Depite setbacks caused by the troglydites at SCOTUS, Biden was able to waive $183.6 billion in student loans.
But things get worse daily. Trump restarted collections on defaulted student loans on May 5, and while the administration said it would pause Social Security garnishment, it still expects to begin wage garnishment for defaulted borrowers later this summer. Couls make student debt much harder to repay and unleash an avalanche of student loan defaults.
The Higher Education Act of 1965 stipulates that loan responsibilities are assigned to the Federal Student Aid within the Department of Education. Trump wants to kill it and .wants to transfer the management of $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio away from the Department of Education. Documents, submitted to a federal court, showed that the Department of Education had been negotiating a deal with the Treasury to oversee federal student loans, a role historically managed by the department's Federal Student Aid office. A federal judge blocked the administration's broader efforts to dismantle the Department of Education.
As part of the Big Crappy bill, a Senate bill proposes eliminating existing income-driven repayment plans, including PAYE, income-contingent repayment, and Biden's SAVE plan, and replacing them with two new plans.
The first plan — the standard repayment plan — allows borrowers to make fixed payments for 10-25 years based on the original amount they borrowed, while the second plan — the repayment assistance plan — sets payments at 1-10% of a borrower's income with a minimum monthly payment of $10. The plan would waive unpaid interest, and any remaining balance would be forgiven after 30 years.
This matches the House's proposal, and if signed into law, it would mean borrowers would have fewer options to repay their loans under less generous terms than the existing plans.
The bill also proposes some new changes to loan limits. It would eliminate graduate PLUS loans, which allow graduate students to cover up to the full cost of attendance, cap unsubsidized loans for graduate school, like a master's degree, at $20,500 per year, and cap professional loans, like law school, at $50,000 per year.
It would also cap parent PLUS loans at $20,000 per student per year, and eliminate loan deferment for economic hardship and unemployment.
MAGATs oppose all public education, including public schools and colleges. Several colleges and universities have closed or announced closures due to financial difficulties in recent years, with more expected to follow. Several factors contribute to these closures, including declining enrollment, financial mismanagement, and the end of pandemic-era federal aid. Some institutions have also merged with others to stay afloat. https://www.bestcolleges.com/research/closed-colleges-list-statistics-major-closures/
Just last month the only local afforable college near my 'ol home town was closed when Penn State eliminated 16 of its branch campuses.
One thing rarely mentioned about student debt is how much of it is carried by college dropouts. One-third of entering freshmen drop out degreeless. People with college degrees earn more than those without. Thus, they should not see their retirement pensions being garnished to pay for something they had 45 years to pay off. With average college debt about $38K, that is far less than the cost of a new pick-up truck - a ubiquitous working-class status symbol. That makes a case that there was no intention among many dropouts to repay college debt. Biden almost let them off the hook too.
I haven't been involved in this stuff in many years, but in my time, they required co-signers and grandma wound up responsible for the kids.
When we were ready to go to college, my 'ol pappy refused to fill out the loan applications.... The best deals were military colleges and co op. The power company in my home town had a deal with UC. https://www.uc.edu/co-op.html
Many of my cousins became college professors and even college presidents and my sister in law was a professor. Their kids got free tuition as a fringe benefit.
Bankruptcy is banned for the simple reason that most college students have no wealth - just debt, so they could easily dodge paying off their college debt by declaring bankruptcy the day after graduation. It also invites taking out huge loans in which the money could be spent on nightclubs, new cars, etc. I took out a student loan to pay for car repairs when my engine blew one year.
That's what they say. Otherwise, no different than any other debt. Many exclusions from bankruptcy. Homestead. My favorite was that in Pa muskets, spinning wheels are exempt. So people invested in expensive black powder rifles and spinning wheels, took out huge loans and went bankrupt every 7 years....
Check out the co-signers. They are the stuckees with assets....
No doubt there are scams. Many Pell grants go for something other than education.
Tomonthebeach, Mr. Farrar was incorrect in his imagining. The cost is more than $40,000. Two decades ago my daughter went to a Barnard and the tuition was $55,000 by the time she reached her senior year. And, this was two decades ago!
You are missing the whole point. The question of how the student should pay off college tuition is something we would not even be talking about in Germany where my good friend and former colleague, Tom Schirer, born in America, earned his PhD for free. The German government even paid into the German equivalent of his Social Security fund while he was in school. The Germans regard the time spent in school as the individual's contribution to German society. The same as an individual who is employed at what we Americans regard as an occupation. In other words; Germans regard going to school as one's occupation and it is one's contribution to German society. So the government rewards the student with free tuition and social security contributions. Tom paid a $100 registration fee and paid his own room and board.
Ironically Tom wrote his dissertation on Samuel Clemens. It still stands today as one of the most important biographical works on Mark Twain. This was Tom's contribution to German society; for which, the Germans were happy to reward him financially.
All this talk in America about how the student should, must pay off tuition is distinctly American. My god, what have we turned our selves into?
I started out my comment by asserting that I am in favor of free college. I also acknowledged that tuitions vary greatly - especially "exclu$ive" private schools (as opposed to just regular private ones like I attended).
Figuratively speaking, you can buy a used Mini car for $12,000 or a new Mercedes for $100K. Both will get you to the office in traffic. The quality of education varies little regardless of school, but the pricey schools will expose a student to more Nepo peers with job connections. It is a choice. Miss out on the networking, and you may get buried in debt payments.
I have friends all over the EU. Yes, college there is really cheap (with a few exceptions). So is medical care. Consequently, so is the quality of life there. But Americans are so brainwashed that the more you pay for something, the better it must be. Likewise, if you are not willing to sacrifice to get a degree, then you must not want a good job badly enough. Also, free college is communism, just like free medical care. How does America overcome such illogical grooming? If we cannot, nothing is likely to change.
Such a much-needed article! First of all college tuition in this country is pure thievery. As is the housing market, and healthcare. Republicans not only have no desire to help strengthen the middle class, they are doing whatever they can to make us poorer, sicker, and dumber. Much like Thom's father and father-in-law, my father, an immigrant from a dirt-poor village in Greece, was self-educated and exemplified the American dream, which saw its peak in the 50s. Even though he had made his money in the stock market he continued working at the assembly line at the Ford Motor Co. until he could retire so he could get his pension. A PENSION. Not only that, Ford paid for my undergraduate tuition! Where can you find that now?
