Crushed student loan borrowers are skipping meals, moving in with parents, panicking over money

[Demovictory9]

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-06-30/supreme-court-decision-student-loan-borrowers-money-panic

Mimi Hoang rejoiced when President Biden announced plans last year to cancel thousands of dollars in student debt. The 20-year-old had taken out $30,000 in federal loans to pay for just her first year of college at Southern Oregon University, and the thought of it was weighing on her.

“It is a real burden for me to know that I carry that much from one year of school,” she said.


As she faced the prospect of tripling her loan debt by staying at Southern Oregon, Hoang decided to move back to her family’s home in Hayward last academic year and enroll at a community college. Biden’s plan would have slashed Hoang’s debt to a more manageable $10,000.

But her hope of relief — and the hopes of millions of borrowers across the country who owe a collective $1.6 trillion in federal student loans — were crushed Friday when the Supreme Court blocked Biden’s plan. In a 6-3 ruling in Biden vs. Nebraska, the conservative majority ruled only Congress could authorize such a large-scale cancellation of loans provided by the federal government, which it had not done.



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“It’s something that still follows me throughout my day-to-day life,” Hoang said. “It fills me with a lot of anxiety and stress.”

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Jemeryas Jordan, 24, was aware of the political forces surrounding the president’s plan. But for a year he had allowed himself to dream. If the court had upheld student loan forgiveness, the TikTok creator could pour money into his content with new camera equipment, microphones and a laptop.

[GPV]

1. Yes, it's going to be tough. :(

[jimfields33]

4. Most should have been taking advantage of the three years tax free.

I understand that at first it was tough but with the extra unemployment and the three Covid checks, they could have saved a bunch. I didn’t do that but I put the three checks towards my mortgage. Paid off student loans fifteen years ago after twenty years of paying it off.

[GPV]

10. Some may have. Some might not have been able to.

[jimfields33]

11. I totally get that. The ones who were able definitely should have.

That was really a gift to them.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

13. For the ones that could

I agree 100%.

My niece is a physician's assistant, makes great money, and worked throughout the pandemic, including tons of overtime. She started the pandemic with about $70k in student loans,but hasn't made a single payment in the last three years.

So, she still owes $70k.

Her husband also has a good job (he has no student debt), so between no interest accruing and all of the overtime she earned, she could have been well on her way to paying her loans off completely.

[jimfields33]

14. So ridiculous. My one nephew the same. I want to scream at him.

But he and his girlfriend were convinced they’d be forgiven. I told them that even if you get some relief, you’d still owe some. Why not pay off some…..no talking them into it.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

15. Same with my niece

And this is what I don't get - why, even if you think they might be forgiven, would you not feel any obligation to pay back what you borrowed?

The whole notion is foreign to me.

[jimfields33]

16. Me too. Entitled is what I think.

[Sky Jewels]

20. "Entitled"?

Let me guess, you're a boomer who was a young person when a part-time job could put you through four years of college and you could graduate debt free.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

22. I'm a boomer

but I didn't work a part time job to pay for college. I joined the Air Force, who paid 75%, and I paid the remainder plus books and fees, and I went to college part time at night, which is obviously costs much, much less than the experience of going full-time and living on campus. So yes, I was very fortunate that I didn't need to take out loans.

And I wouldn't say that all student loan borrowers are entitled - far from it. But if a degree gets you a high paying job that enables you to pay back your loans but you just don't want to? Yeah, I would definitely call that person entitled.

[jimfields33]

24. I'm a Gen X who has no children.

Wow. You’d be awful at guessing.

[Sky Jewels]

30. I'm a Gen Xer who went to a very good college in the mid-80s and paid HUNDREDS per semester.

Not thousands ... HUNDREDS. These poor Gen Z kids are getting SCREWED.

[jimfields33]

33. Well schools have no business charging 63K a year. Yep some do for real.

Not sure why the president doesn’t implement a cap on what colleges can charge. That should be the first thing done. Cap tuition at every college at 8,000 a year. Let the colleges work with that. We won’t get hundreds like the 80’s. Inflation changes the cost. But controlling costs should be first priority.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

34. The President

won’t implement a cap on college costs because he can’t implement a cap on college costs.

[forthemiddle]

35. My relative could afford a Hawaiian vacation

But they are now complaining about having to restart their loans. With the money they spent on the one week vacation, they could have paid out for a huge portion of those loans.
I know a lot of people struggle, but a lot more college grads now in their desired careers don’t.

[Sky Jewels]

17. The whole thing is a racket. It's RIDICULOUS that higher education is so outlandishly

expensive, and the loan industry just rakes it in because most young people who want to go to college are caught between an rock and a hard place. Other "advanced" countries enable very affordable or free higher education. But here our tax money goes to subsidize billionaires and corporations and military profiteers. Makes me want to puke.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

23. Agree 100% that higher education

is too expensive in many cases. But one of the reasons is the easy availability of student loans.

IMO, it also goes back to the idea that spending tons of money at an expensive school to get a degree for which you'll never be able to make an income commensurate with what is needed to pay back the loans is a problem.

When our oldest daughter was applying to colleges, she applied to Columbia. We told her that if she was accepted, we would take out loans to pay for it ourselves, but that her degree had to be in something that was special about Columbia.

In other words, if you want a journalism degree and you get accepted to Columbia, we'll pay. If you want a degree in physical therapy, (and no, this is not a slam on physical therapists), we're not paying Columbia tuition for that.

