As the title suggests.
I completed college. Along the way I acquired student loans. After completing school and getting a job. I paid off my loans, every single dollar I borrowed plus interest.
Forgiving loans opens up the door of entitlement as to who should be privileged to have things forgiven in life.
Good for you. I think those in public service should get some type of break. I also feel the cost of college in the United States is ridiculous.
Good for you. I think those in public service should get some type of break. I also feel the cost of college in the United States is ridiculous.
The cost of college is ridiculous, agreed. But public sector workers usually have better health insurance, regular raises, better job security, and often pension programs. And in many cases they earn as much or more than their private-sector counterparts.
I think it's a strange incentive program given that there are many oversaturated fields where public sector jobs are some of the better jobs available–we're rewarding folks for winning coveted jobs.
There is no real public service loan forgiveness program. There are some private sector endowments which have specific criteria. Any politician promoting a backwards facing loan forgiveness program is just lying to get votes. A public forgiveness of student loan debt is never going to happen. There will likely be free or low cost college options in the future.
As the saying goes there is no such thing as a free lunch. Any loan forgiveness is going to be paid for by someone, mostly taxpayers. That is why I always laugh when I hear the topic discussed. Additionally, the current student loan forgiveness programs have complex and stringent requirements that less than one percent of those who apply to those programs actually get anything forgiven.
As a government employee, I see both sides of the issue. My job doesn't qualify for student loan forgiveness. I do not have issue with those moving to very poor areas to teach getting assistance or some loan forgiveness. I do have issue with the rest of it. You incurred the debt and you should have to pay the debt. I paid mine and worked my butt off to do it.
As the title suggests.
I completed college. Along the way I acquired student loans. After completing school and getting a job. I paid off my loans, every single dollar I borrowed plus interest.
Forgiving loans opens up the door of entitlement as to who should be privileged to have things forgiven in life.
I don't agree with people going to the most expensive college and then applying for loan forgiveness. Taxpayers should not have to pay for private college tuition. I all for loan forgiven of community colleges.
My daughter graduated in2004 and is still paying on student loans. She has been in a forgiveness program since she works for a non profit. It will still be years till her loan enters forgiveness :(
I agree to an extent. It is true that some students will feel entitled, but on the other hand not everyone's situation/circumstance is the same so that changes the scenario.
My daughter graduated in2004 and is still paying on student loans. She has been in a forgiveness program since she works for a non profit. It will still be years till her loan enters forgiveness :(
I’m in the same boat
The way I understand student loan forgiveness has nothing to do with entitlement. The persons have to work in specific fields for certain amounts of time, usually 5 or more years and they have to pay on their loans for certain numbers of months, without missing payments. The regulations are pretty straight forward and sometimes difficult to achieve. A person achieving this feat would be far from feeling entitled I think.
I say don’t hate on anyone that can get a break in this terrible economic and racist environment. We are one of the only countries in the world where education creates debt. Kudos to you for doing it on your own but be happy for anyone that can get help they need. School should be free, PERIOD!
I will be paying on my loans for years to come. I appreciate what I learned in my education, but I wish I didn't have this big debt millstone weighing me down. The career that my education made possible for me doesn't pay a lot.
I don't think that a person should have to go into debt to better themselves and create a better future for their family. I was in a position where my family made too much money to get significant assistance for my education but also didn't make enough to contribute. I chose to join the military and earn the GI Bill to pay for my education. It's not the route for everyone and sometimes isn't an option.
I think it would be more beneficial to society as a whole if instead of forgiveness the government traded service hours for loan payments. I say this because I was doing a lot of volunteer work and really enjoying it (Habitat for Humanity, humane societies, Project C.U.R.E., etc.), and then one day I realized that instead of volunteering my time, I should get a second job and begin paying off my student loans. As I work this second job of mine, it's an okay job, but it definitely doesn't help society or in any way make me feel like I'm giving back to my community. I would have loved to continue volunteering! They could have a program where every volunteer hour equates minimum wage towards your loans. Can you imagine how much service would get done? Clean beaches, food banks, shelters, all these places that desperately need people helping would get the help they need, and those who owe on loans would be able to pay it back with services that build communities. Just an idea!
