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The Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012 introduced in the House

Students out there drowning in their own little puddle of the almost $1 trillion United States student loan debt might see a little bit of metaphorical sun this year in the form of student loan forgiveness. HR 4170, or the Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012, will “provide that if a student loan borrower equal to 10% of their discretionary income for a period of ten years, the balance of their federal student loan debt will be forgiven,” according to the bill’s author, Rep. Hansen Clarke. In his speech to the House, Clarke asserted that in addition to assisting students with sometimes crippling financial burdens, this bill will help stimulate the economy by freeing up funds for millions of individuals, which would in turn help the American job market (I believe the technical term is an “economic tripple whammy”). An official press release on the Clarke’s website further filled out details of the bill:

“This bill would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 by giving borrowers the option to enter the 10/10 loan repayment plan. Borrower’s discretionary income will be defined as any annual income exceeding 150 percent of the poverty line for an individual or family. This bill would also allow graduates who enter public service professions, such as teachers and first responders, to have their loans forgiven in five years instead of ten as well as cap interest rates on federal loans at 3.4 percent.”

“It’s time for Congress to stand up for the rights of student loan borrowers,” Clarke claimed on the House floor to conclude his proposal. “It’s time to forgive these student loan debts.”

Let’s all keep our fingers crossed as this bill starts its long and vicious journey through the House. I know I would personally love to stimulate the economy by picking up a few more six-packs than I could otherwise.

A video of Clarke’s speech to the House can be found here.

  1. Usher says:

    Welcome to world of Slavery! i am 60,000 in debt, and they think i am going to be a teacher to get rid of the student loans? 🙂 teaching jobs are hard to come by as it is. Join Military? Peace Corps? volunteer ?? lol…i have never seen more crooked system in my freaking life. Come up with better system that is far for everyone!!! Not just for few. How many people are going to join peace corps? or who have engineering degrees to become teachers for 5 years and you are going to pay just 15% ??? Fuck you all crooked leaders, hope you all rot in fucking helll!!!!!!!!!!!!! sons of bitches!!

  2. Rosehnas says:

    Hi. I just saw this post as I’m trying to read up on the oregon laws of student loans. Here is my intake on alot of things.

    1. The American people keep pushing our children to go to college in hopes they have the dream that we all crave to have. Which isn’t their fault, but it can lead into many spiraling things – like debt. Most children, like me at 18, have no idea what they want to do. They go in, figuring they will try this out. By the time they realized finally what they want to do, it’s too late and they already have a mass debt.

    I honeslty wished that I took a break before school to realize that I was going into something 8 years later that I orignally wanted to do – whether it would make me money or not.

    2. Not every degree will gaurantee a job. Sometimes you have to push yourself into it and find a way. My best friend’s ex-husband got a BFA and when he came out, it was around the time everyone was getting laid off, includign what he went to school in the first off. Then he had to go up against people with more experience than he did.

    3. I do agree with you, if you get a student loan, you should pay it off.

    4. My main issue is that I wish student loans are a bit more linent and should be understanding of our economy right now. In 2010, I decided to go back to school because I couldn’t get a job and I was defaulting on all my bills. So, I decided to go back to finish my degree, in hopes that I can start my own business. Although I’m going for something mundane as an artist, I had to go back because I didn’t understand how to be on my feet and I’ve learned alot since I came back. So it’s worth it.

    However, all student loans except for a personal loan didn’t default back because I went back to school. Apparently, this personal loan was too far gone for me to do anything about it. Now they are trying to do a lawsuit, and yes, I would love to pay them if I had the money but I am trying to make rent, pay for school that I are not involved via government and scholarships, and school supplies.

    Now, I respect what they are doing, but the fact is, they should have defaulted like the others. Now I have to seek legal counsel to make sure that I do not go to court because – there is no money at this time.

