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Writer's pictureJoanne Jacobs

Hey, hey, we won't pay: 40% of student debtors aren't paying

More than 22 million former college students were supposed start repaying their loans on Oct. 1 when the three-year-long pandemic pause ended, but 40 percent have yet to make a payment.


“This is, in essence, a massive student debt strike," Astra Taylor, co-founder of the Debt Collective, told CNBC"s Annie Novie. “Faced with the impossible choice of feeding their kids, keeping a roof over their head or throwing an average of $400 a month into the Department of Education incinerator, borrowers are rightly choosing to keep themselves and their families financially afloat,” she said.


"Outstanding student loan debt in the U.S. now exceeds $1.7 trillion," writes Nova.


Still, the average loan balance at graduation is $30,000, which doesn't seem impossibly high. Only 7 percent of borrowers owe more than $100,000, typically for master's and professional degrees that should -- in theory -- raise their earnings.


If college pays, why can't college-goers pay their debts?


Some borrowers say it's hard to get correct information about what they owe and their repayment options. It's chaos, said Carolina Rodriguez, director of the Education Debt Consumer Assistance Program, a nonprofit in New York.


"Meanwhile, others may be taking advantage of the Biden administration’s 12-month “on-ramp” to repayment, during which they’re shielded from the worst consequences of falling behind," writes Nova.


I'm sure some are waiting for their debt to be erased. President Biden's $400 billion plan was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court, but he's gone ahead with billions of dollars in targeted debt relief, reports Haisten Willis in the Washington Examiner. "The president has teased more cancellations next year, with Biden's Education Department announcing the week that loan repayments began after a 3 1/2-year pause that it would consider adding regulations under which more loans could be forgiven."

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humphrey
Dec 31, 2023

How is this not theft of services?

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JK Brown
JK Brown
Dec 30, 2023

I say let the loans be discharged in bankruptcy but require that the credential (diploma, certificate, degree) be surrendered since they defaulted on the loan. Just like when the repossess the tradesman's truck or tools on default on their loans. They can keep and use any knowledge or skills they learned in the college/university experience, just not have transcripts or verification of credential.


This would greatly benefit those most damaged by student loans, those defrauded by the schools by being admitted when unable to do the work or those who had misfortune end their studies. After all, we have hard proof that the only value in a college education comes when they hand out the magic parchment. Walk away missi…


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m_t_anderson
Dec 31, 2023
Replying to

It's only a matter of time before more technical professions do certification testing, like the actuaries and engineers already do.

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m_t_anderson
Dec 30, 2023

So 40% of 22 million is about 8.8 million. All of whom will be doing the Big Boo Hoo for the next three decades 'cause they have lousy credit.

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Bruce Smith
Bruce Smith
Dec 31, 2023
Replying to

The Obamas' "reach higher" campaign was absolutely credulous in supporting the expansion of an already overgrown U.S. higher education sector, which needs to shrink by withholding public funding from unqualified students; the Biden-Harris-Jill Cardona maladministration of the federal Department of Education is the worst loan collector in history, just as ineffective as the Biden-Harris incompetence at the southern border, another absolute failure of this administration to see that the laws be faithfully executed.

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