell them it is ok.
 
In truth, they need to make it harder to borrow money for school. They're doing better, but it still needs to be much more difficult. This way we don't have liberal arts majors asking me if I want to super-size my Big Mac meal.
 
I read a USA Today article this week where a former student was whining because his student loan had a balance of $58,000 forcing him to file chapter 13 but interest on this loan would keep climbing. Are we supposed to feel sorry for him? He spent it, he should pay it back.

Is this a poll? where are the options?:confused:
 
I read a USA Today article this week where a former student was whining because his student loan had a balance of $58,000 forcing him to file chapter 13 but interest on this loan would keep climbing. Are we supposed to feel sorry for him? He spent it, he should pay it back.

I think some federal loan and/or grant money should be available, but only to students who are unable to get traditional private college loans and whose financial situation would mean they were otherwise unable to go to college.

And I think all college loans should become more like small business loans. To get one, you have to submit a plan on what exactly you intend to do at college. What degree you plan to get, and what your employment plans are after college. And if you aren't sticking to it (or you're getting bad grades because of too much drunken partying) the money gets cut off. It would cut down a lot on the people who take out tens of thousands of dollars in loans to go to college and end up with crappy jobs because they got useless degrees.

And I do think you should be able to get out of student loans by filing for bankruptcy. I see no reason why they should be treated differently than other types of loans.
 
I think some federal loan and/or grant money should be available, but only to students who are unable to get traditional private college loans and whose financial situation would mean they were otherwise unable to go to college.

And I think all college loans should become more like small business loans. To get one, you have to submit a plan on what exactly you intend to do at college. What degree you plan to get, and what your employment plans are after college. And if you aren't sticking to it (or you're getting bad grades because of too much drunken partying) the money gets cut off. It would cut down a lot on the people who take out tens of thousands of dollars in loans to go to college and end up with crappy jobs because they got useless degrees.

And I do think you should be able to get out of student loans by filing for bankruptcy. I see no reason why they should be treated differently than other types of loans.

Very astute post. I agree with the first two paragraphs. However, I don't agree with the last two sentences. Having said that, it's not just that easy to eliminate all debt these days, school or not. They've cracked down on people trying to C7 or C13 their way out of trouble.
 
I read a USA Today article this week where a former student was whining because his student loan had a balance of $58,000 forcing him to file chapter 13 but interest on this loan would keep climbing. Are we supposed to feel sorry for him? He spent it, he should pay it back.

I do not know if its just me but schools seem to be pumping out degrees left and right regardless if there is a need or no need for people with those degrees.So I think these schools should be held accountable for students who are unable to fund jobs that require those degrees. This would discourage schools from pumping out degrees left and right.If the government is forking out these loans then automatically certain degrees should be off limits (based on studies projecting the likelihood of someone finding work with those degrees). Schools should be required by law to inform all potential students which degrees will be in demand when they graduate.
 
However, I don't agree with the last two sentences. Having said that, it's not just that easy to eliminate all debt these days, school or not. They've cracked down on people trying to C7 or C13 their way out of trouble.

I'm curious why you don't agree with student loans being treated no differently than other types of loans when it comes to declaring bankruptcy? As you pointed out, it's considerably harder to completely avoid debts when declaring bankruptcy than it used to be. Why do you think student loans need to be treated specially?
 
I don't believe you can declare bankruptcy to get out of student loans.
 
I'm curious why you don't agree with student loans being treated no differently than other types of loans when it comes to declaring bankruptcy? As you pointed out, it's considerably harder to completely avoid debts when declaring bankruptcy than it used to be. Why do you think student loans need to be treated specially?

Well, I think it should be harder for all debt to be cleared, but in the case of student loans...well, I guess I'd be somewhat okay with it if it was enacted under a system you described. I was thinking more about how it is now.

I think you've done a good job at helping to eliminate a free rider system when it comes to education and expense. I'd probably need to see some figures and statistics, under a system enacted the way you envisioned, before making a more permanent opinion about the layout of debt forgiveness.
 
I do not know if its just me but schools seem to be pumping out degrees left and right regardless if there is a need or no need for people with those degrees.So I think these schools should be held accountable for students who are unable to fund jobs that require those degrees. This would discourage schools from pumping out degrees left and right.If the government is forking out these loans then automatically certain degrees should be off limits (based on studies projecting the likelihood of someone finding work with those degrees). Schools should be required by law to inform all potential students which degrees will be in demand when they graduate.

this is already done for the most part
 
you can't, but you can declare 13 to get out of other bills

As long as they are not private student loans or PLUS loans I am not sure why someone would have trouble. With income based repayment options you may never be able to pay them off, but you can keep them at bay.
 
I think some federal loan and/or grant money should be available, but only to students who are unable to get traditional private college loans and whose financial situation would mean they were otherwise unable to go to college.

And I think all college loans should become more like small business loans. To get one, you have to submit a plan on what exactly you intend to do at college. What degree you plan to get, and what your employment plans are after college. And if you aren't sticking to it (or you're getting bad grades because of too much drunken partying) the money gets cut off. It would cut down a lot on the people who take out tens of thousands of dollars in loans to go to college and end up with crappy jobs because they got useless degrees.

And I do think you should be able to get out of student loans by filing for bankruptcy. I see no reason why they should be treated differently than other types of loans.

I agree with everything but the last sentence. You borrow it, you pay it back. Now everyone has to go to the most expensive schools.
 
I agree with everything but the last sentence. You borrow it, you pay it back. Now everyone has to go to the most expensive schools.

Are you saying that should be the case for all debt, or just student loans? Because the former is just not realistic. You can always get out of paying your debts if you're desperate enough to do so. There has to be some provision for people that can't afford to pay back their outstanding debts.

And if it's the latter, then again, why should student loans be special?
 
Are you saying that should be the case for all debt, or just student loans? Because the former is just not realistic. You can always get out of paying your debts if you're desperate enough to do so. There has to be some provision for people that can't afford to pay back their outstanding debts.

And if it's the latter, then again, why should student loans be special?

Because you don't have to borrow grossly large amounts of money to attend college. Most people have a local college they can attend. All of my kids went to an OVC school, NONE have debt, and we are lower middle class. It is stupid to borrow these large amounts when it is not necessary.
 
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