Happy Father Daddy...and to all you fathers out there!
Back to the future. I have done some serious genealogical research.This is what I found.
During the middle ages,even up to the 16th Century, society was stratified by Royalty, Nobility, Freemen,serfs. Freemen were in short supply. There is a Register of Freemen of York, 1272- 1558.
Freemen were tradesmen, potters, tinkerers,carpenters, wool dyers (listers),skinners, craftsmen and the likes.
The upper class, the nobility, the ruling elite, have always hated and feared the middle class, the bourgousie, for the middle class is the transit zone, the rung on the ladder by which the lower class, the prole, can ascend the social ladder and the ruling class can descend the social ladder.
The solution. Eliminate the middle rungs
And that is what it is all about, the Powell memo.
The Thiels, the Musks, the Bezo;s, the Dimons, the Zuckerburgs all climbed that ladder, but once at the top they pull in the ladder, that no one else can climb and displace them.
When I had dental work in Poland the dentist told me that there were American students there taking dentistry. I wonder what percentage stay in Europe after they finish their schooling.
What will this country be like after so many years of uneducated people with no health care and the majority not vaccinated from viruses.
Then to top that off woman being forced to have children they can’t afford. And global warming to make matters worse.
The republicans never seem to have long range planning. I wonder if it’s their religious views of Armageddon that prevent them from long term planing.
It is all by design Elwyn. Social Darwinism. As former Rep Alan Grayson of Florida said, their solution is "don't get sick, and if you do, die quickly" The elderly, like myself, the disabled are useless eaters, we invested in our society, but we aren't contributing, we are instead draining.
The purpose of serfs is to labor day and night to provide for their "betters" and then when used up to go off and die, the earlier the better.
Art 12 of the 1936 Soviet Constitution is also the libertarian - capitalist credo.
My grandma had 2 brothers who went to medical school in Mexico. One wound up in the US -- the other in Israel -- that was in the '30s. Here at UM Medical we have many American residents and post docs who went to foreign medical schools.... When I worked for SSA one of our medical experts was an American who had graduated brom the University of Bologna, Italy, and eventually became president of the college of oncology nationally.
Glad to know American students have the option of saving money by going to schools in other countries. While other countries have been paying their students to come to our major institutions. Strange irony if true.
I’d like to take a moment to thank you for writing this chapter and making it accessible to the public. As the only college-educated person born in the mid-80s into a low-middle-class family that eventually fell into poverty and never escaped, I’m especially aware of these effects.
Initially, my goal was to become a physician after surviving a traumatic brain infection and strokes as a child; I wanted to pay it forward. However, without guidance from my high school—and for a multitude of reasons I won't go into here—my mother and I formulated a plan to afford college. I began by training as a massage therapist to use those earnings for my education. I attended a massage school that was an hour and a half from my home and worked two jobs just to get by. The school offered a medical massage program that would grant me an associate degree, so I enrolled, knowing this would give me a competitive edge. It did.
Once I finished my training in 2006, I took and passed the board exam in Maryland but was denied therapeutic status due to a credentialing conflict between Virginia, where I received my education, and Maryland, which did not recognize my associate degree. I immediately started taking courses at a local community college and soon discovered a loophole: I could work as a sole proprietor and offer any of the skills I had been trained in.
I met an acupuncturist who planned to open a holistic center, and we partnered together. Initially, we had a few clients, and I also worked as our public relations manager. Within a year, we had expanded into a multi-room center offering a wide range of holistic therapies. We were on track to grow even more when the housing market crashed. Our business closed, and I could no longer afford to maintain my license. I fell back into poverty, and my dream of becoming a doctor was shattered.
Despite this setback, I persisted and shifted my focus to becoming a Registered Nurse, where I excelled. Eventually, I became a critical care traveling nurse, not for the money, but to help my immigrant husband naturalize by providing us with safer living conditions. During this time, I worked for the military, providing care to our veterans and active duty members, which had a profound psychological impact on me. After experiencing burnout, I stepped back from this high-stress role and returned to the East Coast to work in the PACU department in late 2019.
However, fate had other plans as the pandemic began. My contract was eventually ended due to the pause in elective surgeries, and the unit I was on became a dysfunctional critical care overflow unit. I then left to work at Cooper University’s Trauma Hospital in Camden, New Jersey. The eight months I spent there traumatized me, and for the safety of my patients, I had to leave the bedside.
Fortunately, I found a way to return to holistic medicine and am now working once again as a massage therapist. However, my student loan debt still looms over me. I am sharing my story to show readers how my generation has been held back and how hardworking individuals like myself have been prevented from reaching their full potential. Thank you for your time.
There is no arguing Thom's facts. I totally support free college. However, statistics can be misleading. I put myself through college debt-free, working 30 to 40 hours a week. Some people challenged that the late '60s was a different era and tuition was way lower then than it is today. So, I looked up what the tuition for Elmhurst U. is today, and what I paid back in 1970. I was shocked. Adjusted for inflation, my tuition back then was nearly identical to what the school charges today. That punches a hole in assertions that colleges overcharge today - although surely some do.
As for the GI Bill Thom mentioned, by the mid-1970s, it covered about two years of college, not four. Because I took a year off to do voluntary work in S. Mississippi, my draft board revoked my student status and drafted me after sophomore year. I enlisted in a Navy Reserve program to finish school. So a day after getting my BA in 1970, I had to report for duty and enjoyed two back-to-back combat tours in Nam. In late 1974, I was released from active Navy service and quickly enrolled in graduate school on the GI Bill to pursue my PhD. But by then, the GI Bill barely covered 18 months of tuition for my masters at a state University - Florida Atlantic U. So, I joined the Navy Ready Reserves and got a part-time job on campus to pay for rent and food.
