[quote=bearishgurl]Unfortunately, it isn’t fair to bail out student-loan debtors with public and private university degrees and even graduate degrees. There are many, MANY students (past and present) who elected NOT to pursue college past the certificate or associate degree level (public CC or “jr college” in other states) due to cost and not wanting to be a burden on their middle-aged parents with few assets. This DOESN’T MEAN these students who DID NOT elect to take debt out were not accepted into a university or were otherwise unqualified to be admitted. It means they didn’t go due to cost alone. Many went directly to work FT in a “family biz” upon HS or CC graduation.
Former students need to take responsibility for their choices. If a student borrowed enough for living expenses over and above tuition, fees and books, this is akin to a home-debtor taking “cash out” of their properties to purchase whatever they wanted with it. A young person of the same age who didn’t take out student loans did not have this cash to spend during those years.
I’ve also seen a lot of whining on the internet from middle-aged people who have elected to take out student loans to “retrain” at $1K+ per month institutions such as Nat’l University and Univ of Phoenix and now want Congress to forgive all or most of it. I don’t feel sorry for them at all. Those that owned property should have borrowed from it (like all the other FB’s did who bought vehicles/vacations, etc), used the funds to pay for their educations and then defaulted on their “secured” loan. It’s the American way. Why someone 50+ years of age or even 45+ years of age would borrow $100K+ or even $65K to obtain an advanced degree or credential from a private institution is absolutely beyond my comprehension! Practically speaking, they won’t be able to be employed long enough to pay it back (that is, if they actually get hired for the professional positions they trained for), let alone live long enough to pay all of it back.
These foolish individuals will undoubtedly take their student debt to their graves and it probably won’t come close to ever being satisfied.
The government guarantee thru Sallie Mae should be done away with and tuition and fees at both public and private universities would immediately begin reducing in price, accordingly. If this causes the “lofty and exalted professors, department heads and deans” to take huge cuts in pay (for working 18-32 hrs per week, nine months a year), so be it.[/quote]
But it’s fair taxpayers should bailout public sector pension holders? I don’t get it.