  3. Alicia says:

    Terri, I love your comments, well said. Why isn’t there an uproar for millionaires that have the option of going bankrupt because of poor choices? Or people taking advantage of the welfare system? Or people who received assistance with their mortgages because their loan was more than the homes value? If it is not one thing it is another. I love how judgmental people are. Most of us went with good intentions not to party. Let’s talk about predatory lending for a moment. Sallie Mae handed me a check for $30,000 and I was 19, they sat down with me and showed me how “manageable” my payments would be . . . yeah right, what a joke. I know I am responsible for my decisions, and I believe that most people asking for relief still feel an obligation to pay their loans, but we too could use a little support by reducing the interest, or offer an option to consolidate, etc.

  4. Miaya says:

    It kills me how some one has to be an “idiot” because they take out student loans. Not everyone uses their loans to “party and travel” some people actually try hard to keep grades up so they cannot work due to homework and assignments. Also, everyone doesn’t want to join the army, some people may want to do other things with their life and joining the army is a comitment they may not want. A perosn wanting to go to medical may need loans but that doesn’t mean they aren’t going to pay for it after, but they need help because debt from four years of medical school can be at least $250,000. So stop making it seem like everyone who borrows loans only gets them to do bad with them and not pay them off afterwards. Some of them actually are trying to better their lives and be someone that others can look up too.

  5. Donni says:

    I have a better idea. If you payoff your loan the Government will give you a house. One of the 19 million homes sitting in foreclosure.

    You know what will happen if they don’t do something? Get ready for the biggest freakout of all time. Invest in bullet proof glass and Keflar making companies.

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  7. Bonnie says:

    Why is a 30 year mortgage rate right now 3.75 % and my daughters student loans all at 7.85% ? She is currently a sophmore in college!! and already paying some of the interest.Why shouldnt the student loans be even close to the mortgage rates??? ??She is currently working 2 jobs on campus,1 of which is a RA job.Very demanding and time consumming with much responsibility , pursuing 2 degrees and a minor degree. How many things do we expect these kids to do? she worked all through high school,volunteered in the community, and in school and in church, was a National Honor Society student, a Girl Scout, went on mission trips, tutored, etc. Anything else we expect them to do??, and she will still graduate with 90,000 dollars in debt !!!The kids that have always done the right thing, and should get alittle help somewhere.Either Now or in 10 years After paying back 10% of their income…AND HERES Hoping that they even have a job after years and years and years of doing the right thing !!!! There are Many kids today trying their best to Always Do Their Best and the Right thing.How about alittle slack. This bill is a Good thing !!!

  8. Terri says:

    I support this 100%. It is not a bailout, it is a fixed glidepath to allow millions of Americans the chance to not file bankruptcy, not default on their mortgages and car loans, not be evicted, and to gain a foothold in the economy again. If they go down, they take every one of you complaining down with them. Every job depends on having customers and end-users. Wipe out a segment of the economy and you wipe out a segment of potential customers for your own jobs and endanger those jobs.

    Do you work in a bank? Will several million more mortgage and credit defaults help or hurt your job security? Do you work in a state or local government or for a company dependant on government contracts? Defaults, foreclosures, and unemployment deplete the tax base. Work at Starbucks? If no one comes in for coffee, then they don’t need you.

    You and your economic security are not isolated speshul snowflakes. The American economy is an interlocking net. Break enough strands and it unravels.

    And the lectures about home ownership ::eyeroll::. We paid $40K for our 2500 square foot home and $45K for our 12000 square foot business property. Both had substantial downpayments. When the crash came, the balance on the home was $30K and the business $20K. The combined payments are $750 a month.

    I have paid on my undergrad loans since 1989 and my law school loans since 1998 based on my income. I have never been without a job (I work 4 part-time jobs now). The balance has grown from $80K to a current $225K and my latest amoritzation schedule shows a full payoff of $600K. It can’t be done.

    I was maintaining the bare payments that didn’t even make a dent in the interest when my husband was in an accident that left him paralyzed for life. No health insurance because he was self-employed at his own business, working 60 hours a week. My public service job also didn’t have health insurance.

    Now, all you “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and quit whining” types, please tell me how you would have continued to pay for your own education faced with this situation? I survived by buckling under, taking his job on as well as mine and being his caregiver. Bankruptcy dealt with the consumer and business debt. Negotiations with the IRS assuaged the tax issues. I was able to refinance and temporarily defer the mortgages to not lose the house and business property.

