mattbk wrote:
For point 2 a major aspect is what about parents that paid so their kids had no loans or lower loans. They weren't simply all rich. They may have saved much better and limited expenditures in order to save this fund or make payments. The kids with loans may have had parents that spent more lavishly on cars, vacations, etc. Paying off loans they knowingly took while these payments are not available to those who already paid off school and may have worked through school is simply ridiculously unfair. And it is taxpayer money.
I've never been a big fan of loan forgiveness, especially without fixing the cost structure.
But. Sometimes life isn't fair. Not fixing the problem because not everyone would get the benefit is a crappy reason to continue a broken system. If we were to decide to fully fund higher education from this point forward and give ample ways for people to attend free it would seem to be a poor argument to say, "why should they get free college, I had to pay through the nose?"
The cost structure is the foundation of the student loan situation. We created this by drastically cutting state funding for colleges and universities starting in the late 80's/early 90's. From there, the cost shot up.
It is fair to ask whether forgiveness is a good idea. I am just completely not convinced by the argument that some people won't benefit so why should anyone. And I am someone whose balances combined with my wife topped out in the suburban 2 story 3 bedroom fake tudor range based on 2005 home prices.
I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.