How is that anyone but the students fault? Why should anything be done, they took out the loan, they should pay it back.

 

Everyone should pay debts. Bankruptcy is however legal. Bankruptcy has consequences. Why should student loans be different than other debts? Do we want to get rid of bankruptcy? I might get behind that.

Universities across the country have built more new buildings and expanded projects in the last decade than they did in the three decades prior. Not since the baby boomers started going to college did we see massive expansion of universities like this and it simply shouldn't be happening.

 

This is so true. I graduated from UK in 2004 but haven't been to campus much since (beyond Commonwealth Stadium). I drove through the entire place last spring and I hardly recognized anything.

Tuition at public universities should be free. That solves the problem of student loans.

Students Loans = Late 2000s housing bubble

Everyone should pay debts. Bankruptcy is however legal. Bankruptcy has consequences. Why should student loans be different than other debts? Do we want to get rid of bankruptcy? I might get behind that.

 

The greatest difference is that with a traditional bankruptcy there are usually some assets that can be sold or relieved of by the person filing. With a college education, you have no ability to liquidate anything to pay the lender.

 

Another poster mentioned that it is hurting credit ratings for students / new grads...so what ? Get a job, or two or three, pay off the debt and get on with your life.

 

If we made all college students either 1) self fund or 2) self fund through service then we don't need the business of student lending. If we let everybody off the hook, what truly becomes of the value of education ?

Everyone should pay debts. Bankruptcy is however legal. Bankruptcy has consequences. Why should student loans be different than other debts? Do we want to get rid of bankruptcy? I might get behind that.

 

You shouldn't be behind that. Our organized system of bankruptcy is the envy of many governments around the world. It allows entrepreneurs to take risks and consumers in the worst of circumstances to escape a cloud of debt and, under the right circumstances, emerge and start a new life. Bankruptcy is an amazing thing in this country. The 2005 reforms of the Bankruptcy Code eliminated most of the worst abuses of the system. What's left isn't perfect, but it's absolutely necessary.

The greatest difference is that with a traditional bankruptcy there are usually some assets that can be sold or relieved of by the person filing. With a college education, you have no ability to liquidate anything to pay the lender.

 

Only on secured debts. This falls in an interesting place. Student loans have a special status in the law because no firm in its right mind would offer those loans if they were as simply unsecured as a credit card or medical bill.

 

I agree that bankruptcy for student loans is not the right answer. I think the program needs major reform but I also think that there's no way Congress gets it done.

Students Loans = Late 2000s housing bubble

 

If I take you're meaning correctly I agree. There's going to be a severe course correction in education at some point. We are already seeing evidence of it in terms of the limited job-market value a bachelor's degree provides now.

Let's forget about past loans. Should loans taken out in 2017 be bankruptable?

 

Absolutely not.

Tuition at public universities should be free. That solves the problem of student loans.

 

Thats silly, you as a taxpayer are still going to pay for everyone else to go.

This is tricky and something being debated in many circles right now , how to tackle this issue. It's a real issue and many good points have been raised. One major one being this could be the next major bubble in the not to distant future.

 

Student loans interest rates can not be refinanced, you can't file bankruptcy. Also in quite a few states if you miss to many minimum payments you can lose your state issued driver licenses. How that makes sense when you want people to have jobs to make payments is beyond me

 

This is a real problem as its been stated we are subsidizing higher education and their bloated expenses as they sit on millions and billions in endowment funds.

 

The inflation on college tuition is unfathomable and borderline criminal to the American citizen. But no one understands or pays attention until they are the one knee deep in debt.

 

Solutions could be restrictions on amount of loans based on projected career earnings from your degree.

 

Quit allowing universities to communicate to students it's impossible to work and have a job while going school . I remember my University telling me I wouldn't make it with a full time job.

 

Student loans are great when done right but part of the burden should be put on the student 100% loan is crazy. It's exactly how the housing market collapsed. Students needs to have to pay a percentage out of pocket.

 

But to the orginal question we can't just allow bankruptcy the system has literally become to big. The taxpayers will have to eat billions.

Tuition at public universities should be free. That solves the problem of student loans.

 

There is no such thing as free. What you mean is someone else besides the student should have to pay. The government doesn't have money , they have to take it from taxpayers.

Tuition at public universities should be free. That solves the problem of student loans.

No such thing as free.

There is no such thing as free. What you mean is someone else besides the student should have to pay. The government doesn't have money , they have to take it from taxpayers.

 

It's amazing how many people in this country don't understand or choose not to understand this concept...

As much as many of you hate entitlement programs, an overhaul of our system to include some type of funded post secondary education is necessary.

We have already saddled a generation of Americans with debt to fund public unversities with overpriced tuition for an education that is almost mandatory in today's world.