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Comment by next_xibalba | Hacker News Reader

I’ve said it before on HN and I’ll say it again: I don’t support any reform with respect to student loans that doesn’t see the academic institutions participate in the pain. I’d like to see a large number of universities get bankrupted by assuming some portion of the student loan liabilities of their alums, then allow the alums to file bankruptcy if they can’t pay off any remaining balances.

Did you know that federal student loans cannot be discharged via bankruptcy AND if you carry federal student loans into retirement, your social security income can be garnished?

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1) I do not agree with applying this retroactively. You shouldn’t change the rules in the middle of the game.

2) it would be unfair to make universities participate in the downside but not the upside. Perhaps the federal government should also turn the interest earned over to universities. This could actually go some way towards lessening resistance.

1) The game has been rigged since the beginning and the unis have been the biggest beneficiaries and the most malignant actors. You don't think they knew damn well what they were doing by charging $100k+ in tuition for an English degree to an 18 year with no hope of paying back the loans used to pay the tuition?

2) The universities have already gorged themselves at the greed-pig trough. How is it you think they can afford to pay all those $100k+ salaries to liberal arts profs, have a 1:1 ratio of admins to students, and pay their chancellors and presidents $500k+? All of it is funded by indebting students to the tune of $10s or $100s of thousands while granting useless degrees.

Let them suffocate under the weight of their sins. They are the worst actors in the entire ecosystem. Worse than the naive student borrows. Worse than the predatory lenders. Worse than the traitorous legislators. Why? Because they know they're in a position of trust. They wrap themselves in the clothing of the teacher and the philosopher while picking the pockets of naive teenagers who were told they're following the path to prosperity.

Best posts in the thread. You're dead right on all of this.

This. And football coaches $1M+.

Cant upvote this comment enough. This comment should be at the top of this thread!

fuck the Uni’s, they’ve spent decades profiteering off of us. my degree was an absolute waste of time (mathematics, cs+ stats minor) other than telling employers that i’m not a dumbass. i barely attended 30% of classes and graduated with a 3.5. uni is too easy, admits too many people, and serve as just a bottleneck in the system to actually living my life (profitably). the only reason i, and im assuming most others, went and did a hard degree was to signal to employers that im intelligent (and deserved to earn a proper living wage) , not bc i genuinely gave a shit about learning more lol

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