[Sky Jewels]

19. And you can say "Well, they can go to community college" BUT

that still leaves at least two years of "regular" college. Also, universities often won't accept most of the credits from community college, which means the students wind up going to "regular" college for three or four years anyway, that is, unless they give up before getting a four-year degree because they don't want to be saddled with lifelong, crippling debt.

This country SUCKS.

[Igel]

37. These days CCs tend to have crosstracking tables.

Look up the college you want to go to, see what the local CC courses are that will transfer with no issue.

My HS's counselors keep a printout on their desktops for kids who want to know.

[Sky Jewels]

38. Lately I've read some articles about how many universities are purposely

rejecting community college credits because they know it's a good source of revenue for them if they can keep the students for more than two years.

The entire higher educational system needs a massive revamp in terms of funding.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

25. Dave Ramsey is a jerk but he is right about one thing... PILE INTO THOSE LOANS.

he coaches people to hit the loans hard if you have the income. And for newly graduated, new jobs - keep living like you are broke and put the money toward the loans.

[jimfields33]

27. I took some ideas from him.

He’s a little too minimalist for me. But I took what he said and adjusted some. Almost debt free. Only 62K left on the mortgage. He’s a jerk and a gem.

[Bluethroughu]

2. I'm sure the 6 screwball on the court are eating a big fat steak with Kochs and crow.

Pigs slopping at the trough.

[regnaD kciN]

7. "Have you seen the bigger piggies in their starched white shirts...?"

“In their eyes, there’s something lacking. What they need’s a damn good whacking.”

[Bluethroughu]

12. Little piggies.

[Cha]

3. And majority of SC are Frolicking w/Billionaires.

[MichMan]

5. A tik tok creator that wanted to spend the money on expensive gear instead of paying loans

Is not a particularly sympathetic borrower, compared to many other examples.

[LiberalFighter]

6. They need to go after colleges for charging too much.

[Mosby]

18. Or at least investigate where all that money is going

My suspicion is that unis are subsidizing a lot of research partnerships with for profit companies, and claiming that's its some sort of acceptable trade off.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

26. have you visited a modern campus lately? Gyms, climbing walls, eating places, ultra modern dorms

colleges are competing with each other for students by building fancier and fancier infrastructure.

[AkFemDem]

8. They should be exploring

Their income based repayment plan- if their income is low enough, payments are literally $0.

The Biden admin has significantly improved this procedure and decreased average payment this way.

https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/repayment/plans/income-driven

[Hortensis]

28. THIS. And no doubt many payments are decreased to handleable.

I just hope amap those who have trouble taking care of themselves have social support systems to help. I.e., family, friends, someone to steer them to the organizations that exist to help steer them to government and private programs that exist to help them.

Family doesn't have to be the Kennedys to help relatives make it through life without crashing. Virtually none are.

[Quakerfriend]

9. Two things-

Firstly, the cost of college and the ‘net calculators’ that inform the family how much they should be able to pay are outrageous.

But secondly, the parents must teach their kids that taking out ANY student loans is not good & should be avoided.

Kids get it in their heads that they must go here or there.
This has to be tempered with gentle reminders that cost matters.

My eldest wanted to visit one very expensive college & I told him sure let’s visit but, it’s not something that we could ever afford.

He ended up getting into an Ivy and naturally wanted to go there. The first thing I said was ok but,
understand that if anything happens to dad or me, you will need to transfer to the community college.

We put off vacations and purchases and paid as we went so that he would not need to borrow.

Years later he thanked me for that- knowing friends who had big loans to pay off.

[xmas74]

29. Nowadays an Ivy can be more affordable for lower middle class

Students than a state college. Many Ivys guarantee their education is paid if accepted and they meet income requirements, usually under $150,000/year.
The same is unfortunately not guaranteed at a state college.

[Mariana]

31. But secondly, the parents must teach their kids that taking out ANY student loans is not good...

Very often the exact opposite happens. Some of my kids' friends are buried in debt because their parents hounded them to apply to schools they couldn't afford, and then encouraged them to take out loans to pay for it.

[lees1975]

21. I read through the majority's argument.

I know when the court rules it is final as far as lawsuits go. But there's some flawed reasoning in there that I suspect isn't constitutional, something this court has been known to do anyway. The trick is figuring out how to undo it.

Does this fall under the treasury department? Isn't that an executive branch agency? So the President can't cancel student debt. Could he delay the payments for, oh, say, 100 years or so?

[Xolodno]

32. What few mention is...

...there are a lot of skilled individuals with student loan debt. It's a statistical outlier right now (and they can be the start of a new trend), people leaving the USA for other countries and being employed there. AKA, "brain drain". Joe the plumber may not want to be wanted in Mexico, Canada, Australia, etc. and denied permanent residency, but Ashley the doctor would be very welcome over there.

Another issue, GenX, they are looking at retirement in the next 10 - 15 years, and the GOP has already telegraphed they want to gut Social Security, and given they can garnish no more than 15% of it, if GenX purposely put a lot of money into other retirement investments, they could just walk away and say "a couple hundred isn't going hurt me". Some may even just decide to be expats, cheaper living, small job during the week, etc. so the loss will be barely noticeable.

Which all amounts to the same thing, default, but unable to collect anywhere near anything. Biden's plan made it manageable, not dropping all of it, but keeping enough to where people were willing to pay. Stupid move by the Supreme Court and GOP. The world isn't just the USA and the rest of the world is advancing considerably.

[madville]

36. Skipping meals, living with parents, panicking over money

Sounds like my first divorce…..