J/C
From someone who escaped eventually, the whole student loan and higher education system needs a massive overhaul, and I mean MASSIVE. Right now, we have a mixed bag on the Republican side, ranging from doing nothing - except stand against whatever the Democrats want to do, to people like DeVos actually desiring to perpetuate a massively flawed system. I actually saw her as the worst person in the Trump administration. Yeah, you read that right.
One thing that I am annoyed by is people whose college tuition was piddly by comparison back in the day talking about how "kids these days" are just being catered to. I think Ted Cruz and a lot of the other hateful Republicans and pundits phrase it as either a bunch of baristas are getting off scot-free, or wealthy elites are getting free college. That's horribly misleading at best, but we all know it's intentional misleading on their parts anyhow.
I really appreciated Florida's post because of how proactive it is. One of my issues with student loan forgiveness as it currently stands is along the lines of what oober is hinting at. The current focus now is how big should the bucket be that bails the water out of a boat with a massive leak in it. Nobody is addressing the leak, which is the cost of tuition and loans given out, because that will be a VERY hard conversation, and a lot of the politicians want to avoid it altogether. It's like when the housing crisis was about to hit. If you actually think about it, the 2008 housing crisis and the current student loan crisis are very similar in a lot of aspects, except the government is the holder of most of the loans and it doesn't really matter if there is a sudden glut of degrees lying around. Where it will come to a head - I think - is when scarred millennials have children who are coming of college age and we finally flip the script to saying "college ain't all that, and it actually may not be worth it at all." Enrollment would plunge and there is a huge economy focused on education right now. Just look at all the universities and how they have changed over the past 2 decades.
I would like to add to Florida's proposition that student loans be dischargeable in bankruptcy. On its face, that might be criticized as another "free-be" but when you think about it, it actually would help plug the leak, as many lenders - especially on the private front - would have to absorb more risk as to whether they would actually issue a loan, rather than just rubber stamp every application. Think of the mortgage industry following the 2008 crisis. There should also be some metric put in place for the amount of loans that could be given to any one borrower. I'm not exactly sure how to implement this to the best degree possible, but one that considers the potential career, major, university and basically analytical combination therein that decides what kind of loan could/should be given to that person that would both benefit the lender and the lendee. Just thinking out loud there.
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