Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Ocelot II

(121,976 posts)
1. Somebody explain to me why forgiving some student loans on the ground of hardship
Sun Dec 29, 2024, 01:59 PM
Dec 29

is such anathema to the GOP. I get the notion that nobody should expect the government to pick up the entire tab for their expensive education, but that's not what this is. This is people who have been paying back these loans for years, even decades, and they're farther behind than they were to start out with because of the interest. They are being impoverished because of these loans; how does making people poorer benefit society at all? Student loans can be dischargeable in bankruptcy under some circumstances but that discharge requires an adversary proceeding and it's not a sure thing at all. But why should people have to file bankruptcy and lose almost everything else before even getting a chance to get out from under an onerous situation. "You should have thought of this possibility before you took out the loan in the first place," they say. But what if the alternative was being unable to get that education at all, so you have to choose between giving up on going to college vs. gambling on repaying the loan. Or, they say, "I repaid my student loan; it's not fair that you don't have to repay yours." That's a false comparison. I repaid my student loan, but I took it out almost 40 years ago when higher education was a lot cheaper, and I don't resent the fact that other people might get a benefit I didn't get. It's a crap situation; education has become far too expensive and people have become too damn mean.

Recommendations

4 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

Latest Discussions»Latest Breaking News»Americans struggling with...»Reply #1