When I entered Texas Christian U. to get my psychology doctorate, I had to take out student loans to subsist while working on my PhD. I managed to land a fellowship after two semesters that covered tuition, room, and board. My Navy Reserve weekends kept me barely solvent. I graduated in 1980 with about $6K in outstanding college loans, which I paid off my first year on the faculty of the UT Southwestern Med School.
Clearly, my experience makes me skeptical of whining about being buried in 10s of thousands in college debt. Today, the average federal student loan debt is over $38K. But adjusted for inflation, that is about what college cost in 1970. What seems to have changed is students' willingness to work their way through school like I and many of my age peers did.
G.I. Bill only paid 18 months of your masters? It paid all of my masters.
As regards inflation:
My bachelors cost $2,000 (tuition and books), $2,000 in 1970 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $15,085.35 in 2022, an increase of $13,085.35 over 52 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 3.96% per year between 1970 and 2022, producing a cumulative price increase of 654.27%.
Also factor in the cost of living, food, transportation, clothing, housing in 1970, and the availability of jobs, and their wages.
In 1970 I bought a brand new 1970 Maverick, a flathead six, cheapest car on the market, It cost me $2,500, five years previous I bought a brand new Mustang, with a 289 V-8, which idled on the Interstate at 70 mph, for $2,000
It took me one year, to earn a bachelors, well actually two if you consider transferred in credits. First credit was April 1970, Econ 101, graduated June 1972, Highest Honors (3.74 GPA)
Equity would permit individuals to file for bankruptcy. That's why it's unfair.
Post Vietnam the GI bill....didn't cover much.
Our law clerks had tremendous debt. Some schools, like Harvard, guarantee their graduates that they will get high paying jobs as a result of their reputation and claim they will exonerate student debt if that doesn't come to pass.
The Trump administration proposes reducing the maximum federal Pell Grant award to $5,710 per year, down from the current $7,395. This would be the first cut to the maximum Pell Grant since 1993.
Here in Baghdad By the Sea, the public schools and Miami Dade College offers high schoolers approximately 2 years of a free college education, with an aa degree and transfer rights to Florida public colleges. Because of DEI placement, it was a ticket to Ivy and equivalents, given our dempgraphics.
In DC the local school district will pay college tuition, even out of state.
I don't know the rules, All I know is that the VA paid the tuition. I also have a VA home loan guarantee, Which I haven't used since I sold my home in 1978.
All the VA backed loan does is relieve you from having to buy PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance if you can't put down 20% of the purchase price.
For me, the best benefit is preference for employment.
VA benefits include disability compensation, pension, education and training, health care, home loans, insurance, Veteran Readiness and Employment, and burial.
My disability penson triggered a lot of other opportunities.
VA medical benefits include a wide range of services, from primary and specialty care to mental health, home health, and even medical equipment and prosthetics. These benefits are available to eligible veterans, and in some cases, their dependents and survivors, often with varying levels of coverage based on factors like service-connected disabilities, income, and other eligibility criteria.
VA benefits for spouses and dependents of veterans can include healthcare, education, financial assistance, and burial benefits. These benefits are available to surviving spouses and children, as well as spouses and children of living veterans with service-connected disabilities. The specific benefits available depend on factors like the veteran's disability rating, service history, and the family member's relationship to the veteran.
VA Disability and VA Compensation are often used interchangeably, but they are essentially the same thing: a monthly, tax-free payment to veterans for disabilities incurred or aggravated during military service. VA Compensation specifically refers to the monetary benefit paid to veterans with service-connected disabilities, compensating them for the impact of those disabilities on their earning capacity.
Service-connected Death
VA will pay up to $2,000 toward burial expenses for deaths on or after September 11, 2001, or up to $1,500 for deaths prior to September 11, 2001. If the Veteran is buried in a VA national cemetery, some or all of the cost of transporting the deceased may be reimbursed.
Non-service-connected Death
VA will pay up to $978 toward burial and funeral expenses for deaths on or after October 1, 2024 and a $978 plot-interment allowance (if not buried in a national cemetery).
Veterans, service members, spouses, and certain dependents are generally eligible for burial in a VA National Cemetery. Eligibility hinges on factors like discharge status, active duty service, and relationship to the eligible individual.
I have a 10% war and service disability, which means that my DFAS retirement check is reduced by 10% thus reducing my taxable income, however that same amount is paid me by the VA, and is not taxable.
I asked the Flight Surgeon at my retirement physical, why He said it was varicose veins (I still don't have them, but he wouldn't give me disability for my hearing loss or my broken neck. Probably because I was on jump status and FAA certified until I retired.
Student debt (and despair) escalated when interest rates were allowed to skyrocket to usury levels that students could not escape. Biden may have been waiving $180 billion in interest.
“Black women…as ABC News noted, “hold nearly two-thirds of the nearly $2 trillion outstanding student debt in the U.S.”
Denying knowledge to Blacks was central to enslaver’s cruel method of repression. It’s difficult to believe today that learning to read was sometimes punishable by death!
In the 20th century, Black veterans who returned with their peers from the nasty war received little benefits from the massive GI Bill that pushed most white America into the middle class and transformed the country into an economy giant. Redlining and systemic discrimination from banks denied low-interest VA loans to Black veterans and thus deprived them of creating generational wealth embedded in homeownership. Most white institution of higher education refused to admit Blacks. These practices were clearly outlined in Critical Race Theory, CRT, which in the 21st century became the bugaboo of the right wing because truth is so hurtful.
Now systemic racism has reached its apotheosis at the highest levels of government with new monikers like: “woke, wokeism,” DEI.
In the 1980’s, the “Welfare Queens” and “Willie Horton” were in vogue, and Lee Atwater, Reagan, and GHW Bush exploited these for political gain.
It’s strange to fathom the depth of this animus toward Black people that some white people would rather go without services like healthcare if Black people will also be beneficiaries.
America can have nice things for ALL her people and some, if we can see all the mosaic as part of one. E Pluribus Unum: remember that? Black people aren’t going anywhere and if policies of exclusion become the foundation of this democracy, we all will be poorer for it.
We are waiting for a real UNITER, that Statesman, who will acknowledge the humanity of all and craft policies that will tap into the best and brightest of all. THAT, my friend, is what will make America the shining beacon on the hill. Had the GI Bill not superimposed America’s original sin of discrimination, we would all be in a better place today.
