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Comment by SilasX | Hacker News Reader

Not as they currently do it, no, but I imagine (at least with future loans), it could have the penalty that the university would not issue your transcript or vouch for your degree when the loan became delinquent enough. That would be similar in spirit repossession (except that the bank couldn't sell it).

But of course, they wouldn't get to take back any of that valuable knowledge and human capital you acquired there /semi-s

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The whole point of repossession is that he bank can sell it to recover at least some of their loss. Without that, it’s just destructive punishment. You’d be making society poorer by restricting this person’s job prospects, with no gain anywhere to offset it.

I don’t know how you get “the whole point” as being that. The credit scoring system likewise doesn’t give the lender anything to resell and merely punishes the borrower, but we recognize it as having positive sum effects for the credit system. A program of revoking degrees would behave the same way.

(Even if you have criticisms of the credit score as it exists today, most at least see the merit of “hey, other lenders, this person doesn’t repay loans, proceed with caution.)

The point of credit scores isn’t to punish the borrower, it’s to allow future lenders to better gauge risk. No value is destroyed when you put a negative mark on someone’s credit report.

Revoking degrees would be equivalent to burning down houses in foreclosure. Such destruction of value is obvious madness.

> Revoking degrees would be equivalent to burning down houses in foreclosure.

While I agree with your larger point, I think this particular bit is a little weak.

A revoked degree can easily be un-revoked, while a burned down house needs to be re-built from scratch. This is why it is socially acceptable for schools to withhold transcripts for students who owe money to the school.

It would be problematic for rich people who do not need loans, and destroy the trust on schooling system. Diplomas need to be irrevocable except for serious procedural issues.

Yeah, good point, universities never revoke degrees over objectionable behavior.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Cosby#Rescinded_honorary_...

Honorary degrees are, as the name suggests, different in kind from normal degrees.

College degrees are mostly about signaling. Employers can already check your credit history, so this wouldn’t tell them much they don’t already know.

Schools already do that with debts, but most student loans for accredited schools aren't issued by the school, who has been fully paid by the lender.

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