Thread: $300 billion Student-loan debt forgiveness

Originally Posted by Khotso

I would ask a different question, why isn't public higher education affordable for the average citizen

I agree. Tuition has gone up exponentially faster than inflation. It's like medical expenses - if someone else is paying for it (insurance, govt.), the price just keeps going higher until it's insane! Maybe medical bills should be forgiven as well? It's all a ruse and we are the victims, but I digress.

I am pretty sure that loan forgiveness is taxable. So the Government shifts the burden to someone else (taxpayer) and taxes the student on the forgiven debt. Where is the downside to the
Government? Heads I win, Tails you lose. And many students won't see it coming. They'll vote in November and likely find out after the fact that they have a big tax bill that the Government wants right now.

Here are a few things that are sad and funny in a stupid kinda way:

• We have been basically living on my paycheck while the wife changes career paths. Not a hard thing to do in North Carolina, it would have been impossible in Kalefonea. Well, the wife has a little over $10K on her previous student loan. Once she passes these four CPA tests she will be on a high paying career path with lots of work opportunity in the area. So, we will get her loan wiped out by this fandango since our income is currently under the $125K - but, our income will be higher than the break point once she finds gainful employment. Too funny. Kinda sad that some GS-3 is on the hook for paying off my wife's loan, but there you go. Sad and stupid as I said.
  
• I guess that education is worth nothing - since that is what people are willing to pay. Are future students going to actually pay their student loans, and if so - why?
  
• And, this has been in the works for quite some time. This could not have been done if the Feds had not taken over the student loan program.

Here’s what President Biden’s student loan forgiveness means for your taxes

Borrowers who will benefit from student loan forgiveness won’t need to worry about getting hit with a federal tax bill.

But they may owe state taxes on the forgiven debt.

Here’s what you need to know...

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/24/here...chterm=taxable

Originally Posted by coolhand

I am pretty sure that loan forgiveness is taxable. So the Government shifts the burden to someone else (taxpayer) and taxes the student on the forgiven debt. Where is the downside to the
Government? Heads I win, Tails you lose. And many students won't see it coming. They'll vote in November and likely find out after the fact that they have a big tax bill that the Government wants right now.

Originally Posted by tsptalk

Here’s what President Biden’s student loan forgiveness means for your taxes



https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/24/here...chterm=taxable

So, they waived it. Interesting.

$10,000 is hardly life changing money. That's what, 1-2 years of debt repayment? How much is this really going to help individuals? Inflation from cutting Keystone Pipeline, the 3rd stimulus check, and now debt writeoffs are making it impossible for some to even buy food anymore. This doesn't help them one bit. Is this going to jump start those who haven't made payments for the past year into making payments again? I doubt it. Will colleges just raise prices because of this similar to how prices rose due to the first time home buyer credit and EV subsidies?

Manchin gets snookered into some kind of green deal which the CBO says won't even being to lower the deficit until around 2027 and it will only be by $100B. That "savings" is completely negated with this Tammany Hall deal.

CBO estimates that enacting this legislation would result in a net decrease in the deficit totaling $102 billion over the 2022-2031 period

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/58366

Capitalism is what we have in the US. Call it what you want, but it's brought the most amount of wealth to the most amount of people in history. Risk is a factor in capitalism. How many small businesses in your neighborhood had to close up shop after one year because they failed? Probably more than a few. They tried, they failed, they took on that risk and paid for it. Where has risk gone today?

This doesn't compare to bailouts in 2008 either. The government ultimately made money off the loans given to the banks during that time.

The cost of college needs a good hard look. Two places to start are the money brought in by major university athletics (Big 10, SEC, ACC, etc TV contracts) and amount of expensive research performed by tenured professors that add little to no value to society.

It's still far from over. Don't forget, even though the MSM didn't cover it much, all those vaccine mandates got shot down and they were executive orders.

Originally Posted by Khotso

I would ask a different question, why isn't public higher education affordable for the average citizen (those in the mid to 80th income percentiles) without requiring significant and often economically crippling loans at interest rates that are higher than rates for mortgages, cars and business loans as they were in the 50s, 60s and 70s?

I think the answer to your question is right there.

Originally Posted by Khotso

I would ask a different question, why isn't public higher education affordable for the average citizen (those in the mid to 80th income percentiles) without requiring significant and often economically crippling loans at interest rates that are higher than rates for mortgages, cars and business loans as they were in the 50s, 60s and 70s?

I'll ask that question a different way: Why was my high school education better than that provided now? High school education is free... High school education was free...

The SAGA continues... Biden forgives another $4.8 billion in federal student loan debt, but alternative relief plan hits a snag

I never had a student loan and I don't have anything against the Government or Private Industry paying off a portion of employee's Student Loan as an employee benefit but I totally disagree with this this attempt to buy votes. Unfortunately the recipients don't feel any of the consequences of debt forgiveness if they don't have to pay taxes for what should be considered additional income.

I'm sure there are "millions more saddled with ballooning federal student loans" when the Federal Government tells everyone you don't have to make any payment for 3-4 years. I wonder how many didn't make payments during that period (hoping for forgiveness) even when there income resumed or increase during same time period? Are we bailing out the students or the financial institutions? Trying to fix a problem they created?

How come no one holds the universities/colleges responsible for graduating students that can't get decent jobs to pay back those student loans in a reasonable amount of time? Granted, not all students graduate & Student Loans are not for just used for Tuition & Books, but it encourages debt mentality that is so prevalent today.
The only definite way to discharge Student Loans without paying it is to die (I wonder how much student debt has been wiped out from death since start of COVID). It use to be difficult if not impossible to get Student Loans discharged in Bankruptcy but the Biden administration has made changes to make that easier now, see Office of Public Affairs | Justice Department and Department of Education Announce a Fairer and More Accessible Bankruptcy Discharge Process for Student Loan Borrowers | United States Department of Justice

I don't know why I still expect some degree financial responsibility from our government.