Captain my Captain with the dumbing down of America, I believe they believe this really does keep people from asking questions in the first place. If , you are considered to be dumb what questions would you ask in again the first place. We, need an educated society in order to have a more responsible society. The more you know, really is that the more you know, then you ask the questions and want honest answers. That’s me Captain. Have a great Farther’s Day!
What about the students who worked their way through college and took no student loans? Surely they must be reimbursed for the college fees they paid? Nobody talks about the unfairness of this student loan forgiveness.
Congress concocted a crock to give lenders protection. Minors (anyone under 21 in some states) shouldn't be stuck with unconsionable contracts. Bankruptcy shouldn't have been precluded.
Online Program Managers (OPMs) are third-party companies that partner with higher education institutions to develop, market, and manage online degree programs. These companies are generally for-profit entities that market themselves to colleges and universities as a solution for schools looking to expand their online offerings. OPMs are often responsible for student recruitment, course design, and student support services, among other program functions — yet they are not held to the same government regulations and standards as a college or university. This lack of accountability and transparency encourages a cycle of greed, fraud, and abuse in the higher education system.
Misrepresentation and Deception
OPMs operate behind the scenes, often adopting the branding and identity of the institutions they partner with. Students enrolling in these programs believe they are gengaging directly with the institution – often, a prestigious non-profit school – only to discover that the program is outsourced to a for-profit entity. For example, in PPSL’s Luna v. USC class action lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege that students enrolling in the University of Southern California’s (USC) online Master of Social Work (MSW) program thought they were going to receive the same USC education as in-person students, but were actually enrolled in a program managed by the OPM 2U, Inc.
There are a few culprits involved in this issue. First I blame the lenders. Deliberately extending loans to people they probably knew could never repay them. They would be off the hook. Then as a supporter of public education, they were remiss in promoting financial education in the schools. Where were the parents, adults who could have counseled the borrowers. I absolutely understand the desire to forgive these debts but it's not a very good lesson.
Worth a maximum benefit of up to $2,500 per eligible student.
Only available for the first four years at an eligible college or vocational school.
For students pursuing a degree or other recognized education credential.
Partially refundable. People could get up to $1,000 back.
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The lifetime learning credit is:
Worth a maximum benefit of up to $2,000 per tax return, per year, no matter how many students qualify.
Available for all years of postsecondary education and for courses to acquire or improve job skills.
Available for an unlimited number of tax years.
.
In general, qualified tuition and related expenses for the education tax credits include tuition and required fees for the enrollment or attendance at eligible post-secondary educational institutions (including colleges, universities and trade schools). The expenses paid during the tax year must be for an academic period that begins in the same tax year or an academic period that begins in the first three months of the following tax year.
The following expenses do not qualify for the AOTC or the LLC:
Room and board
Transportation
Insurance
Medical expenses
Student fees, unless required as a condition of enrollment or attendance
Same expenses paid with tax-free educational assistance
Same expenses used for any other tax deduction, credit or educational benefit
Thanks for the information. Yes, there is some existing tax relief available. Is it reasonable? Should it be changed?
Currently, according to Google, the average tuition cost at Univ of FL, a state school, is $6,380 in-state student/yr and $28,658 out-of-state student/yr. Based on your figures for AOTC, it looks like tax credits per year would take care of about max. 40% for an in-state undergraduate (2,500/6,380) or about 9% for out-of state student (2,500/28,658) tuition cost - if I am understand your figures right. According to Google, the average private college tuition cost per year is about $38,000. A tax deduction would take care of about 6.5% of tuition fees (skimpy). I can see how these tuition costs would add up quickly. And deductions do not even address costs for housing, food, and other expenses. So, for some students current tax deductions may help only a little.
In many European countries, while tuition fees may be low or even free for some students, living expenses like housing and food are generally not covered by the university or government. Students are typically responsible for their own living costs, though they may have access to financial aid, scholarships, or student loans to help manage these expenses.
I understand that many people that do not want to go to college themselves - do not want to pay taxes for other people to go to college either. Personally, I think it is important to give people the opportunity to go to college, provided they meet the requirements. This is good for the nation as a whole and for individual satisfaction. So, maybe college is low-cost vs free. Perhaps some students need to work 10 hours max a week.
If we are going to use tax deductions as a way to provide tuition relief, I think the tax deductions for tuition should be increased.
According to NASFAA, Among partisan lines, 84% of Democrats and 44% of Republicans said they supported free two-year public college. However, the partisan divide widened even more when asked about free four-year college, with 80% of Democrats and 36% of Republicans supporting the policy.
I took that from the IRS website. I don't practice anymore, so get a lawyer because there may be a curlycue.
I use gifts -- which I didn't mention. For the calendar year 2025, the annual gift tax exclusion is $19,000 per donee (recipient).
IMHO New Mexico is on the right track. If I had kids of an age, first priority would be quality of education but economics is close. If a locality wants to attract businesses to locate free tuition might be a major incentive. More than just good will. The dumbest thing Reagan did to Califrnia was eliminate free tuition, which was the engine that made it grow.
Depite setbacks caused by the troglydites at SCOTUS, Biden was able to waive $183.6 billion in student loans.
But things get worse daily. Trump restarted collections on defaulted student loans on May 5, and while the administration said it would pause Social Security garnishment, it still expects to begin wage garnishment for defaulted borrowers later this summer. Couls make student debt much harder to repay and unleash an avalanche of student loan defaults.
The Higher Education Act of 1965 stipulates that loan responsibilities are assigned to the Federal Student Aid within the Department of Education. Trump wants to kill it and .wants to transfer the management of $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio away from the Department of Education. Documents, submitted to a federal court, showed that the Department of Education had been negotiating a deal with the Treasury to oversee federal student loans, a role historically managed by the department's Federal Student Aid office. A federal judge blocked the administration's broader efforts to dismantle the Department of Education.
As part of the Big Crappy bill, a Senate bill proposes eliminating existing income-driven repayment plans, including PAYE, income-contingent repayment, and Biden's SAVE plan, and replacing them with two new plans.
