this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2024
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[–] FlashMobOfOne 167 points 7 months ago (5 children)

I spent five figures paying mine off two years ago.

Still 100% support my tax dollars paying for people's college. In fact, I'd love that instead of the nine wars my tax dollars are paying for instead.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (3 children)

I'd settle for interest free loans tbh...

And then do it for personal homes, too.

[–] uis 28 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I'd settle for universal housing. And universal education. And universal healthcare.

[–] trolololol 15 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I don't understand why you need all of that. Let's say we agree, next you'll say people deserve clean water and steer the world away from climate disaster and genocide. You want it all!

[–] uis 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

next you'll say people deserve clean water and steer the world away from climate disaster and genocide.

First falls both under housing and healthcare(utility and preventive healthcare + hygene), genocide is opposite of healthcare and we are already in climate disaster.

[–] trolololol 4 points 7 months ago

Hey don't bring common sense to this conversation, this is the Internet

[–] [email protected] 25 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

The Australian model is also interesting. After your degree you pay a certain percentage of your income to your university for a decade or so. But only if you earn more than the average person.

This means a university gets more money when their students gets good job.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Other points about the Australian system:

  • The cost of the university course is subsidised by the government. The government pays the majority of the cost, usually around 70-80%. For example, a Bachelor of Computer Science degree at the university I went to (Swinburne) is currently AU$9k/year (~US$5.8k) subsidised vs AU$39k/year (~US$25.4k) full price.
  • The loans for the amount you have to pay are through the government and are interest free. They're indexed for inflation once per year, but this is a much lower increase compared to interest from a bank loan.
  • You only have to pay it off once you earn over $51k/year, like you said. Repayments start at 1% of income and are paid as part of your income tax return.
  • They used to have a program where if you paid $500 or more of the loan upfront, you'd get a 10% discount (so e.g. if you paid $500, it'd reduce your loan balance by $550).

Note that this system only applies to citizens and permanent residents. International students still have to pay the full price. Having said that, Australian universities frequently advertise at college fairs in the USA, as even at the full price plus flights plus accomodation, studying in Australia can still end up cheaper than the USA, and Americans love Australia 🙂

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

This is all I care about. I was forced to refinance into private loans because the interest rates on the federal loans were fucking stupid. All I want is the loans to be more reasonable.

[–] Bytemeister 6 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I saw my wife's student loans last night. She took out 37,000 dollars in 2008. She's been paying her monthly amount for over 10 years, and she now only owes 43,000 dollars.

Cancel student debt. Most of us have already paid for college more than once.

Edit: also worth noting that up until now, only about 30% of PSLF applications are approved, and something like 37 (that's total, not percent) of loans are fulfilled using IDR plans.

Cancel student debt.

[–] SupraMario 23 points 7 months ago (2 children)

The problem is colleges just will keep charging more because they know people will just keep getting them knowing the gov will cover it eventually. The fix isn't to have the gov. Cover some loans, it should be to stop letting colleges be run like a private sector.

[–] III 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Jokes on you, they already keep charging more.

I bet if the government is footing the bill they will demand lower tuition. And unlike lowly poor people, the government is someone they will have to listen to.

You aren't wrong with your point. But both should be true.

[–] TempermentalAnomaly 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Medicare kinda works that way.

[–] acetanilide 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Should we call it Educare or Educaid?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago
[–] LemmyKnowsBest 7 points 7 months ago (2 children)

colleges are charging more, and as a result, fewer students are attending.

College will once again be only for the wealthy.

But plenty of people have discovered college is not necessary to thrive in life anyway.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

John Oliver covered this topic, and according to him, that's not the case at all.

There's sadly no big conspiracy to keep people uneducated. Only basic greed. Simple problem with a simple solution (this is rarely the case) but corporate America will never admit it.

[–] orrk 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

College will once again be only for the wealthy.

you make it sound like that isn't the point. welcome to the new cast system

[–] LemmyKnowsBest 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] orrk 1 points 7 months ago

ya, phone typing is a bitch at times

[–] uis 9 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Agreed. Tanks don't teach, don't heal, don't feed and don't pay pensions.

~~Fucking Putin~~

[–] phoneymouse 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Same, but I want to be reimbursed. I don’t know how people who want their debt forgiven now don’t support me being reimbursed for mine. They seriously set my life back.

[–] FlashMobOfOne 10 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Believe me, I get it. I would definitely love to have that $16,000 back.

I'd like for it to be that way too, but I think it's unlikely. On a macro level though, it's just more important to eliminate debt for the indebted, I think.

[–] LemmyKnowsBest 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Only SIXTEEN THOUSAND?? When you said five figures, you had us thinking $99,999.

I'm on year three of six, paying back $63,000 by way of the IRS garnishing 100% of my disability benefits and tax refunds 🥺

[–] FlashMobOfOne 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Yep, only 16k. It hurt to drop that much all at once, but with the way the loans are structured and so little goes to pay down the principal, I think it was worth it in the end.

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. Capitalism fucking sucks.

[–] LemmyKnowsBest 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You paid $16k all in one big payment? Wowza look at Mr Moneybags here 🤑

[–] FlashMobOfOne 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I was very lucky.

In March 2020 lots of oil stocks were dropping down to pennies. I bought a bunch on the cheap and it appreciated to a good price when the world reopened. Sold it all to pay off the debt. Sadly still working on my credit cards.

[–] LemmyKnowsBest 2 points 7 months ago

Smart man! Nice leveraging oil stock prices

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

Which nine are you counting, out of interest?