I’m not sure that I would be using Germany as a historical model for many things.
The US is considered the top destination globally for higher education. With the most diversified university system and the best education…which is why so many foreign students come to the US for their higher education. If you want it to be free, then go somewhere else.
“sovereignty”?
Is this related to the “Freemen on the Land” concept?
I don’t know where you read that, but it’s absolutely, 100%, no caveats wrong. I have $51,000 in federal student loan debt from the graduate degree I completed this year, and I am luckier than most of my peers in that I have no leftover debt from my undergraduate degree.
Right. Your $51,000 was for a graduate degree, for which there are no limits. The $31,000 limitation is for undergraduate degrees for dependent students.
… and only applies to direct loans to dependent students.
In other words the typical student (who is dependent on his/her parents) should only have $31,000 in loans after receiving an undergraduate degree. He/she can opt to get supplemental private loans, or his/her parents can pursue PLUS loans, but he/she really has to work hard to have more than $31,000 in debt after getting a bachelor’s degree.
Well, yeah, but you can’t actually go to anything other than an in-state public university for less than $31K.
Are the supplemental private loans also non-forgivable (are they what the OP is complaining about)?
Interesting info, C. I’d challenge this bit though, based on my own personal experience…
"The real failing of the student loan discharge process is lack of participation by those in need. Incredibly, only 0.1 percent of student loan debtors who have filed for bankruptcy attempt to discharge their student loans. That statistic is even more surprising in light of this Article’s finding that a debtor does not need to hire an attorney to be successful. In fact, debtors without attorneys were just as likely to receive discharges as debtors with attorneys were. "
Student loan discharges are handed off to a separate contracted agency. Mrs. G went through a discharge due to medical disability. The agency rejected every claim we made regardless of medical assessments or her SS-disabled status. We literally had claims and appeals rejected for “improper MM/DD/YYYY” format when a doctor used dashes instead of slashes on a handwritten signature, rejected for “smudgy unreadable fax” of their own small print on their required forms, completely rage-inducing nonsense.
It took retaining our own lawyers to pursue a “bad-faith” lawsuit to finally get approval. We’ve heard similar anecdotal personal stories from others and lawyers going through the “process”.
GargoyleWB
Did you feel at all guilty about this? For failing to pay your wife’s debts?
This thread reminds me of that gonzomax mortgage thread.
… seriously?
Am I asking him if he feels bad that he reneged on an agreement he freely made, that he felt was in his benefit at the time, that you and I and every other taxpayer had to fulfill because he is choosing not to?
Yes. Seriously.
There’s a problem with your pronouns.
That’s the best you’ve got?
(And yes, I know it’s his wife.)
I’m stealing this.
That’s the entire reason your question is stupid: they’re not his debts.
No. She is not healthy enough for work. Short of putting her in debtor’s prison for failing to bootstrap her way through critical illness, what punishment would you suggest to assuage the guilt?
Not saying how you should feel. Just curious how you did feel.
My entire family was estranged from my father for over a decade for reasons not pertinent here. He died in a nursing home unknown to us, and the state sent my mother a bill for a tad over $70,000. Our lawyer recommend he send a letter telling the state to pound sand and that would have been the end of it. (Mom and dad were still married but she lived in another state, and the lawyer said our state wouldn’t go after an out of state senior citizen over this.)
But we decided this was our debt, not others to pay, and my sister, mother and I just started paying as much as we could on this and paid it off in about two years. We aren’t rich, but we’d been taught to pay our way and not push our debt onto others.
Not saying we are better or worse than others. Just curious where we stand in relation to others.
Very truly hope that your wife is doing better.
Student loans are not the device of Satan but of enterprising individuals seeking profit (both parties). Industry wouldn’t exist otherwise. IMO, student loans are one of very few enterprises that benefit both buyer and seller. Of course the lenders make money, but the recipients are given access to opportunities which they would never realize otherwise. Yes, you do have to eventually pay it back, with interest (small if you’re smart and responsible), but it’s usually proportional to the money making opportunity granted you via those loans. For instance, medical school loans are steep, but align with the expected salaries of the profession. What you’re probably talking about are the idiots who take out $8,000 per semester for a creative writing degree and drop half of their classes and take 12 semesters to finish a degree with low demand for untalented individuals, which they are, likely. Then they are perplexed that they can’t pay back their loan earning $7 an hour as a bank teller.