The first plan — the standard repayment plan — allows borrowers to make fixed payments for 10-25 years based on the original amount they borrowed, while the second plan — the repayment assistance plan — sets payments at 1-10% of a borrower's income with a minimum monthly payment of $10. The plan would waive unpaid interest, and any remaining balance would be forgiven after 30 years.
This matches the House's proposal, and if signed into law, it would mean borrowers would have fewer options to repay their loans under less generous terms than the existing plans.
The bill also proposes some new changes to loan limits. It would eliminate graduate PLUS loans, which allow graduate students to cover up to the full cost of attendance, cap unsubsidized loans for graduate school, like a master's degree, at $20,500 per year, and cap professional loans, like law school, at $50,000 per year.
It would also cap parent PLUS loans at $20,000 per student per year, and eliminate loan deferment for economic hardship and unemployment.
https://www.businessinsider.com/student-loan-repayment-trump-spending-bill-changes-parent-plus-2025-6
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MAGATs oppose all public education, including public schools and colleges. Several colleges and universities have closed or announced closures due to financial difficulties in recent years, with more expected to follow. Several factors contribute to these closures, including declining enrollment, financial mismanagement, and the end of pandemic-era federal aid. Some institutions have also merged with others to stay afloat. https://www.bestcolleges.com/research/closed-colleges-list-statistics-major-closures/
Just last month the only local afforable college near my 'ol home town was closed when Penn State eliminated 16 of its branch campuses.
And all the diverted funds go to tax cuts for billionaires.? People actually believe doge is saving money, and it will benefit them.
One thing rarely mentioned about student debt is how much of it is carried by college dropouts. One-third of entering freshmen drop out degreeless. People with college degrees earn more than those without. Thus, they should not see their retirement pensions being garnished to pay for something they had 45 years to pay off. With average college debt about $38K, that is far less than the cost of a new pick-up truck - a ubiquitous working-class status symbol. That makes a case that there was no intention among many dropouts to repay college debt. Biden almost let them off the hook too.
The answer should be personal bankruptcy.
I haven't been involved in this stuff in many years, but in my time, they required co-signers and grandma wound up responsible for the kids.
When we were ready to go to college, my 'ol pappy refused to fill out the loan applications.... The best deals were military colleges and co op. The power company in my home town had a deal with UC. https://www.uc.edu/co-op.html
Many of my cousins became college professors and even college presidents and my sister in law was a professor. Their kids got free tuition as a fringe benefit.
Bankruptcy is banned for the simple reason that most college students have no wealth - just debt, so they could easily dodge paying off their college debt by declaring bankruptcy the day after graduation. It also invites taking out huge loans in which the money could be spent on nightclubs, new cars, etc. I took out a student loan to pay for car repairs when my engine blew one year.
That's what they say. Otherwise, no different than any other debt. Many exclusions from bankruptcy. Homestead. My favorite was that in Pa muskets, spinning wheels are exempt. So people invested in expensive black powder rifles and spinning wheels, took out huge loans and went bankrupt every 7 years....
Check out the co-signers. They are the stuckees with assets....
No doubt there are scams. Many Pell grants go for something other than education.
This discussion over student debt masks the real problem. The outrageous cost of higher education.
My books and tuition for a full year (12 months, of a double load) at a private university was only $2,000, . today I can imagine $40,000 or more.
Don't imagine, get the facts like I did. University website list their annual tuition.
Tomonthebeach, Mr. Farrar was incorrect in his imagining. The cost is more than $40,000. Two decades ago my daughter went to a Barnard and the tuition was $55,000 by the time she reached her senior year. And, this was two decades ago!
You are missing the whole point. The question of how the student should pay off college tuition is something we would not even be talking about in Germany where my good friend and former colleague, Tom Schirer, born in America, earned his PhD for free. The German government even paid into the German equivalent of his Social Security fund while he was in school. The Germans regard the time spent in school as the individual's contribution to German society. The same as an individual who is employed at what we Americans regard as an occupation. In other words; Germans regard going to school as one's occupation and it is one's contribution to German society. So the government rewards the student with free tuition and social security contributions. Tom paid a $100 registration fee and paid his own room and board.
Ironically Tom wrote his dissertation on Samuel Clemens. It still stands today as one of the most important biographical works on Mark Twain. This was Tom's contribution to German society; for which, the Germans were happy to reward him financially.
All this talk in America about how the student should, must pay off tuition is distinctly American. My god, what have we turned our selves into?
I started out my comment by asserting that I am in favor of free college. I also acknowledged that tuitions vary greatly - especially "exclu$ive" private schools (as opposed to just regular private ones like I attended).
Figuratively speaking, you can buy a used Mini car for $12,000 or a new Mercedes for $100K. Both will get you to the office in traffic. The quality of education varies little regardless of school, but the pricey schools will expose a student to more Nepo peers with job connections. It is a choice. Miss out on the networking, and you may get buried in debt payments.
I have friends all over the EU. Yes, college there is really cheap (with a few exceptions). So is medical care. Consequently, so is the quality of life there. But Americans are so brainwashed that the more you pay for something, the better it must be. Likewise, if you are not willing to sacrifice to get a degree, then you must not want a good job badly enough. Also, free college is communism, just like free medical care. How does America overcome such illogical grooming? If we cannot, nothing is likely to change.
Such a much-needed article! First of all college tuition in this country is pure thievery. As is the housing market, and healthcare. Republicans not only have no desire to help strengthen the middle class, they are doing whatever they can to make us poorer, sicker, and dumber. Much like Thom's father and father-in-law, my father, an immigrant from a dirt-poor village in Greece, was self-educated and exemplified the American dream, which saw its peak in the 50s. Even though he had made his money in the stock market he continued working at the assembly line at the Ford Motor Co. until he could retire so he could get his pension. A PENSION. Not only that, Ford paid for my undergraduate tuition! Where can you find that now?
Happy Father Daddy...and to all you fathers out there!
Back to the future. I have done some serious genealogical research.This is what I found.