I think it would be more beneficial to society as a whole if instead of forgiveness the government traded service hours for loan payments. I say this because I was doing a lot of volunteer work and really enjoying it (Habitat for Humanity, humane societies, Project C.U.R.E., etc.), and then one day I realized that instead of volunteering my time, I should get a second job and begin paying off my student loans. As I work this second job of mine, it's an okay job, but it definitely doesn't help society or in any way make me feel like I'm giving back to my community. I would have loved to continue volunteering! They could have a program where every volunteer hour equates minimum wage towards your loans. Can you imagine how much service would get done? Clean beaches, food banks, shelters, all these places that desperately need people helping would get the help they need, and those who owe on loans would be able to pay it back with services that build communities. Just an idea!
Love this idea
I love the idea of of service hours for payments
I have student loans, and I like the forgiveness program.
A few decades ago, it was possible for students to pay for college with a part time job. However, today, an equivalent part-time job would cover less than half. College tuition has far exceeded inflation, as well as the rate of salary increases. Years ago, you could get a decent-paying job with a high-school diploma and work your way up the ladder. Now you have to have a college degree for almost every entry-level job. The company I work for actually went through and demoted all of the supervisors that didn't have college degrees–even though some had been doing the job for decades. Another person I knew was a temp and doing a great job. When the company decided to actually hire someone in for the same position, she wasn't in the running because she didn't have a degree–even though she was already doing the job, and it was a low-level data entry position that paid $14/hour! So we tell our kids not to get into student debt, but good luck finding a decent job if you don't!
As for only going to community college, they don't offer classes for everything. Even state universities don't offer every program, so kids have to go out of state to study what they're interested in. Why should a kid have to pay double to go to a college in a different state, just because their own state doesn't offer what they need? My own community doesn't even have a college, so we have to pay double to go to the CC in the next county–1 mile away.
Don't we want our best and brightest kids to succeed? You can't be a doctor, dentist, chemist, lawyer, etc., with a degree from a CC. Why should only rich kids get advanced degrees and have the luxury of studying what they're interested in, even if they're not the smartest with the best grades? Rich kids already go to the best primary and secondary schools, with all the bells and whistles like AP classes, early college, and even classes on how to ace the SATs. How can kids from poor districts hope to compete with them for college admission? And when poor kids do get into a university, they find that kids from better school districts are already a year ahead in credits because they were able to take early college in high school. They might also have trouble keeping up because their high schools didn't prepare them for college like the wealthier districts do. And how sad that someone brilliant might end up flipping burgers instead of discovering the cure for cancer because they couldn't afford college.
Do we think of free primary school or secondary school as "an entitlement?" Why should we think of higher education that way? All kids–and adults–should be able to attend free, so that we invest in them and in our country's future. It should apply to trade schools and other forms of education, too, so that people can live up to their potential. And they will contribute more in taxes after they graduate and find good jobs.
I don't know how our country is going to compete globally in the future with our dismal education system and little support for higher education. Other countries invest in their people, while we only seem to care about ourselves and our own families, not the greater good. We live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, yet almost all that wealth is concentrated in a small percentage of its citizens. It's very sad.
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There are no easy answers. Those who have been or are being taught the government owes them will always be with us. Especially since that is a platform the politicians use to gain support.
Businesses get government handouts all the time and lots of tax credits. Wealthy people don't pay nearly as much in taxes as they did prior to the Reagan administration. Why shouldn't the government help poor students, too, since we'll be able to earn a lot more with a degree and then contribute more in taxes? We won't be contributing much if all our $ goes to paying down student debt. If you don't like loan forgiveness, then why don't we encourage the government to fund universities better and/or figure out why the costs have skyrocketed compared to everything else?
What does entitlement have to do with it? It sounds like you're not the type to forgive in your personal life. For those of us who work in the public sector serving the community, it's the least.
Yes Kim!
