Comment by paulmd | Hacker News Reader

Comment by paulmd | Hacker News Reader

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So people who do everything right and delayed purchasing a house/etc to pay student loans just get screwed? If I can make my loan payments, they can too.

Student loan forgiveness is a solution that only helps a narrow slice of those affected by the student loan problem. It's not something that just affects those making payments, it affects literally everyone who ever had a loan.

Jubilees are only going to decrease repayment rates (why would I pay if it's going to be forgiven next year) and drive up costs further (the government is paying, so why not renovate the athletic center?).

The first step needs to be getting college costs under control, I'm not sure there needs to be another step. If you took out $100k in loans to pursue a degree in the arts, well, that's your problem.

Maybe lending should be risk based like other types of lending.

250k for med school, sure. 100k for undergrad in women's studies - no government guarantees for you

I'm sure there's enough data already on the RoI of various programs. Seems like there should be a floor / bar based on the RoI for programs to qualify for government backed loans to students.

When the gov is in charge of things, there are too many vested personal interests that would argue certain unprofitable programs need more funding anyway etc... The only way these things can be assessed with certainty is when a private company is giving out the loans and they have real skin in the game.

When did Women's Studies become the Underwater Basket Weaving of the 21st century? Can we go back to a useless major that isn't derogatory?

Are you agreeing that it's a useless major, but objecting because it feels derogatory towards women?

Funny that you recognize the externalities of loan forgiveness but not defaults.

It isn’t just the defaulter’s problem when they default. That loan was securitized and exists in our retirement accounts. That default increase the cost of credit in that market, so loans cost more for the rest of us.

Anyway, not arguing we should erase all student debt. It, we have to acknowledge the problem is bigger than a few people’s bad financial choices.

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