    Sallie Mae and student loan providers? No bankruptcy protection. No negotiation. No restructuring. Nothing but 30-40 robot calls a day, seven days a week and “customer service” reps telling me that “I choose not to make my payments” and “I choose to live the way I’m living” and that $2.5 million in medical bills is “living high on the hog.” I make small weekly payments and am constantly harrassed because I won’t let Sallie Mae dip into my bank account.

    The only hog is Sallie Mae.

    And, by the way, without my education, I doubt I would have been able to cope.

    I’ve worked in public service since 1998. I’ve been a prosecutor, a public defender, a Legal Aid attorney and now I collect child support. If you don’t think these jobs are important to our society, then we have nothing to say to each other.

    As to the soldier. I value your service. However, your education was paid for by the government, which is supported by taxpayers. Yes, you worked for it. But without a healthy tax base, there is no military and no opportunity for people like you to better themselves through public service. So, while I thank you, you should also be thanking me, the American taxpayer, for your opportunity. Don’t criticize people for using the freedom that you helped protect from exercising their own rights to try and better their own lives. Again, the net.

    So, what do educations financed with student loans buy? Teachers, social workers, Legal Aid attorneys, prosecutors, public defenders, judges, child support enforcement, EMTs, rural health doctors, nurse practitioners, forest rangers, naturalists, and the list goes on. The bottom line is that they buy something called “civilization.” All of these jobs require degrees or specialized training. There are no “apprenticeships.” And all pay poorly.

    However, especially in the legal profession, as the public service attorneys who went to school when costs were rational and starting salaries were competitive, begin to retire, it is harder to fill these positions because of the insane student loan debt. The pampered darlings at the top of the scholarship list don’t go into public service, they head downtown.

    “Yeah! But all they do is suck off the government tit! Government sux! Yeah!”

    Okay, the next time you are a crime victim or accused of a crime, do you want there to be a prosecutor and public defender? If you grandmother is facing an unlawful eviction can you afford to hire an attorney for her? Do you want the clinic in your small town (the so-called “Real America”) to have a doctor? Do you want your roads and bridges designed by engineers?

    If you answered “yes” to any of these, then there is a need for rational student loan reform. Because without it, there won’t be people who can afford to take on the burden of the education needed for these jobs.

    Do you have a plan in case of true catastrophe? Don’t be smug about your savings and investments. My entire 401K paid for an hour of my husband’s care. By giving your fellow Americans a helping hand, you are ensuring a hand will be extended to you when your time comes. Have some compassion and some pragmatism.

  9. Terri says:

    I support this 100%. It is not a bailout, it is a fixed glidepath to allow millions of Americans the chance to not file bankruptcy, not default on their mortgages and car loans, not be evicted, and to gain a foothold in the economy again. If they go down, they take every one of you complaining down with them. Every job depends on having customers and end-users. Wipe out a segment of the economy and you wipe out a segment of potential customers for your own jobs and endanger those jobs.

    Do you work in a bank? Will several million more mortgage and credit defaults help or hurt your job security? Do you work in a state or local government or for a company dependant on government contracts? Defaults, foreclosures, and unemployment deplete the tax base. Work at Starbucks? If no one comes in for coffee, then they don’t need you.

    You and your economic security are not isolated speshul snowflakes. The American economy is an interlocking net. Break enough strands and it unravels.

    I have paid on my undergrad loans since 1989 and my law school loans since 1998 based on my income. I have never been without a job (I work 4 part-time jobs now). The balance has grown from $80K to a current $225K and my latest amoritzation schedule shows a full payoff of $600K. It can’t be done.

    I was maintaining the bare payments that didn’t even make a dent in the interest when my husband was in an accident that left him paralyzed for life. No health insurance because he was self-employed at his own business, working 60 hours a week. My public service job also didn’t have health insurance.

    Now, all you “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and quit whining” types, please tell me how you would have continued to pay for your own education faced with this situation? I survived by buckling under, taking his job on as well as mine and being his caregiver. Bankruptcy dealt with the consumer and business debt. Negotiations with the IRS assuaged the tax issues. I was able to refinance and temporarily defer the mortgages to not lose the house and business property.

