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Comment by readams | Hacker News Reader

Because of government loan guarantees, the cost of tuition will eventually rise to match the entire net present value of the expected lifetime earnings premium. This could easily be in the millions.

Also, we can expect income-based repayment to become the norm, since most will not be able to afford the payments

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They aren’t just government loan guarantees any more: They’re government loans. The government has essentially taken over the undergraduate loan business.

I don’t think the political implications of a significant fraction of 23 year-olds owing $50,000+ to the Federal government have been fully thought through. For one, it’s a huge policy lever. We’ll forgive your loans or reduce your payments if...

I'm kind of fond of the idea of people paying a percentage of their income after they get their degree and for X number of years.

I think that's a fantastic idea. For needed professions, it could be X - Y number of years. Inexpensive and attainable education would be a good thing, I should imagine.

The x-years and y-% could be based on their future earnings. A sort of tiered system with “marginal” rates. I wonder if such a system could exist.

Is this a tongue-in-cheek discussion you guys are having about taxes?

This is sort of how it works in the UK. You pay 9% of what you earn over £X for 25 years (with X and other details like interest depending on when you started borrowing).

In theory, this stops when you pay off your loan, but the most recent estimate I know of[0] predicts that 60% of graduates under the current system will never get there, so while it's technically a loan, it feels more like a graduate tax.

[0] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10747315/... (2014)

This is the law in the us right now

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