During the middle ages,even up to the 16th Century, society was stratified by Royalty, Nobility, Freemen,serfs. Freemen were in short supply. There is a Register of Freemen of York, 1272- 1558.
Freemen were tradesmen, potters, tinkerers,carpenters, wool dyers (listers),skinners, craftsmen and the likes.
The upper class, the nobility, the ruling elite, have always hated and feared the middle class, the bourgousie, for the middle class is the transit zone, the rung on the ladder by which the lower class, the prole, can ascend the social ladder and the ruling class can descend the social ladder.
The solution. Eliminate the middle rungs
And that is what it is all about, the Powell memo.
The Thiels, the Musks, the Bezo;s, the Dimons, the Zuckerburgs all climbed that ladder, but once at the top they pull in the ladder, that no one else can climb and displace them.
When I had dental work in Poland the dentist told me that there were American students there taking dentistry. I wonder what percentage stay in Europe after they finish their schooling.
What will this country be like after so many years of uneducated people with no health care and the majority not vaccinated from viruses.
Then to top that off woman being forced to have children they can’t afford. And global warming to make matters worse.
The republicans never seem to have long range planning. I wonder if it’s their religious views of Armageddon that prevent them from long term planing.
It is all by design Elwyn. Social Darwinism. As former Rep Alan Grayson of Florida said, their solution is "don't get sick, and if you do, die quickly" The elderly, like myself, the disabled are useless eaters, we invested in our society, but we aren't contributing, we are instead draining.
The purpose of serfs is to labor day and night to provide for their "betters" and then when used up to go off and die, the earlier the better.
Art 12 of the 1936 Soviet Constitution is also the libertarian - capitalist credo.
"if you don't work, you don't eat".
I remember and miss Alan Grayson. And would like to see him back on the national stage. And Republican morality is so weird it defies religion.
My grandma had 2 brothers who went to medical school in Mexico. One wound up in the US -- the other in Israel -- that was in the '30s. Here at UM Medical we have many American residents and post docs who went to foreign medical schools.... When I worked for SSA one of our medical experts was an American who had graduated brom the University of Bologna, Italy, and eventually became president of the college of oncology nationally.
Glad to know American students have the option of saving money by going to schools in other countries. While other countries have been paying their students to come to our major institutions. Strange irony if true.
New Mexico is working on free tuition. https://hed.nm.gov/free-college-for-new-mexico
Benefits of dual citizenship. Free tuition in many countries.
That’s great news let New. Mexico be a model for the other 49 states. I would love to move there and live in one of those earth ship homes.
I’d like to take a moment to thank you for writing this chapter and making it accessible to the public. As the only college-educated person born in the mid-80s into a low-middle-class family that eventually fell into poverty and never escaped, I’m especially aware of these effects.
Initially, my goal was to become a physician after surviving a traumatic brain infection and strokes as a child; I wanted to pay it forward. However, without guidance from my high school—and for a multitude of reasons I won't go into here—my mother and I formulated a plan to afford college. I began by training as a massage therapist to use those earnings for my education. I attended a massage school that was an hour and a half from my home and worked two jobs just to get by. The school offered a medical massage program that would grant me an associate degree, so I enrolled, knowing this would give me a competitive edge. It did.
Once I finished my training in 2006, I took and passed the board exam in Maryland but was denied therapeutic status due to a credentialing conflict between Virginia, where I received my education, and Maryland, which did not recognize my associate degree. I immediately started taking courses at a local community college and soon discovered a loophole: I could work as a sole proprietor and offer any of the skills I had been trained in.
I met an acupuncturist who planned to open a holistic center, and we partnered together. Initially, we had a few clients, and I also worked as our public relations manager. Within a year, we had expanded into a multi-room center offering a wide range of holistic therapies. We were on track to grow even more when the housing market crashed. Our business closed, and I could no longer afford to maintain my license. I fell back into poverty, and my dream of becoming a doctor was shattered.
Despite this setback, I persisted and shifted my focus to becoming a Registered Nurse, where I excelled. Eventually, I became a critical care traveling nurse, not for the money, but to help my immigrant husband naturalize by providing us with safer living conditions. During this time, I worked for the military, providing care to our veterans and active duty members, which had a profound psychological impact on me. After experiencing burnout, I stepped back from this high-stress role and returned to the East Coast to work in the PACU department in late 2019.
However, fate had other plans as the pandemic began. My contract was eventually ended due to the pause in elective surgeries, and the unit I was on became a dysfunctional critical care overflow unit. I then left to work at Cooper University’s Trauma Hospital in Camden, New Jersey. The eight months I spent there traumatized me, and for the safety of my patients, I had to leave the bedside.
Fortunately, I found a way to return to holistic medicine and am now working once again as a massage therapist. However, my student loan debt still looms over me. I am sharing my story to show readers how my generation has been held back and how hardworking individuals like myself have been prevented from reaching their full potential. Thank you for your time.
There is no arguing Thom's facts. I totally support free college. However, statistics can be misleading. I put myself through college debt-free, working 30 to 40 hours a week. Some people challenged that the late '60s was a different era and tuition was way lower then than it is today. So, I looked up what the tuition for Elmhurst U. is today, and what I paid back in 1970. I was shocked. Adjusted for inflation, my tuition back then was nearly identical to what the school charges today. That punches a hole in assertions that colleges overcharge today - although surely some do.
As for the GI Bill Thom mentioned, by the mid-1970s, it covered about two years of college, not four. Because I took a year off to do voluntary work in S. Mississippi, my draft board revoked my student status and drafted me after sophomore year. I enlisted in a Navy Reserve program to finish school. So a day after getting my BA in 1970, I had to report for duty and enjoyed two back-to-back combat tours in Nam. In late 1974, I was released from active Navy service and quickly enrolled in graduate school on the GI Bill to pursue my PhD. But by then, the GI Bill barely covered 18 months of tuition for my masters at a state University - Florida Atlantic U. So, I joined the Navy Ready Reserves and got a part-time job on campus to pay for rent and food.
When I entered Texas Christian U. to get my psychology doctorate, I had to take out student loans to subsist while working on my PhD. I managed to land a fellowship after two semesters that covered tuition, room, and board. My Navy Reserve weekends kept me barely solvent. I graduated in 1980 with about $6K in outstanding college loans, which I paid off my first year on the faculty of the UT Southwestern Med School.
