>

I was thinking that, too. Hopefully, it stops at 25 years. My previous payment plan allowed for 25 years, with this proposed plan I'm fucked.
Conservatives on their way to tell us how Safety Nets are unfair unless it is for them specifically >

"I didn't get any help from the government!  I worked my way out of welfare all the way to Congress!  I never got any handouts!"

Lauren Boebert, paraphrased >

You don’t need to even make up a fake quote. Conservatives have you covered.

I've been on food stamps and welfare. Anybody help me out? No. No. They gave me hope, and they gave me encouragement, and they gave me a vision.

-Staunch conservative Craig T Nelson >

the selfawarewolves and leopards will feast on american politics for a while to come. >

I have yet to figure out why they don’t try and reduce the interest rate and late fees. That’s what kills people. You see people all the time saying I borrowed $20k for college and now it’s $65k. Reduce the interest rate to 1-2% and abolish all late fees. >

Interest rate is set by Congress each year based on treasury yields - it's established law. The executive can't change it.

Interest rates on federal student loans are set by federal law, not the U.S. Department of Education.

There have been several pieces of legislation introduced to lower or even remove interest rates, but Congress doesn't have the majorities to pass them.
Needs the House and Senate, and 60 votes in the Senate until there is filibuster reform.
So, like many problems in the student debt crisis, we need large majorities of higher-education-friendly representatives for progress. >

Even if the Dems had like 80/100 Senate seats I'm willing to bet the "revolving door villain" conspiracy will suddenly become real and 25 of them will magically out of nowhere not want to support it anymore. >

I'd love to see this actually happen before I worry about this. >

Just look at 2010. Magically 60 Senators for 2 months and yet they didn't pass anything other than naming some Post offices. >

The makeup of the Democratic caucus is crazy different now though. Many more conservative Democrats back then.
Didn't they also pass Obamacare during that time? >

They did not. That was not passed in the Senate until March 23, 2010. Democrats lost their Super on February 4th of that year.
Also, I'm more inclined to believe there are more conservative Democrats now than back in 2010. >

How do you figure? >

No payments if you make under $30,600. 5% income cap for undergraduate loans under IDR. These are two very good changes that will help a lot of borrowers if FSA can figure out funding and implementation. >

Even at just $50k, 5% of your monthly salary is $208. That’s simply infeasible when your take-home is $38k ($3166), rent is probably $1-1.2k, car anywhere from 200-500, insurance, gas, groceries, etc etc. >


That’s simply infeasible

It's definitely not.  Anyone with basic personal finance skills can handle this. >

Ah yes because basic personal finance is a required part of high school curriculum across the US..  /s >


It is part of the high school curriculum in parts of the US, and probably should be required everywhere.
Are you not permitted to learn things elsewhere, or just apply some common sense and put together a budget? >


It is part of the high school curriculum in parts of the US

Key word here is parts.

and probably should be required everywhere.

Probably??  Let’s just go ahead and replace that word with “definitely”. 

Are you not permitted to learn things elsewhere, or just apply some common sense

My friend, it sounds like you were raised in a family that actually has common sense - or perhaps you watched your family struggle and you said “not me” and were motivated to figure out what was going on… or maybe you were one of those rare kids lucky enough to learn actual common sense life skills in your high school curriculum.  Whatever it is that’s going on here, please don’t make assumptions that the rest of the worlds youth understands how important it is (or even has the motivation) to learn about debt and finances.  You are a product of where you grew up and plenty of kids, and plenty of those kids parents were never required to learn about this stuff. >

I'm not sure what the point of this sanctimonious lecture is.  Did you see where the person I replied to originally said it's simply infeasible for someone to pay $250 a month on loans when they're making $5k a month?  Do you realize how stupid that statement is?
Anyone who graduated from high school, let alone college, should be intelligent enough to do some basic math and set aside $250 of their $5000 monthly gross income to pay for the loans they used to get the degree that helped them make $60k a year.
If they don't know how and are unwilling to learn (particularly due to a lack of motivation), I really don't see that as my personal problem to help them out with financial assistance (which is what all IBR programs are). >

The problem with this $5,000 is that it’s gross. Take out retirement, healthcare, taxes and you are left with $3k. Half of that 3k easily goes for rent or mortgage. Clearly, you can’t drive in this scenario because a car payment and insurance seem out of touch if you want to eat and pay other bills. >

You're not even close to correct for the average American.  Even if you are, they still have $1250 for a car, insurance, utilities, clothing, and food each month after paying for all the things you mentioned (including $1500 per month for housing, which is very high for one person) and their student loans.  Definitely doable. >

You are you assuming this person doesn’t get to have a kid or family? >

Loans will be forgiven after 10 years if you took out less than $12,000, and an additional year for each $1,000 beyond that. So if you took out $37,000 in loans (the current average) you will be paying it back for 35 years now instead of 25? How is that any better? There is no mention of a cap on how long you have to pay anymore. So the people who really got screwed over and took out $100,000 will never be able to pay them back.