    Sallie Mae and student loan providers? No bankruptcy protection. No negotiation. No restructuring. Nothing but 30-40 robot calls a day, seven days a week and “customer service” reps telling me that “I choose not to make my payments” and “I choose to live the way I’m living” and that $2.5 million in medical bills is “living high on the hog.” I make small weekly payments and am constantly harrassed because I won’t let Sallie Mae dip into my bank account.

    The only hog is Sallie Mae.

    And, by the way, without my education, I doubt I would have been able to cope.

    I’ve worked in public service since 1998. I’ve been a prosecutor, a public defender, a Legal Aid attorney and now I collect child support. If you don’t think these jobs are important to our society, then we have nothing to say to each other.

    As to the soldier. I value your service. However, your education was paid for by the government, which is supported by taxpayers. Yes, you worked for it. But without a healthy tax base, there is no military and no opportunity for people like you to better themselves through public service. So, while I thank you, you should also be thanking me, the American taxpayer, for your opportunity. Don’t criticize people for using the freedom that you helped protect from exercising their own rights to try and better their own lives. Again, the net.

    So, what do educations financed with student loans buy? Teachers, social workers, Legal Aid attorneys, prosecutors, public defenders, judges, child support enforcement, EMTs, rural health doctors, nurse practitioners, forest rangers, naturalists, and the list goes on. The bottom line is that they buy something called “civilization.” All of these jobs require degrees or specialized training. There are no “apprenticeships.” And all pay poorly.

    However, especially in the legal profession, as the public service attorneys who went to school when costs were rational and starting salaries were competitive, begin to retire, it is harder to fill these positions because of the insane student loan debt. The pampered darlings at the top of the scholarship list don’t go into public service, they head downtown.

    “Yeah! But all they do is suck off the government tit! Government sux! Yeah!”

    Okay, the next time you are a crime victim or accused of a crime, do you want there to be a prosecutor and public defender? If you grandmother is facing an unlawful eviction can you afford to hire an attorney for her? Do you want the clinic in your small town (the so-called “Real America”) to have a doctor? Do you want your roads and bridges designed by engineers?

    If you answered “yes” to any of these, then there is a need for rational student loan reform. Because without it, there won’t be people who can afford to take on the burden of the education needed for these jobs.

    Do you have a plan in case of true catastrophe? Don’t be smug about your savings and investments. My entire 401K paid for an hour of my husband’s care. By giving your fellow Americans a helping hand, you are ensuring a hand will be extended to you when your time comes. Have some compassion and some pragmatism.

  10. Clinton says:

    Also, pay the highest interest (often Private) loans off first. Financially it makes sense. I had private loans too, and they were 6%.

    Im all for capping interest rates on student loans for student protection, BUT, forgiving 45k of a loan because some one in this program makes 10 years of payments and after that has 45k or less in loan debt left, may be an incentive to have people pay their loans for 10 years, but Why should i have to reward them by paying the remainder of their loan after that time? Their reward should be the sense of achievement of repaying their loans and becoming financially responsible.

    When I got my first job, and even after the first couple years, I was still making less than my total Student loan debt. its normal for this to be the case. Its not alarming in any situation. Continue to work hard and you can get through it.

    This Bill has some good parts too it, but they added to much crap in it that will cause it to fail! Just stick with capping the interest rates on loans, and you can pass the bill, but adding all this loan forgiveness by the government (TAXPAYERS) is only going to hold it up and make it fail…

  11. Clinton says:

    Its about living below your means after you graduate college so that you can pay off your loans, rather than Jumping in to live life to the fullest using as much credit as possible. Purchasing a home should come after you have a reasonable savings and have paid off your other debts (including student loan debt). It seems even with a degree, you dont have the patience to get a home when you are ready, and would rather rush it because you cant wait to get your debts paid off first. Live below your means until you can build what allows you to afford a better life.

  12. Clinton says:

    Well said DK. Education after highschool is Voluntary, if you dont want to pay it back, dont go! Also, Student loans are typically at a lower interest rate than a long term 30 year home loan. So I dont feel sympathetic about someone not being able to afford their home because they have school loans and new debt they took on while in and right out of college.

