
Student debt is over $1.6T and hardly anyone is paying down their loans - pseudolus
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/16/student-loan-debt-is-over-1point6-trillion-and-balances-arent-going-down.html
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downerending
It's surprising that such a small proportion is reducing the balance of their
loans.

Cancelling debt in some ways sounds appealing, but it has the unfortunate
effect of punishing those who are the most financially responsible. This is
both in the payments they've made that they didn't have to, and the future
societal taxes that will be required to retire that cancellation debt.

Lots of moral hazard at work.

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MR4D
The biggest moral hazard is on the front end - most loans are government
guaranteed, so banks are making a risk free profit from which borrowers are
legally prevented from defaulting on (i.e. you can’t escape the loans through
bankruptcy).

Until this is fixed, everything else almost doesn’t matter.

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Unsimplified
Pumping young and dumb people full of debt is bad design. This phenomenon will
die as we upgrade the economy.

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zyang
Change is not going to come easy considering us government is profiting off
student loans while running a massive deficit.

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sarcasmatwork
When the govt makes a profit off student loans, there is a problem.

Look at the interest rates.. I know people like myself are paying every month,
but does not feel like I'm making a dent.

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zenincognito
Education should be free before healthcare is made free. Both should be free
if the country can afford it. If people are educated, free healthcare will not
be required to be "explained" or fought for.

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denkmoon
Universities already use student loans as a means of converting taxpayer money
into institutional and personal wealth. Convince employers that people without
a degree are worthless, then charge tens/hundreds of thousands of dollars for
a degree, then get the government to give out credit to people who would never
ever get that kind of credit otherwise, so they can pay for the degree they
don't really need (and end up working at starbucks anyway). Note the part of
the article explaining how nobody is paying their student loans.

Free education only works when the entire education system isn't rent seeking.
Otherwise, you're just setting up a taxpayer funded money fountain for
unscrupulous administrators.

At least with healthcare, people generally don't use it unless they actually
need it.

