Free money! Grandpa Joe Biden knows you'd rather not repay your federal student loans, so he's doing his best to wipe out your debt, writes Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute. The new loan-forgiveness plan could cost taxpayers even more than the $500 billion plan struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The cost to taxpayers of the pandemic “pause” on repayments is $238 billion, he writes. But, wait, there's more. It's easier to discharge student loans in bankruptcy. Changes to income-driven repayment (IDR) mean borrowers will pay less and have loan balances forgiven in as little as 10 years. By one estimate, "less than one-third of undergraduate borrowers in programs like psychology, teacher education, and the liberal arts will repay their loans."
The new plan would cancel "huge swaths of debt," writes Hess. Existing law exempts those who unable to pay. The administration seems to want to forgive the loans of those who could pay but don't want to.
The Education Department also has signaled it may seek to cancel repayment for "hardship" cases, writes Hess. This could include "having received a Pell Grant (as if a taxpayer grant represents an excuse not to repay a taxpayer loan) or dropping out of college."
Seventy-one percent of former students would qualify for loan forgiveness under these two conditions, writes economist Preston Cooper.
A Newsweek poll found that 58 percent of voters who hold student debt said they would potentially or absolutely “consider refusing to repay it.” The Biden administration has fostered a mindset in which borrowers increasingly get the sense that they should not expect to have to repay their loans.
As students see loans as gifts, colleges will be able to keep raising prices. Taxpayers' costs will soar.
"If there’s a silver lining" writes Hess, "it’s that Biden’s lawless profligacy has made brilliantly clear the need to rethink the whole wretched enterprise of student lending."
"Progressive" Democrats want an even more debt canceled for more borrowers, reports Politico.
Student Loan Forgiveness vs Big Business and Billionaire forgiven…lets debate this one…smh
So I’m thinking about the Billionaires getting the PPP LOANS and they were forgiven….. Hummmm
The best part about a college degree is how economically useless it is excepting STEM. Good news is those with forgiven student loans are unlikely to ever make enough to pay the taxes that will be required by the loan forgiveness.
But I do foresee the plumber, HVAC guy or electrician charging more if they see a college diploma on the wall. Not only is the holder a college graduate, but by such display the are revealing they fetishize college and likely feel superior to the tradesman.
#CollegePrivilege #GrifterNation #DeadbeatFuture
This plan obviously does not go far enough. When students graduate from college, 93.15% of them don't have enough money to start a business, buy a house, or foment revolution in third-world countries. To fix this, my plan calls for a "get-ahead" payment* of $1,000,000 to each student immediately on graduation. For those who can't graduate, my restorative justice plan would call for a $1,250,000 "empowerment" payment*. Students who return to college for additional education would receive additional payments.
It's the only fair way to assure the success of our students.
* Rather than taxing the rich in general, my plan calls for taxing just one person, Elon Musk, to pay for the program since he can obviously afford it.