    People need to graduate college and then pay off their loans before they start incurring debt if possible. And Granted, it is not always possible, but too many people graduate college and then finance their lives away.. some get a good job, and buy new things, then they lost their job in the recession… others just like spending, and dont manage their finances well enough (Even With the degree)

    I am not angry at people who went to college. I went to college, financed my college myself, and paid my loans back myself. too many people go to college these days because they expect it to return them far more then without the education. And it should if you utilize the education right.

    But just because someone doesnt get a good job right away, doesnt mean that they should be able to have their education debt forgiven (and paid for by myself and other taxpayers).

    I went to school with a lot of people who got their degrees, and were working at the local best buy or elsewhere, and after their degree they continued as they didn’t put enough effort into finding a better career, and eventually, they ‘sluffed’ it off to the job market isnt good enough in “their specific field anymore.”

    A bachelors degree will allow you to have the education to work in a wide array of fields, and i know a lot of other ‘college grads’ who consider themselves too good to start at the bottom and work their way up, or they are too focused on one or two fields that directly relate to their education. They don’t realize that The bachelors degree will allow them to get their foot in the door at a lot of places, and allow them to learn on the job and work their way up to a strong career.

    I watch our society and see a lot of people who don’t do things for a purpose, but rather do things because that’s what is expected of them, they go to college because that is what their friends are doing, and that’s what they think society expects them to do. There are other alternatives than a college degree to make good money. Many different types of apprenticeships, where you will get paid to get trained so you will be able to do work that will allow you a decent living.

    My Degree landed me a job paying 10.50, which took me a few months to get after i graduated even. But then I put the effort in to develop and advance my career, working my way up. This is AMERICA. Land of the free, the home of the American Dream. We are free and unsubsidized by, or controlled by the government because we are a capitalistic country. if you want your debts paid for, Move to Canada or Russia. Then you can get a job and pay most of your income to the government in taxes. Communism and socialism are Not for America!!! Why would you even want that type of a society?!?!?! People immigrate to America by whatever means possible just for the chance to succeed the way that Capitalism will allow them too. These foreigners are far more dedicated and hardworking, and willing to start at the bottom and work their ways up that an American born citizen. Just look around, you will see this is true.

    I am angry, at people who consistently push the government to give them more, giving up their rights just to get a little extra. Soon America will not be free, our taxes will go up substantially, and America will not be what it used to be… It’s very sad really…

  13. Will says:

    @Nicole – if you do have to suffer, it’s not because you wanted to better yourself. It’s because of the loans you VOLUNTARILY TOOK, knowing full well that they were going to have to be paid back. Basically, you’re saying that you’re not the right type of person to serve in the military, but you ARE the right type of person to deserve free money for your college education. I guess the people you owe money to just aren’t the right type of people to get back the money they paid to send you to school.

    @KM – you’re in debt because of decisions you made yourself concerning your future. Why should people like Kevin and I be required to foot the bill when we DID plan ahead?

    @Jayne – you are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT that we need responsibility from borrowers. But why wait? Who knows when this bill will pass, if it ever does? Why not start with the responsibility on the part of borrowers RIGHT NOW? It’s called “paying off your loans and not demanding that government save you from your own lack of forethought.”

    To those demeaning people (like myself) who pay for their education through veterans benefits while being (understandably) angry that so many who haven’t served are demanding a free ride (which this is), GROW UP. If you had even the slightest idea of what our servicemembers do every day, in wartime no less, you’d be rushing to pat them on the back instead of condescending to them about how they pat themselves on the back.

  14. DK says:

    I worked as young as I can remember and I’m tired of not qualifying for breaks because I was smart w money and landed a descent job. Why should I have to pay taxes on something that was a bad choice by others… Or because others had bad luck in the career area. If I get a large medical bill will that be forgiven? No that’s part of LIFE!! U knew what u were getting into! No where was anyone guaranteed a career after college! Yes bills suck but bailing companies and people out doesn’t do anything.. What lesson does it teach anyone!?! If ur hurting that bad call ur school and qualify for a refinance w a lower interest rate.. I did it w bad credit and I’m proud to say I can make my payments… There’s always solutions but sometimes u need to do some work to get there and not rely on others and the gov’t!!