Clearly, my experience makes me skeptical of whining about being buried in 10s of thousands in college debt. Today, the average federal student loan debt is over $38K. But adjusted for inflation, that is about what college cost in 1970. What seems to have changed is students' willingness to work their way through school like I and many of my age peers did.
G.I. Bill only paid 18 months of your masters? It paid all of my masters.
As regards inflation:
My bachelors cost $2,000 (tuition and books), $2,000 in 1970 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $15,085.35 in 2022, an increase of $13,085.35 over 52 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 3.96% per year between 1970 and 2022, producing a cumulative price increase of 654.27%.
Also factor in the cost of living, food, transportation, clothing, housing in 1970, and the availability of jobs, and their wages.
In 1970 I bought a brand new 1970 Maverick, a flathead six, cheapest car on the market, It cost me $2,500, five years previous I bought a brand new Mustang, with a 289 V-8, which idled on the Interstate at 70 mph, for $2,000
It only takes 18 months to earn an MA if you do not take off summers.
It took me one year, to earn a bachelors, well actually two if you consider transferred in credits. First credit was April 1970, Econ 101, graduated June 1972, Highest Honors (3.74 GPA)
Equity would permit individuals to file for bankruptcy. That's why it's unfair.
Post Vietnam the GI bill....didn't cover much.
Our law clerks had tremendous debt. Some schools, like Harvard, guarantee their graduates that they will get high paying jobs as a result of their reputation and claim they will exonerate student debt if that doesn't come to pass.
The Trump administration proposes reducing the maximum federal Pell Grant award to $5,710 per year, down from the current $7,395. This would be the first cut to the maximum Pell Grant since 1993.
Here in Baghdad By the Sea, the public schools and Miami Dade College offers high schoolers approximately 2 years of a free college education, with an aa degree and transfer rights to Florida public colleges. Because of DEI placement, it was a ticket to Ivy and equivalents, given our dempgraphics.
In DC the local school district will pay college tuition, even out of state.
Daniel: I earned my masters, post retirement, and way post Viet Nam. I don't recall if I had to buy my own books, but the G.I. Bill paid my tuition
Meanwhile I go to hospital and find my PCP, Nurses and surgeons still paying off student debt..
If you had 30% or more, they considered it vocational rehabilitation and would foot the entire bill. I didn't know that until long after mine expired.
When I taught, I had to take VA attendance and file a report on the students. None, that I knew about, were in the voc rehab program.
As for medical, the trick was to work for the Public Health Service, which would pick up all related costs. https://www.usphs.gov/
I don't know the rules, All I know is that the VA paid the tuition. I also have a VA home loan guarantee, Which I haven't used since I sold my home in 1978.
All the VA backed loan does is relieve you from having to buy PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance if you can't put down 20% of the purchase price.
For me, the best benefit is preference for employment.
VA benefits include disability compensation, pension, education and training, health care, home loans, insurance, Veteran Readiness and Employment, and burial.
My disability penson triggered a lot of other opportunities.
VA medical benefits include a wide range of services, from primary and specialty care to mental health, home health, and even medical equipment and prosthetics. These benefits are available to eligible veterans, and in some cases, their dependents and survivors, often with varying levels of coverage based on factors like service-connected disabilities, income, and other eligibility criteria.
VA benefits for spouses and dependents of veterans can include healthcare, education, financial assistance, and burial benefits. These benefits are available to surviving spouses and children, as well as spouses and children of living veterans with service-connected disabilities. The specific benefits available depend on factors like the veteran's disability rating, service history, and the family member's relationship to the veteran.
VA Disability and VA Compensation are often used interchangeably, but they are essentially the same thing: a monthly, tax-free payment to veterans for disabilities incurred or aggravated during military service. VA Compensation specifically refers to the monetary benefit paid to veterans with service-connected disabilities, compensating them for the impact of those disabilities on their earning capacity.
Service-connected Death
VA will pay up to $2,000 toward burial expenses for deaths on or after September 11, 2001, or up to $1,500 for deaths prior to September 11, 2001. If the Veteran is buried in a VA national cemetery, some or all of the cost of transporting the deceased may be reimbursed.
Non-service-connected Death
VA will pay up to $978 toward burial and funeral expenses for deaths on or after October 1, 2024 and a $978 plot-interment allowance (if not buried in a national cemetery).
Veterans, service members, spouses, and certain dependents are generally eligible for burial in a VA National Cemetery. Eligibility hinges on factors like discharge status, active duty service, and relationship to the eligible individual.
There are a lot more.
I have a 10% war and service disability, which means that my DFAS retirement check is reduced by 10% thus reducing my taxable income, however that same amount is paid me by the VA, and is not taxable.
I asked the Flight Surgeon at my retirement physical, why He said it was varicose veins (I still don't have them, but he wouldn't give me disability for my hearing loss or my broken neck. Probably because I was on jump status and FAA certified until I retired.
Student debt (and despair) escalated when interest rates were allowed to skyrocket to usury levels that students could not escape. Biden may have been waiving $180 billion in interest.
(MSU '74).
“Black women…as ABC News noted, “hold nearly two-thirds of the nearly $2 trillion outstanding student debt in the U.S.”
Denying knowledge to Blacks was central to enslaver’s cruel method of repression. It’s difficult to believe today that learning to read was sometimes punishable by death!
In the 20th century, Black veterans who returned with their peers from the nasty war received little benefits from the massive GI Bill that pushed most white America into the middle class and transformed the country into an economy giant. Redlining and systemic discrimination from banks denied low-interest VA loans to Black veterans and thus deprived them of creating generational wealth embedded in homeownership. Most white institution of higher education refused to admit Blacks. These practices were clearly outlined in Critical Race Theory, CRT, which in the 21st century became the bugaboo of the right wing because truth is so hurtful.
Now systemic racism has reached its apotheosis at the highest levels of government with new monikers like: “woke, wokeism,” DEI.
