Congress/Obama

[MrSummerlin]

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So I wanted to make sure i had my summer financial aid app in early. So i called the financial aid office only to hear that obama/congress has done away with summer pell grants. Also she said soon graduate students will not be able to take out subsidized loans. And to throw salt into our wounds they also look to lower the maximum reward to 4700. Sad.

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/why-obama-would-cut-summer-aid/

 

[433439]

 

[UltimateHombre]

IMO.... Government has no business being in the educational loan business. The fact that they are doing less; i think is a step in the right direction. Why should they not charge you interest? Any bank would?

 

[timwatley]

IMO.... Government has no business being in the educational loan business. The fact that they are doing less; i think is a step in the right direction. Why should they not charge you interest? Any bank would?

+1. Too many people in this country are comfortable with the government putting their fingers on absolutely everything.

 

[Double Bonded]

IMO.... Government has no business being in the educational loan business. The fact that they are doing less; i think is a step in the right direction. Why should they not charge you interest? Any bank would?

I'm not going to pretend that I completely understand the issue but I agree with this type of sentiment.

Skaters gonna skate.

 

[white fang]

I don't mind the government being in the loan business whether it is student loans or FHA home loans etc. as long as they turn a profit doing it. I do have a problem if they give handout grants or write loans that are at such a low interest the gov't loses money. Helping students out while generating revenue is a step towards a balanced budget.

That said, I have never seen numbers as to whether or not the government has a net loss or net gain from student loans.

 

[MrSummerlin]

That is unfortunate you feel that way. Stafford loans has helped me tremendously as non tradition student.

 

[BrutalViking]

Helping unprivileged people get an education? hell yeah I support that. Otherwise, it would be so hard climbing the socioeconomic ladder. BUT I believe that they need to put a GPA requirement or such. Government should be paying for those who want to improve themselves because they'll turn around and benefit the country but getting a decent salary, paying taxes, and being able to provide for their children. I myself depended on the HOPE (Georgia's form of financial aid for students with high GPA) and FAFSA. I don't think I would have the high GPA/grades I have now if I had to work and study at the same time.

ps. If you want to balance the budget, how about less spending in the military department and foreign aid and more spending on infrastructure, trade and industry?

 

[UltimateHombre]

Helping unprivileged people get an education? hell yeah I support that.

That is unfortunate you feel that way. Stafford loans has helped me tremendously as non tradition student.

I think you guys may have misunderstood what i was trying to get across, i apologize if i came off brash. I think that underprivileged people getting an education is great and i too will depend on government loans as well for dschool.

However, i think that the loans themselves should be funded by private banks only. The underprivileged would still qualify. If this were the case, it is my opinion that we wouldn't have the crazy tuition prices we have now.

My logic: Schools know damn well that the government is always good for their money... therefore they can essentially charge whatever they want for tuition, because uncle sam guarantees to pay them. Why else would tuition be increasing by anywhere from 10-30% (depending on school) every year, when inflation is only like 2-3%? Sure, there is budget cuts, but they are seriously gouging on tuition. Also, think about the amount of "for-profit online" universities that have popped up in the last 3-10 years. They are distributing useless degrees like hot cakes at astronomical prices, because they know they can get away with it. They can charge whatever they want, because uncle sam is flipping the bill.

However, if the loan system was all privatized, they couldn't keep increasing tuition, because the banks would not give students such high loan balances. It would keep everything in check.

Sorry about my rant... but the student loan bubble, is just that, a bubble and it will burst.

ps. If you want to balance the budget, how about less spending in the military department and foreign aid and more spending on infrastructure, trade and industry?

I couldn't agree more, cut spending everywhere!! We are going into trillions of dollars in debt, but yet we are not willing to cut foreign aid? So essentially we are borrowing money from other countries to fund the help of other countries? Hmmm.... Time for Ron Paul Revolution baby!!! 👍

 

[TheClutch]

private loans are good ideas, but with high interests, some people cannot afford to pay back even after they got their degrees. Then less people are going into associate/bachelor degrees. That is worse.
people with degrees pay more on taxes, have more buying power, and that helps economy runs smoother.
There are other great benefits such as having more educated citizens in the society, etc. Edu is something needs to be ridiculously affordable to everyone so that our society benefits from educated citizens. Any microecon book has a chapter about Financial aid/govt/education.

I'm sure poeple in DC are aware of tuition bubbles, but they can't stop the loan service because of the reasons above. not sure if anyone has a solution for that.

PS
Foreign aid helps our country to maintain our best interests and long-term benefits in the region. Why do you think that we support Saudi monarchy and maintain our troops when we are promoting democracy and equality for everyone?
However, everyone is entitled to their opinions and I respect that.

 

[BrutalViking]

when we are promoting democracy and equality for everyone?

Don't make me laugh...oh wait, you just did. The more you think about it, the clearer it becomes that wars and foreign aid has nothing to do with democracy/equality but rather interests. Dear sir, Saudia Arabia is the main source of muslim extremists and potential terrorist (and this is coming from a muslim and an arab)...plus, they're drowning in oil; I don't think they need any "aid". If you ask me, the greatest time the U.S. had was prior to WWII. After that we started "policing the world".

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/budget_pie_gs.php
Compare the percent spent on defense vs education. You tell me, does this look right?


Just my 2 cents

 

[UCLAzy]

private loans are good ideas, but with high interests, some people cannot afford to pay back even after they got their degrees.

that is the point. not everybody needs a degree.