  15. Carolyn Neitzke says:

    Yes, I have a lot of student loan debt and NO I did not party the money away. I am on my second degree because my first degree rendered me jobless when teachers were getting laid off everywhere. Now I hear that, in my second degree which is nursing that getting hired is also a challenge so some of us, who worked THREE part time jobs and had to take more credit hours per semester (average 18-23) are still in debt up to our ears. I would join the military if I were physically able, but go ahead and pat yourself on the back while demeaning the rest of us hard working Americans!

  16. Bek says:

    Clinton, What’s with the anger toward individuals who get a college degree? I’m a college grad and know very few college grads who expect to “sit on [their asses] and get paid.”

    I think most college students and college grads are smart enough to know that a college degree doesn’t mean they don’t have to work–or that they don’t have to pay back their loans. Sure, there are a few lazy ones out there and some who hoped to fleece the system, but I doubt this is a majority.

    Unfortunately, a college degree does not always translate into a job post-graduation. Again, I know several recent PhD grads who are still looking for jobs and working adjunct teaching or part-time positions to make ends meet while they continue to apply for something more permanent.

    While I’m not sure if this bill is the answer, it would be nice to see something done to alleviate some of the burden. I’m paying my loans on time and at the full amount each month, but it’s caused my income to debt ratio to be such that I can’t afford to purchase a home in a decent neighborhood. That kinda sucks.

  17. Tandy Rye says:

    My husband and I are both teachers. Our parents could not contribute to our educations and we did not get scholarships but we both wanted to go to college. So we have school loans. Lots of them… enough for four degrees, two undergraduate and two graduate.
    Now my only child is in a private college so I have a fifth school loan to repay.
    As a public servant married to another public servant, we really could use a break!

  18. Clinton says:

    Getting a degree doesn’t mean you get to sit back and not have to work hard to earn good money and that just because you have a degree you will earn more.

    The education you get is meant to hone your skills and teach you about the World more than the HighSchool education you received has done.

    You have to work hard if you want to make the money that you think your degree should warrant you.

    In life, there are NO free rides. A Degree doesn’t mean you get to sit on your ass and get paid! Get out and Work. Get the experience needed to work your way up to a good paying job and CONTRIBUTE to society!!!

    America has too many Lazy people who think they are entitled to a good life through being born in the US..

  19. Jimo says:

    It is important to remember that this is hardly a bailout. The IRS considers the forgiven debt to be income and income taxes are assessed on it. For those with any sizable forgiveness, this amounts to a gigantic tax bill.

    Ideally, the government would provide support directly to the schools, using its more sophisticated financial oversight abilities to restrain school budgets. 20 year old students are hardly in a position to do this very effectively.

    That said, the concept of school loans for college are about as sensible as school loans for kindergarten. The benefits extend to the whole of society and the whole then needs to finance it.

  20. justin says:

    Hmmmm. I went to college and got a degree. I have a decent job and can pay my student loans though i have it stretched out to 25 year repayment. I owe 38000 and make 44000. My payment is about 250. The main problem is im married and my wife makes 38000 a year. So if i get divorced id qualify. Thats great. What a terrible bill.

  21. Jayne says:

    I have a feeling that some people did not read the text of the bill properly at all as they are spouting off about the proper use of money, teaching Americans to be responsible, bail-out, etc. This is not a bailout, it does not wipe the slate clean automatically. It requires ten years of payments, that’s no small amount of money. The only thing that is really being forgiven is interest, not the principal of the loan, which in my eyes is worth it (student loan interest is tax-deductible anyway…). People will then have likely paid off the entire balance of the principal and then some. Their discretionary income will then be used on things that stimulate the economy rather than stifle it.
    Comparing student loans to mortgages, car loans or other consumer debt is false. Those loans are based on credit scores and income levels. These loans are not, they are only based on the cost of tuition and room and board at a university and books and fees. Yes some irresponsible people could have used the money for other things, but the vast majority do not as the loans must be certified by the school. So the high levels of debt are more attributable to the cost of the university education rather than the behavior of an individual borrower.
    Yes you could say higher education is a choice, but is it really? Almost any skilled employment requires post-high school education, be it an HVAC certification or an M.D. That is the way of the world now and it’s time for things to change. I feel this act is a step in the right direction because it caps interest rates, forgiveness amounts and can stop things from spiraling out again. It also promotes responsibility by both the schools and borrowers, which is long overdue.