In the 1980’s, the “Welfare Queens” and “Willie Horton” were in vogue, and Lee Atwater, Reagan, and GHW Bush exploited these for political gain.
It’s strange to fathom the depth of this animus toward Black people that some white people would rather go without services like healthcare if Black people will also be beneficiaries.
America can have nice things for ALL her people and some, if we can see all the mosaic as part of one. E Pluribus Unum: remember that? Black people aren’t going anywhere and if policies of exclusion become the foundation of this democracy, we all will be poorer for it.
We are waiting for a real UNITER, that Statesman, who will acknowledge the humanity of all and craft policies that will tap into the best and brightest of all. THAT, my friend, is what will make America the shining beacon on the hill. Had the GI Bill not superimposed America’s original sin of discrimination, we would all be in a better place today.
Captain my Captain with the dumbing down of America, I believe they believe this really does keep people from asking questions in the first place. If , you are considered to be dumb what questions would you ask in again the first place. We, need an educated society in order to have a more responsible society. The more you know, really is that the more you know, then you ask the questions and want honest answers. That’s me Captain. Have a great Farther’s Day!
What about the students who worked their way through college and took no student loans? Surely they must be reimbursed for the college fees they paid? Nobody talks about the unfairness of this student loan forgiveness.
That's a false rationale.
You weren't damaged. No harm no foul.
Congress concocted a crock to give lenders protection. Minors (anyone under 21 in some states) shouldn't be stuck with unconsionable contracts. Bankruptcy shouldn't have been precluded.
Plus a lot of the loans were predatory. https://www.ppsl.org/
Online Program Managers (OPMs) are third-party companies that partner with higher education institutions to develop, market, and manage online degree programs. These companies are generally for-profit entities that market themselves to colleges and universities as a solution for schools looking to expand their online offerings. OPMs are often responsible for student recruitment, course design, and student support services, among other program functions — yet they are not held to the same government regulations and standards as a college or university. This lack of accountability and transparency encourages a cycle of greed, fraud, and abuse in the higher education system.
Misrepresentation and Deception
OPMs operate behind the scenes, often adopting the branding and identity of the institutions they partner with. Students enrolling in these programs believe they are gengaging directly with the institution – often, a prestigious non-profit school – only to discover that the program is outsourced to a for-profit entity. For example, in PPSL’s Luna v. USC class action lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege that students enrolling in the University of Southern California’s (USC) online Master of Social Work (MSW) program thought they were going to receive the same USC education as in-person students, but were actually enrolled in a program managed by the OPM 2U, Inc.
There are a few culprits involved in this issue. First I blame the lenders. Deliberately extending loans to people they probably knew could never repay them. They would be off the hook. Then as a supporter of public education, they were remiss in promoting financial education in the schools. Where were the parents, adults who could have counseled the borrowers. I absolutely understand the desire to forgive these debts but it's not a very good lesson.
Qualified education expenses must be paid by:
*You or your spouse if you file a joint return,
*A student you claim as a dependent on your return, or
*A third-party including relatives or friends.
https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/qualified-ed-expenses
.
The American opportunity tax credit is:
Worth a maximum benefit of up to $2,500 per eligible student.
Only available for the first four years at an eligible college or vocational school.
For students pursuing a degree or other recognized education credential.
Partially refundable. People could get up to $1,000 back.
.
The lifetime learning credit is:
Worth a maximum benefit of up to $2,000 per tax return, per year, no matter how many students qualify.
Available for all years of postsecondary education and for courses to acquire or improve job skills.
Available for an unlimited number of tax years.
.
In general, qualified tuition and related expenses for the education tax credits include tuition and required fees for the enrollment or attendance at eligible post-secondary educational institutions (including colleges, universities and trade schools). The expenses paid during the tax year must be for an academic period that begins in the same tax year or an academic period that begins in the first three months of the following tax year.
The following expenses do not qualify for the AOTC or the LLC:
Room and board
Transportation
Insurance
Medical expenses
Student fees, unless required as a condition of enrollment or attendance
Same expenses paid with tax-free educational assistance
Same expenses used for any other tax deduction, credit or educational benefit
Thanks for the information. Yes, there is some existing tax relief available. Is it reasonable? Should it be changed?
Currently, according to Google, the average tuition cost at Univ of FL, a state school, is $6,380 in-state student/yr and $28,658 out-of-state student/yr. Based on your figures for AOTC, it looks like tax credits per year would take care of about max. 40% for an in-state undergraduate (2,500/6,380) or about 9% for out-of state student (2,500/28,658) tuition cost - if I am understand your figures right. According to Google, the average private college tuition cost per year is about $38,000. A tax deduction would take care of about 6.5% of tuition fees (skimpy). I can see how these tuition costs would add up quickly. And deductions do not even address costs for housing, food, and other expenses. So, for some students current tax deductions may help only a little.
In many European countries, while tuition fees may be low or even free for some students, living expenses like housing and food are generally not covered by the university or government. Students are typically responsible for their own living costs, though they may have access to financial aid, scholarships, or student loans to help manage these expenses.
I understand that many people that do not want to go to college themselves - do not want to pay taxes for other people to go to college either. Personally, I think it is important to give people the opportunity to go to college, provided they meet the requirements. This is good for the nation as a whole and for individual satisfaction. So, maybe college is low-cost vs free. Perhaps some students need to work 10 hours max a week.
If we are going to use tax deductions as a way to provide tuition relief, I think the tax deductions for tuition should be increased.
According to NASFAA, Among partisan lines, 84% of Democrats and 44% of Republicans said they supported free two-year public college. However, the partisan divide widened even more when asked about free four-year college, with 80% of Democrats and 36% of Republicans supporting the policy.
I took that from the IRS website. I don't practice anymore, so get a lawyer because there may be a curlycue.
I use gifts -- which I didn't mention. For the calendar year 2025, the annual gift tax exclusion is $19,000 per donee (recipient).
IMHO New Mexico is on the right track. If I had kids of an age, first priority would be quality of education but economics is close. If a locality wants to attract businesses to locate free tuition might be a major incentive. More than just good will. The dumbest thing Reagan did to Califrnia was eliminate free tuition, which was the engine that made it grow.