The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon.
Today’s question:
QUESTION: Do you agree or disagree with the plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student loans for people making less than $125K a year? And do you think this plan is fair to the ones who already paid their loans?
Talk about it….
very poor unfair decision. Treat people equally. Those who paid their way thru College should get 20,000. also or scrap the whole demented idea!
Agreed….but $20k is nothing compared to the billions Biden is funding for Ukraine. Every other week, American tax payers are giving billions to fund the Ukraine war when its basically Russians vs Russians. Such a waste of tax payer money. Who cares what happens to anyof them thousands of miles away….I’m more concerned about my fellow American. That’s what should matter.
Not fair. We all pay taxes but only some are reaping the benefits. It’s not fair to those that paid for their education nor the taxpayers.
Right now it all about
Thank you student loans for getting me through university…
I don’t think I could ever repay you
You get the ideal
@Concordejet….Just your one comment here says a world of what kind of “free” university education you received. Spelling, grammar and punctuation are your friends, I’m surprised your “professors” passed you through their classes….. nevermind, I take that back, not surprised at all.
Disagree and Unfair.
Not just to the Students and Parents who have paid theirs off, but to Us taxpayers who are going to be paying for them.
Just like the Healthcare plan Obama put on Us. Some of Us ended paying more for our medical plan(s) and some didn’t get to keep their doctor(s).
Their LOAN is NOT my LOAN.
This Government is not for the People.
Everyone is missing the objective. It is to pay off the large lending institutions that hold the loans and contribute to democrat causes. You didn’t think it was for old students did you?
@ Ricardoh Bingo!!! You are exactly right!
@Ricardoh. That is indeed one part of it. It is also a step closer for justifying complete control of the education system by the federal government.
Most federal student loans like the ones involved in the Biden forgiveness proposal.no longer are held by large lending institutions. One of the provisions of Obamacare was for the government to become the lender as well as the guarantor. So taxpayers have been directly funding most federal loans for over 10 years. One of multiple twisted aspects of the Affordable Care Act – the Obama Administration thought they could use the interest made from the student loans to help pay for Obamacare. It’s not new that taxpayers are involved in the student loans beyond just guaranteeing loans made by traditional financial institutions.
The democrat donor firms will benefit……. plus the democrats have just bought themselves hundreds of thousands of votes from the millennials who have benefited from this.
The school debt is not getting canceled. It’s being transferred to the tax payers which the majority never went to college.
My mortgage identifies as a student loan.
What about the people who already paid their student loan off?
Bad idea – $500 BILLION & Biden refuses to say where the $$ is coming from … guess where? doesn’t take a rocket scientist… and not fair – what about the millions of the rest of us that had to change life plans because we couldn’t afford a preferred path but still made a success for ourselves? So do we get $20K? a limit on the income level? really burns my you know what! 🙁 How can we stop it?
Terrible idea. Once again the Democrats create division with unequal treatment, here making those who already worked and paid off their debts or who did not go to college additionally pay off other people’s debts also. It balloons the federal debt. It gives incentives to colleges to increase prices even more. Incentivizes more student debt in the hopes this program will be rerun in the future. And, worse than all the other issues, it is a massive power grab by the executive branch where the Constitution clearly states the power of the purse is Congress’s responsibility. The prior campaign promises and drum roll for this program are irrelevant. The fact is this one person woke up one day and decided to spend a half a billion dollars with absolutely no legal power to do so. Once again the Democrats actually do what they accuse Republicans of, and in this case it is an authoritarian power grab.
I think its great, but doesn’t go far enough. Higher education is needed to be competitive in this modern age. It should be free to all just like Public High School. This would be much more fair than higher education only being accessible to those who can afford it.
@Vandy, imo this bail out should have never passed. Higher education is available to everyone – some people just need to work harder and/or make more sacrifices to attend college. Also, sometimes life just isn’t fair – I would like a Ferrari – but all I can afford is a ford escort – so I chose to live within my means. I would love to live in Beverly Hills; however, I can not afford the cost of living there. Do I begrudge those that drive a Ferrari and/or live in nice neighborhoods – not at all – I am happy for them.
@vandy
Anyone can afford a higher education, that is why they have student loans. People pay them back all the time.
The problem is the woke earning a liberal arts degree which there is little to no demand for it.
It should be free – work that out for the future. For now, those that don’t pay their debts(while someone else will eventually have to) are just basically parasites.
Yes!