 

[TheClutch]

Don't make me laugh...oh wait, you just did. The more you think about it, the clearer it becomes that wars and foreign aid has nothing to do with democracy/equality but rather interests. Dear sir, Saudia Arabia is the main source of muslim extremists and potential terrorist (and this is coming from a muslim and an arab)...plus, they're drowning in oil; I don't think they need any "aid". If you ask me, the greatest time the U.S. had was prior to WWII. After that we started "policing the world".

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/budget_pie_gs.php
Compare the percent spent on defense vs education. You tell me, does this look right?
Just my 2 cents

Let me enlighten you. you think they don't need any "aid" but we used to give them aid. I'm not sure if us govt still does.

We are not policing anyone. I see it as bullying to protect our interests. Several months ago, there was a controversial issue Saudi Arabia accusing Iran for a plot of assassinating its ambassador. (google it)Whether it is true or not, Iran hates Saudi and vice versa. Without the presence of our military, Iran can easily threaten and display some sorta of military power towards Saudi.

Think about how that would do to the price of crude oils? Pretty much all the world economy runs on oil. How would it do to the economy? US corporations will take massive hits, huge inflation, it will affect everyone's daily life.

Once they are out of oil or we are no longer heavily relied on oil, then we won't give a damn about Saudi. Think about it. When did US ever step in a foreign country unless we have some interests. But until that day, we do have interests, and that's why we do foreign aid. Think of it as bride. Its own citizens hate US military staying so we have to make them happy somehow.

And, Nice chart about education vs. defense. I think that we can/should spend more on edu. But keep it in mind that we spend **** tons of money on military, but we also make **** tons of money from it too.

Look at all the US allies. S. Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Saudi, Israel, etc They all buy US flighter jets, helicopters, tanks, radars, missiles, etc.. Not only that, think about all the repairs, replacements, parts, etc. Once you buy US weapons, u can't use Russia or different countries because the communication/system are not synced (i heard). It is a huge market.

yea, about interests vs. democray. I wanted to stress that foreign aid is necessary and we supports other countries for our interests although their ideology conflicts with ours. I should've explained that

 

[TheClutch]

that is the point. not everybody needs a degree.

Very good point. But who are you/we to tell people not to get a degree? They certainly don't need one, but we can't stop them from wanting/getting it. And where to draw a line to select who get to further his/her education
It's just not constitutional. and not right.

 

[UCLAzy]

we're not telling anybody anything. we're allowing the market to decide.

or are you going to tell me that capitalism is unconstitutional.

 

[TheClutch]

I'm not disagreeing. market controls its supply and demand. But that shouldn't stop people from doing whatever they wanna do although it is plain and simple stupid. For that reason, everyone should have an opportunity to get educated (even if it's ****ing stupid) and we need a system to do so because it does greater good to the society. (not so much during this economic crisis though)

Institutions are jacking up tuition and fully taking an advantage of the system. That's a different story. We need to prevent it rather than taking away affordable ways for everyone to get educated if they want to

I know where you're coming from though

PS - conclusion
I'm freaking bitter that d-school tuition keep rising. I have more to pay off. Plus, we got too much deficit and most likely Washington will try to tax more on high-incomers (us). We didn't freaking cause any of that, yet we have to pay the price for some clowns ****ing things up.
But just cutting govt education funding and foreign aid is not that simple. People always overlook at things. There is always a trade off. I just wanted to point that out in this thread.
I'm done arguing.

 

[Simiam]

seriously?

 

[Shazzam]

I'm not disagreeing. market controls its supply and demand. But that shouldn't stop people from doing whatever they wanna do although it is plain and simple stupid. For that reason, everyone should have an opportunity to get educated (even if it's ****ing stupid) and we need a system to do so because it does greater good to the society. (not so much during this economic crisis though)

Institutions are jacking up tuition and fully taking an advantage of the system. That's a different story. We need to prevent it rather than taking away affordable ways for everyone to get educated if they want to

I know where you're coming from though

PS - conclusion
I'm freaking bitter that d-school tuition keep rising. I have more to pay off. Plus, we got too much deficit and most likely Washington will try to tax more on high-incomers (us). We didn't freaking cause any of that, yet we have to pay the price for some clowns ****ing things up.
But just cutting govt education funding and foreign aid is not that simple. People always overlook at things. There is always a trade off. I just wanted to point that out in this thread.
I'm done arguing.

Perhaps we should start looking into cash only practices.

 

[iralex801]

I'm not disagreeing. market controls its supply and demand. But that shouldn't stop people from doing whatever they wanna do although it is plain and simple stupid. For that reason, everyone should have an opportunity to get educated (even if it's ****ing stupid) and we need a system to do so because it does greater good to the society. (not so much during this economic crisis though)

Institutions are jacking up tuition and fully taking an advantage of the system. That's a different story. We need to prevent it rather than taking away affordable ways for everyone to get educated if they want to

I know where you're coming from though

PS - conclusion
I'm freaking bitter that d-school tuition keep rising. I have more to pay off. Plus, we got too much deficit and most likely Washington will try to tax more on high-incomers (us). We didn't freaking cause any of that, yet we have to pay the price for some clowns ****ing things up.
But just cutting govt education funding and foreign aid is not that simple. People always overlook at things. There is always a trade off. I just wanted to point that out in this thread.
I'm done arguing.

I completely agree. It's just up to individuals to decide what's most important. Most of the time, people just agree with policies that help their own interests. Rich don't want the higher taxes on their brackets. Certain religions want to ban abortions. Poor want more tax cuts. Everyone just looking out for themselves. Politics suck.