  22. Sean says:

    @Ralph,

    The College Reform Act is even worse than this one. It is not the colleges’ fault that people can’t get jobs. No one told them to major in puppetry, or Women Studies. get a degree in a subject worth something and you will have oppurtunity. Squander your education studying something worthless like Puerto Rican LGBT History, and it’s your own fault. A degree has never guaranteed a job. Only a marketable degree gives you a foot in the door.

  23. IM says:

    we need this to happen. I did everything right and cannot make ends meat with these loans. This has to happen!

  24. km says:

    To Kevin:

    You have the pleasure of patting yourself on the back.

    I am debt without the partying you speak of. I went to 2 deadbeat schools to EARN my Master’s Degree where there was little partying. Turn off the ‘Animal House’ and ‘Revenge of the Nerds’ and stop sulking like a little girl.

  25. Ralph says:

    My Niece, who went to a very expensive college in New England just spammed all her Facebook contacts to support this. She wants to be a Librarian and I think works at a fast food place now after 4 very expensive years of school. Who told her to pursue that kind of career? I guess her liberal parents. I replied to her post LOL! now she will probably de-friend me but that was the nicest thing I could think of, I didn’t want to use the F bomb which was my true thought. Her link said this is sponsored by a Republican Rep. John Kline, that man, if it’s true MUST live in a heavy Democrat district because this is not teaching Americans to be responsible. If they did this? This is a serious political payback to liberal University’s! It will make the problem worse! Vote out Obama and lets get some common sense back in Washington! I’m for someone supporting the College Reform Act where students can sue the SCHOOLS for lack of job results!

  26. CC says:

    NGA I could not have said it better. Thanks for you comment!

    It took me 10 years but I am now student loan free. I did not ask for help and did not get the job I wanted out of school. College opened doors for me overtime; however, I did not get my “dream” job right out of school. In fact, I am thankful I had student loans because without them I would not have been able to pay for school.

  27. NGA says:

    Some of the comments on this thread suggest that student loans aren’t being put to use – or at least not on an economics class.

    If you choose to contract for an “investment” in your future with a party who presently has the means by which to fund your college experience, that is your choice. But understand the consequences – college is expensive and no longer comes with the promise of a lifetime career w/ a pension plan. Turning around and bitching about interest rates – to which you freely bound yourself – is disingenuous and irresponsible.

    Some have suggested, “Interest rates must be lowered and debt forgiven or else our generation will have no money to spend and the economy will die!!!!” If I have one dollar in my right pocket and I move it to my left, do I now have two dollars? Of course not, because money has to come from somewhere. It costs money to provide loans. Thanks to Obama, the fed gov now has a monopoly on student loans which means all that money must come from tax payers. To lower interest rates (below whatever the market rate would be which is difficult to tell) and/or provide debt “forgiveness” would screw all the taxpayers out of their money. Is that fair?

    Why should only teachers and “public” professions get debt forgiveness? What makes their profession so much better than a car salesman, janitor, psychiatrist, or any other private market employee?

    Why stop at debt forgiveness for student loans? Since some people seem to think that forgiving student loans and/or lowering interest rates below the inflation rate will be good for the economy, why not forgive other debts and/or lower the interest rate below inflation? Mortgage? Gone. Car? Debt erased. Credit card? Paid off. Small business loans? No more.

    You don’t have to “suffer for trying to better yourself.” But you do have to pay back the money you freely borrowed.

  28. Edie says:

    What’s disgusting is that I went to college to better my life. I yook out loans that spiraled out of control and became totally unmanagable after i defaulted. I stopped working for about a year and a half when my mom’s cancer became terminal and she needed help. Guess i should’ve let her die alone with no care while i continued to work to pay the banks. THAT’s disgusting.