@ttd and Darwin,
If anybody can afford higher education, why are the loans needed in the first place? No degree is a guarantee of success.
Like you said TTD, sometimes life just isn’t fair. So why are you trying to pontificate your salty attitude? You may not begrudge the Ferrari driver, but you are begrudging the people who got this help.
Darwin, no, loans don’t get paid back all the time, otherwise this wouldn’t have even been needed.
@Danged, just to answer your question about “if anybody can afford…” – people can afford a higher question with and/or without loans; however, the loans that people take out should be reasonable and paid back. I know quite a few people who take these loans and use them for other purposes besides tuition. You are also correct that a degree is not a guarantee of success – but, if a loan is taken out then it must be repaid. I am also not begrudging (well maybe a tad) those that got this loan forgiveness help – what I don’t like is people not taking responsibility for their actions and the government stepping in fix their issues.
Unfair, bad idea. If you need it explained, you didn’t pay attention in school, or life.
I guess as long as we can bail out massive companies, millionaires who take out PPP loans and don’t meet the criteria for forgiving those loans, continue to bail out small farmers who can’t turn a profit (Big Ag will grow plenty of food), run a military-industrial complex who makes weapons that the Pentagon says they don’t need.
Sure – I think we can help out folks that aren’t wealthy or run huge companies.
If we want to stop the handouts – let’s stop handouts to the wealthy first.
@rob – the forgiveness of PPP loans went to every business (not just the wealthy) who met the requirement for forgiveness. The PPP program was not a well thought out program and was implemented rather hastily to keep small businesses from going under during the pandemic. One of the main differences between the forgiveness of the PPP loans and the college loan bail out is that these small businesses didn’t take out loans that they could not afford to pay back. The idea of the PPP loan was to enable these businesses to keep their employees on the payroll even though their revenues went down. Comparing the two is like comparing apples and oranges.
@TTD – How do you know the students took out loans they couldn’t afford to pay back? The pandemic shut downs were hard on many students and anyone who is helping them pay the loans. We’ve also had years of increasing housing costs – costs that have been increased at a pace faster than in the past. Things happen to people’s financial situations. It’s a relief package. The loans are not being erased – it costs a lot more than $10,000 to attend college, and the borrowers will be required to pay the remainder back with interest. Some of the $10,000 will be removed on paper only because the loan is held by the government and not a bank that has to be paid. There will be a balance due with interest (it’s not like these borrowers were going to suddenly hand over $10,000 this year that is now missing). The federal government used to make a profit off the student loan interest – since 2018 that has been in dispute with some calculating a profit and some a loss.
Rob, Your point is absolutely and totally irrelevant to the question.
@Hope – I am sure that many students took out loans that do have the means for repayment and I am sure that there are a bunch who are unable to repay the loans. The pandemic was exceptionally hard on students; however, the loan repayments were put on deferral. Yes, housing costs have increased – so move to an area that is more affordable. The comment about the $10,000 will only be removed on paper is not accurate – this money was already paid to the educational institution – who do you think will be put on the hook for this $10,000? Maybe a better solution is to forgive a certain dollar amount of accrued interest and/or reduce the interest rates that student loans charge.
Coincidently, my daughter is thinking about grad school, and was disappointed her employer doesn’t have a tuition reimbursement program. I sarcastically said, Take out a student loan. The government will cancel your debt..
Mike-If all the campaign promises were kept this country would have been bankrupt long ago…This is another example of vote buying, except this time they’re using student loans rather than a shot of whiskey.
Was it vote buying when taxes were lowered?
Disagree with the plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student loans and yes, I think it is unfair to those that have already paid off their loans. The government needs to stop bailing out individuals who make irresponsible choices. College is available to everyone – start off at JC, save your pennies and move on to an instate college while living at home and working – bingo – problem solved – no debt. What’s next – bail out all the auto loans because drivers wanted that sporty car and now can’t afford the payments along with insurance, etc. The government shouldn’t be saving people from making stupid decisions. This will not end well and people will start expecting more and more bail outs from the government; while, the rest of us live within our means, don’t take on debt and make sacrifices so we can have a nice retirement.
My pets have high vet bills. They identify as students who took out loans. Pay up!
You get what you vote This was a politicians campaign promise that he actually followed through on, but only due to his sagging poll numbers. Shame on the American people for actually voting for this guy.
Bad idea.
“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country” – said by a popular Democrat.
The problem is that education has become so costly and many people appear to have no sense of finance, budgeting and personal responsibility. This debt shift does nothing to address any of these problems. If anything it makes them worse.
