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Comment by theandrewbailey | Hacker News Reader

Cancelling student debt won't solve the student debt problem, unless we stop giving out student loans.

Yeah this is my issue with the idea too. In 20 years, you're going to have the same problem again with new borrowers unless you make some fundamental changes to college to stop predatory student loans from being given out.

To be fair, I find this thread to be a bit misguided. Everyone here is talking about canceling 100% of student loan debt but I've only ever heard suggestions where the amount of loans above 100k or above 50k are forgiven. Conceivably, those loans were never really going to be paid off so money isn't really being lost.

Maybe it’s time to pursue that extra degree and borrow the money regardless of need if you already have borrowed the 50/100k limit … free money. I’m sure that the schools will love raking in the cash and raising tuitions due to the increased demand.

Cancelling student debt would pretty much immediately stop new loans. I don't see how another loan for the same amount could be granted afterwards.

I think you are misunderstanding what people mean by "cancelling debt". They don't mean they will force lenders to suffer a loss, they mean that government will cover the debt.

If the gov actually decided that the current situation is not sustainable and it's better for everyone to cut the losses and cover everything... why would it guarantee another loan like that the next day?

The companies themselves could be interested in that loans of course, but without the previous guarantee the risk would be too high.

What you say makes sense, but the people proposing student loan cancellation do not talk about rolling back government guarantees on student loans. If they did, that would be totally different discussion.

Many do not, mainly concentrating on the post-covid impact. But at least two links from this article talk about limiting the ability for student debt collection, which would significantly limit the number and/or size of the student loans given.

I don't trust that the government would be smart enough to do that.

You mean that the taxpayers will cover the debt

I think you mean taxpayers will cover the debt.

A lot of those taxpayers aren't college educated, and they work hard for their wages.

Student loans are almost entirely made by the government.

As the response above stated: by the taxpayer. All forgiveness would be tax paid.

Its worse than that, its a lottery. Those graduates who have already paid off their debt, lose. Those soon-to-be students who have to pay high tuition, also lose.

Indeed, since colleges will see loan forgiveness as an option, tuitions will rise.

Right, I paid off a balance of 260k dollars in student loans. Former classmates, who make exactly the same amount of money, who instead used their salaries to buy a house get a windfall?

How is that good policy?

Our current system already allows for cancellation for low income individuals.

This is subsidy for the upper half of the middle class.

I couldn't agree more. I'm in the same bucket. My wife and I worked hard, scrimped and saved, lived way below our means, and paid off our student debt ~15 years early.

But now people want us to have to pay everyone else's debt too, through our taxes?

The only way this could possibly be fair is if they offer some kind of credit for loans already paid.

That's still not fair. Let's say I worked two jobs to put myself through college. I only could attend half time, so it took me eight years. I'm going to pay taxes to subsidize those who took out loans? How is that fair?

Or, I never went to college. I just started working right after high school. I make less than those who went to college. I'm going to pay taxes for this? How is that fair?

Great points, I agree. I worked through undergrad and lived at home myself, so really I should have thought of that.

> Those soon-to-be students who have to pay high tuition, also lose.

There's a significant number who would not afford tuition and not apply. Universities would lose a lot students unless they changed fees significantly.

If it's a proper reset on the debts, we can't expect everything to continue working as before.

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