Just what we are (almost) all waiting for! ... not! This truly sucks. There is no way to sugar coat the topic or get around the matter at hand. We all have these high expectations for those sweet six months after graduation. But what we fail to realize is the clock just keeps ticking.. another second closer to when our student loan payments start rolling in. Whether we got them through Sally Mae, private funding, or the state ... we can't refinance them, ever. I guess it's a good thing that our co-signers are still responsible to pay our loans back even if we die. They can't kill us to run from the payments! After reading deeper into the issue, I am sure that is exactly why these laws were put into place.
Apparently nowadays, American graduates hold an all-time high number in debt, regarding student loans ($1.3 trillion). The U.S. government has been locking college-bound students into interest rates reaching almost 7%, while their borrowing costs are trivial in comparison. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the interest rate of 6.8% over the next decade would bring in approximately $184 billion.
As Van Jones states in his article, "Costly College Loan? You're Stuck With It," he hones in on the fact that Congress has shut down proposals to take this profit and feed it back into the middle class economy via "public works programs, green technology investments or job retraining." I agree, that this would be more profitable in the long term, as far as American quality of life goes as well as middle class sustainability. At least then it would seem to be worth the price. Jones goes on to say that "instead, we are plowing all that money earned off the backs of young people into subsidies for oil companies and tax breaks for people who own yachts. And too many in Congress refuses to end these handouts in order to help people with student loans." He believes this money is going to the "worst 1 percent."
Senator Warren wants to make up for lost revenue from student loan refinancing by have everyone pay an equal tax rate. Well to me, this is a no brainer. If you work for what you have, you should pay the same tax rate as everyone else. (In my opinion: Some people get lucky, so good for them. But everyone (who is independent and not disabled or old) is able to put in x amount of work to yield x amount of profits. Student loans should not be something to hinder the results of progress at the extent at which it does. )At least here, members of Congress can no longer complain about lost revenue. In addition, those who were opposed to fair taxes will have to face the victims and state why they have so much more sympathy for the hedge fun manager than for the struggling middle-class family trying to give their children college educations.
Jones puts it best here, "We can save Americans thousands of dollars. Put money back in the pockets of families who invested in education. Create jobs from the middle class out. And do it without adding a dime to the deficit -- simply by putting in place a fair tax code and then allowing people to refinance federal student loans. Even the kid who took out a loan for a sports car instead of going to college can figure out this makes sense. Can Congress?"
I really loved how straightforward this article is. And I think that it puts the issue in real light. It gives both wings a chance to meet in a neutral place, and do the right thing, excuses aside. They can set the standard that everyone deserves, and educate every American (if desired). This opportunity becoming a tangible reality really needs to be set into place.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/25/opinion/jones-student-loans-warren/index.html?iref=allsearch
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