This debt shift does nothing to address any of these problems.
https://tinyurl.com/59adew6v
I think it would have been much fairer to cancel (or greatly reduce) the accrued interest, but still require the borrowers to pay back the money they actually borrowed. And if anybody other than the borrowers should be helping to pay the loans, it should be the colleges themselves that jacked up their tuition, knowing the government was loaning students the money. I don’t for a moment deny that there were some shady dealings that students ended up on the short end of, but I wasn’t responsible for any of them, and now I’ll have to pay for them.
Terrible idea. It’s a kick in the teeth to everyone who pays their debts and honors their agreements. It’s particularly egregious to middle class Californians who have been paying higher federal taxes since 2018 thanks to the SALT deduction cap.
Wake up ppl this will fleece the tax payers and make inflation worse. Democrats you’re insane you should never have the reins of power ever again. You have ruined a once great nation through miss management and purposely spending us into oblivion and importing our demise. Conservatives you are weak you have betrayed Americans as well by being cowards. It’s going to have to get a lot worse before any of you grow a set
Election Year Bribery
Question: So is there any mention in this loan forgiveness plan as to forgiving loans whether one graduated/received their degree? For a lot of people,
post-high school education is just a time when they are trying to “find themselves”!
Bad idea, and not fair. The not fair part bothers me less, as there is nothing in life that is fair. Maybe we should state that this loan transfer does not meet the term “equity,” and important buzz word amongst the left. This is also just another in being always on the wrong side of an argument that is everything biden does (see Robert Gates). We American citizens, we all in trouble guys, even if those who embrace fascism (look up what it truly is, it is not what biden calls it, but rather what biden is doing)/socialism do not understand the end result of it.
Horrible, Bad, Terrible, Wrong…..
It is a desperate, illegal move to shore up the youth base vote of the marxist constituency before the midterms. Biden can’t just snap his fingers and transfer personal debt to the tax payers. The marxists behind the dementia patient are doing the famous “ Obama shuffle” in other words “ sue me”. Same thing as when Biden tried a national vaccine mandate and a rent moratorium. Conservative groups are actively looking for people with standing to sue before initiating the lawsuit. To show standing a litigant must demonstrate a harm caused to them. The illegality of this regime even surpasses the Obama junta. It is Obama on steroids.( or crack)
Agree. It is not fair for those who, for whatever reasons, don’t benefit from the student debt forgiveness. Life is not fair so suck it up buttercup. I am sure that some of my tax is go toward the loan forgiveness but I am not mad. I rather have my tax go toward programs to support people at home than feeding the war machine, which got 700B instead of 800B. We should spend less on defense because if the solders are really volunteer, they should not get paid or get little pay.
Bad Idea and Unfair..!!
Most of us are probably old enough to have figured out that when the government gets involved the prices go up. It should be as clear to everyone just like there is no sure thing like death and taxes.
B.S!!
I shouldn’t have to foot the bill because little Jimmy couldn’t find a decent paying job with his Art History degree.
@DD
+1
I paid off my student loan and towards the end when the payments increase it was painful and hard. I want to be reimbursed, my debt was 26k, I’d be happy to get 10k back.
What he should have done with all that money is reopen shop classes in high school and jr. high. A kid not going to college gets out of school now without much. At the very least they would have learned to use tools at the best they would know enough to get into a trade.
Age group usually voting DEM, 18 – 29 year olds.
Action is yet another example of DEM vote buying at expense of hard working American taxpayers.
https://patriotpost.us/cartoons/30838
Common sense in midst of DEM created chaos.
Mike Rowe,
https://tinyurl.com/y23m62kb
https://tinyurl.com/2p97hdf6
https://tinyurl.com/5xc7v6md good
https://tinyurl.com/bdwwhrx9
https://tinyurl.com/27erdxub
What guidance counselors don’t tell,
https://tinyurl.com/bdfm9d7h
https://tinyurl.com/hkdaaz98
Hideous plan. Patently unfair. Blatantly political. Grotesque.
Yes! Boo to improvement! I walked to school in the snow, with no shoes. Fi to those who were later given the opportunity to be driven.
For shame if you use calculators. Use a slide ruler for your right angle trig and algorithms just like our forefathers.
How dare you use lead pencils! What’s wrong with qull and ink? Use a mechanical pencil? You are a heathen.
Having a myopic perspective will always leave you feeling singled out.
Improvement for all is not comparable to a handout for a select few.