    This is actually quite fair. 10/10 would pay back what i borrowed and then some. What this act does is take away the “fees” an inflated interest that gors with defaulting. This act makes unmanagable debt managable. It’s not a bailout!

  29. Quinn says:

    I think there needs to be more education about the issue of loans in general before people get upset that this bill is being introduced. Currently my interest rates are at a 6.9% and a 7.0% for my federal loans. I have one private loan that is at 6.8%. These are on the low/mid end of percentages for loans. I don’t see what the issue is with lowering the interest rates. Isn’t college supposed to be an investment to better our current economic situation? Jeanne is soooooooo right! How are we supposed to run this country when we can’t even sustain a good life.

    Secondly…. these are federal loans we are talking about and you CANNOT borrow more money than your expected cost of attendance. Schools provide students with financial aid packages based on EFC, scholarships, amount of credits per semester ect. I am unsure how people could “party away” their money. AND frankly more power to a person if they borrowed money and went to Greece, Costa Rica, Rome or anywhere else during their college experience. (Most likely it was for a class or a service trip) I hope it helped them find a job.

  30. anOutraged says:

    “This bill would also allow graduates who enter public service professions, such as teachers and first responders, to have their loans forgiven in five years instead of ten as well as cap interest rates on federal loans at 3.4 percent.”

    Excuse me, but “teachers” find their jobs to be most obsolete of all. They train, train, train, and by the time they get to the point of teaching they have been replaced by excessive use of technology and that is why children today do not read, do not write, do calculate math without a computer, do not verbally communicate, do not artistically use paint (unless it is graffiti), do not use clay, do not settle an argument without spouting off on Facebook or toting a gun to take down the nation.

  31. Jeanne says:

    Student loans are a nightmare at best! I just completed my Nurse Practitioner after 5 years of continuous school and working full time. I will never make the money I need to have a good living and pay back the student loans…we are damned if we do and if we don’t. I pride myself and my education is doing what I will need to do in order to pay back the loan. However, if anyone thinks you can get something for free…you are mistaken. A loan is a loan, and it must be paid back. its a shame that before our generations there were thousands of students who never paid back a dime. I can only hope I can give back to the public and find somewhere or some program who will forgive part of my loan for helping others…all the while trying to make a living in order to put my own child through college without the pain and suffering I have endured with loans.

  32. Nicole says:

    @kevin I appreciate and support everything you do with the military. But that your choice to go into the military not everyone can do that. And trust me I thought about it because it will rid of my student loan debt. But I am just not the right type of person. So because I wanted to better myself by going to school I now have to suffer??

  33. Nicole says:

    I went to school to get a degree because it would get me a better job. What a joke that was!!! It dd nothing for me. A bachelors degree is worth nothing!! And what am I suppose to do borrow more money to go to grad school for a masters degree that soon will be obsolete once more people get them! I’m not asking for my entire student loan to be forgiven but the government has to do something because once my generation starts in their 30’s well be the main source for the economy and we have no money to spend on anything but our student loans!!

  34. someone says:

    i find the comments from people whom think that many students whom have borrowed and “partied” away their monies away atrocious. i know personally in my family that schools like art institute of orange county have lied and scammed thousands of dollars from students claiming that their units were valid and transferable to other credited schools when they weren’t. their education also has proved worth absolutely nothing. once out of school and after paying an obscene amount in interest (one loan doubled from 10,000 to 20,000) the education is worthless! family member cannot get a job worth more than 10-15 bucks an hour if that! many people have had this experience and have literally been scammed!

    this does not include other valid students whom have worked their butts off for their education and now have massive loans they can not afford due to now having a degree that is worthless and are not able to find careers either at all or that even make enough money to pay these horrendous fees back!

  35. Kevin says:

    This is exactly what’s wrong with this country. Guess I’m the idiot for joining the military to help pay for college and working two jobs jobs to make ends meet while in school. I should have just borrowed a ton of money from the government to travel and party like many that I know. Disgusting.

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