Speaking as someone who had student loans and paid them off WITH THE SWEAT OF MY OWN BROW —
Fucking good, student loans are a scam and a betrayal of the American promise to our youth, get those loans forgiven and have one less financial noose around your neck
There are two kinds of people:
“That was a shitty experience. No one else should have to suffer through that!”
And:
“If I had to suffer, so should everyone else!”
Be the first one.
Motion carried.
In an ideal world, this would also spur conversation about overall college costs and nonpredatory financial aid options, but ... hope springs eternal.
Let's include in that conversation how public universities and colleges don't get even a fraction of the public funding they used to get. Certain politicians have been working for years to send us back to "only rich people can have an education".
As a public university graduate who was personally victimized by the cutting of public higher-ed funding while I attended uni in the '90s, that's where I'm headed with the "college costs" umbrella. 🤷🏼♀️
I was in college in the '80s. I remember that every year, applying for my student loan was more difficult and complicated, and it took longer to get the check.
I was naive enough to wonder why the Reagan Administration would want to make it harder for people to become gainfully employed taxpayers.
I paid off my student loans mid-pandemic and used the occasion of my last payment to livestream a ritual to push that exact same energy out into the world, for that exact same reason.
I may be the only person ever to have made a witchy circle out of FAFSA forms :)
This was the ritual setup - spear to draw the circle closed, stool to hold the laptop, and a circle made of FAFSAs stapled together with Monopoly money - cause it’s all fake, innit? :)
(And a fire extinguisher because I released the circle by setting the entire affair on fire at the end :) )
I triple-backflipped through a dozen hoops and had a secret passcode and won the not-so-metaphorical lottery to get a free ride to college and I say:
Forgive student loans. All of 'em.
Yeah I had a full scholarship for my BS, and work paid for my MS.
And I know so many people who are just as smart as me, if not smarter, who simply don’t do well on standardized tests.
So they either didn’t get higher ed or got burdened with loans. And that sucks.
I paid for my own tuition, a year of my beloved wife's, and my daughter's.
I say screw it! Forgive the student loans. Don't make kids start their first job — whether in a trade, as an academic, or in the business world — in debt and already trapped on the treadmill.
I'm in one of the last cohorts which was too old to benefit from the HPV vaccines. If you're younger than me, you got this amazing vaccine which means you won't get cervical cancer and you don't need regular appointments with the Duck of Evil...and I think that's amazing and I'm delighted for you.
Paid off my student loans around 1990.
I have NO problem with the obscene debts saddling younger folks these days being forgiven. In this case here, especially where the law originally said they were supposed to be, but GOPers kept saying "No, you should suffer perpetual indentured servitude."
Same. I had to move to the middle of nowhere central Asia to pay mine off. Worth it, but I wouldn't wish that on anyone else. Cancel everyone's student loans!
I don't understand anyone my age (early Gen X) who opposes student loan forgiveness. The system has been a rent-seeking scam for decades - if we want civilization to continue, it's greatly in our interest to pay for education for anyone who wants it.
This is what my taxes *should* go for, dammit.
I will likely die with my crippling student loan debt and so far none of the forgiveness stuff has helped me and yet I also say, “fucking awesome I hope this helps so many people.”
Mine were in default for years & I thought that it was always going to be like that, but last year I got a letter letting me know that I was eligible for a "Fresh Start" income-based repayment plan w/payments as low as $0/mo. Filled out the paperwork, got the $0/mo. pmt as I'm retired & on SS now.
Speaking as someone who had no student loans because I was born to parents who had money and at a time when college education was not exorbitant, I agree with John.
Had an excellent talk with my father several months ago. He was outraged about student loan forgiveness up until I shared some basic facts about the predatory nature of the lenders. Was amazing to see the awareness start to dawn in his Fox News saturated brain. There is hope.
100% I busted my ass to pay mine off. It’s been almost 15 years since I did. I have friends who graduated with me still paying. It’s insanity, they didn’t make better or worse decisions we just had different opportunities/difficulties
Thank you! I’ve had this Arturo many times over the last year. Friend paid off about $5000 (1984 Uni grad) & is furious he is paying off everyone else’s loans. Dude, your tuition was about $1500 a quarter!
Mine have been paid off for over a decade, but the cost of tuition absolutely impacted the decisions I made about what education to pursue.
Stop the means testing. Forgive it all. It’s an easy, immediate way to materially improve millions of lives.