Lots of crab pot syndrome in these posts.
Sad as we are all improved by an educated population. We need people to be able to become doctors, nurses, engineers, architects, airline pilots, teachers, scientists, etc. Or do you prefer other countries to send their educated populations to fill our jobs?
The student loan program is complicated by the Affordable Care Act, which intricately involved taxpayers in the process a long time ago. Many borrowers will be continuing to pay loan payments with interest directly to the government so the $10,000 will be written off on paper (since the borrowers weren’t going to send $10,000 in suddenly in payments anyway). Don’t let the politicians blame tax increases solely on student loan borrowers. Where is all that money for the military coming from? That $58B extra Congress gave to the Pentagon above what it requested?
Plenty of government programs aren’t “fair.” The City of Concord’s extra sales tax is regressive (as is other sales tax) – it is a higher percentage of income as income decreases and places a proportionately higher burden on lower-income taxpayers. But lots of those hollering about the need to be “fair” voted for it anyway. And it was needed because it has to subsidize the unfunded pension costs of the government, not everyone – you know, not “fair.”
The problem is that this is not designed to create an educated population in an intelligent way. It does nothing to address that question moving forward. It also does nothing to selectively reward those who made intelligent decisions toward an education that benefits society. If we are to pay for it (not necessarily a bad idea) we should have a say in how our money is spent. Some should not go to college except on their own dime if they choose majors of little value to society or contrary to their demonstrated aptitude.
It’s sooooo important to relieve the debt owed by the Gender Studies graduate with blue/green hair and seven facial piercings working as a barista.
So…every student will be credited, regardless of school, courses, actual use of funds, graduation status, or ability to pay?
No more school loans will be issued henceforth?
Or loans will continue, but will also be forgiven?
Colleges, Universities, etc. who lobbied for, and were the beneficiaries of, government backed loans, and who are sitting on billions in endowments, are not being required to fund loan payoffs why?
Not fair to those of us who continue to be over taxed to pay for non contributors to society legal or illegal. I want to be reimbursed for my education. We should not be taxed for mis mananagement of our tax dollars which continues to escalate. I do not want to pay taxes for public schools that I do not send my family to and should be given a credit to the achools I choose to send my family to.
The concept that everyone needs a college degree is erroneous.
Most people understood it was a bad idea from the beginning.
We see the consequences of that now.
There is no reason why people who are responsible borrowers needs to pay for those who are not.
If you take out a loan you have to pay it back.
Being forced to pay for someone’s loan creates a great deal of resentment.
Not only towards to person who borrowed the money but the government who forces others to pay.
The government fails again.
In the end, this “student loan debt forgiveness” will more than likely be reversed and reinstated by the courts.
It’s time the government informs colleges and universities that students attending their schools will no longer qualify for government loans unless they reduce tuition rates for these students. To put further pressure on these high tuition schools, the government should inform them that the highly profitable foreign student population of 1.1 million yearly students, which includess the highly coveted population of almost 400,000 yearly Chinese foreign students, will be significantly reduced unless they reform tuitions rates for American students.
Totally agree!
As a great president once said, “The top 9 most terrifying words in the English Language are: I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”
The thoughts and opinions of all the posters reflect the travesty and idiocy of Biden’s and Demo attempts to BUY votes!! They know that the mid-terms and the 2024 are slanted towards Republicans and Conservatives. They are desperately trying to negate that potential and their failure in future attempts to rip-off legal citizens! If the Dems can pull it off with that bean-brain Biden, the next step is grant voting rights to those illegals pouring into our USA!!!
GOD save us!!
While it excites and fools the fools, this hair-brained stunt will never fly. It may get a few votes from ignorant parasites though. Isn’t that the intent.
Yes! Forgiven Debts are supposed to be reported as income on Tax Returns!!!
Please check it out! ….. “Forgiven Debts” MUST be reported as INCOME on people’s Yearly Tax Returns!! I hope these “freeloaders” have enough money saved up to pay those taxes!?!?
Totally AGAINST this stupid idea and have been since they started talking about it. Nobody pays my bills and never have so why should we I pay someone else’s ?? Ansdpeople like AOC will benefit from this (who is pushing this really hard by the way) can just py her own damn bills
Why should someone who could not afford to go to college and instead became a truck driver have to help pay for a loan someone else received to get a degree in gender studies.
Higher education in US & A = Money for nothin’ and chicks for free …
paranoid pablito said it best:
Hideous plan. Patently unfair. Blatantly political. Grotesque.