Quote from: PrimeNumber7 on November 30, 2019, 10:11:43 PM

Quote from: squatz1 on November 30, 2019, 07:57:01 PM

Thanks for the catch, and I have edited it to include it. I hope that you do trust the fact that this was a legitimate oversight.

I am not interested in ruining anyone's income or ability to post here, especially for a single possible mistake. I also am not interested in judging others, and am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.

Quote from: squatz1 on November 30, 2019, 07:57:01 PM

But back onto the point here:

Oh yes, the biggest issue with college in general is that the government has the faucet open to give money to everyone and then people are going and getting random degrees like underwater basket-weaving and getting nothing out of it and then having the audacity to say that the colleges are the problem or that the government isn't doing enough.

It is not just the government that does this, private lenders also lend without regard to the value of the degrees they are financing. This is largely because of special rules (written into law) regarding collecting defaulted student debt makes it difficult to ever 'get rid' of student debt, and private lenders not even asking about the type of program students are enrolled in. I am not sure if lenders are prohibited from asking about this, but I think it would probably be a safe bet that they are.

I appreciate extending the benefit of the doubt. Would never compromise my standing here for one post.

But:

I do understand the special regulations when it comes to this sort of loan though. Because without these built in discharge protections, there is no way that lenders would ever lend to people that have no income yet, no assets, and no ability to prove that they will have income.

You're a college kid going to school, getting a loan for the entire cost of school is a massive benefit that is extended to you because it is backed by the US government and you cant discharge it.

This isn't like any other loan, if you were to stop paying the bank can't just take your degree and say -- you're clear. The paper is not worth anything. This isn't like a car loan / house mortgage where the bank can seize the asset to pay off what is owed. That's why these special protections are built in.

Quote from: TwitchySeal on November 30, 2019, 08:59:38 PM

Quote from: TECSHARE on November 30, 2019, 08:22:24 PM

End federal subsidies and loans. For every dollar a school accepts of federal funds they are required to maintain a certain percentage of private funding. Since a very big portion of this funding ends up coming from federal sources, the end result is they are constantly required to jack up tuition prices to meet the minimal private funding level. Once this is changed so many other issues will begin solving themselves.

Too many people who don't belong in college are burning vast resources to get degrees in underwater lesbian basket weaving and then doing nothing with the degree and ending up in massive debt. The current educational system is one big lesson in inflation.

I really don't think the federal loan program is that big of a factor, and isn't it a profitable program overall anyway? The loans aren't that big, and even if the student gets buried in private loans they can't make payments on the government loans will still get paid. I think the max an undergrad student can get in subsidized loans is $5k a year for 4 years and they have to be enrolled as a full time student. If the kid ends up making even 10% more over the period of an average life with an average income, that's a great return when you add up all the extra income tax.

The government plays a role in all the loans though, even disregarding the 5k given out. They've ensured that all people are allowed to get loans, regardless of assets, income, and so on and so forth. The only thing that the people must agree to to get this loan is that there is no way to discharge this loan.

And not being able to discharge this loan makes sense. As I said up above, discharging other loans can come with the ability of the bank to seize assets. A loan for school, with value that we determine to be knowledge, isn't something that can be seized and sold off to ensure that the lender isn't hurt.