Bernie Sanders
Related: About this forumGraduating Class of 2015 Most Debt Burdened in History
43 million people are carrying $1.3 trillion in student debt. Josh Hoxie & Mayra Guizar examine the options on the table for dealing with this crisis. - May 18, 2015
Bio
Mayra Guizar is a senior at Western Washington University. She serves on the US Student Association Board of Directors as the Pacific Northwest Regional Chair. Mayra is also vice president of Western Votes! and the elections coordinator for the Western Washington University Associated Students.
Josh Hoxie joined the Institute for Policy Studies in August 2014 heading up the Project on Opportunity and Taxation. Josh's main focus is on addressing wealth inequality through the estate tax, a levy on the intergenerational transfer of immense wealth. Josh grew up on Cape Cod, Massachusetts and attained a BA in Political Science and Economics from St. Michael's College in Colchester, Vermont. Josh worked previously as a Legislative Aide for U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the longest serving independent in Congressional history, both in his office in Washington, DC and on his successful 2012 re-election campaign.
Transcript
snip*Americans owe $1.3 trillion in student loans, with 43 million people, young, old, and everyone in between burdened with student debt. This debt has shaken the fundamental values of the nation's higher education system. Now the Republicans are proposing to cut $150 billion from student aid in the recently passed budget bill, including freezing the Pell program that helps needy students acquire higher education.
College costs have increased 1000 percent since the '70s. Students are graduating with an average of $25,000 to over $100,000 in debt, and often with an education that will not secure them a good-paying job.
in full: http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=13861
daleanime
(17,796 posts)this, like so many other issues, has to be changed.
redstatebluegirl
(12,265 posts)I noted that those who had lots of money, in our part of the world it was from oil, rarely had any stress, they graduated to jobs that paid better than their counterparts who were not connected and had no debt. Sometimes mom and dad even gave them a car for graduation.
Most of my students worked 2 jobs while in school stressed over how to pay lab fees and books and borrowed. They graduated with a watch from Mom and Dad and a load of debt they didn't have clue how to pay. The stress on their faces at graduation was obvious.
Education should be free to anyone who has the ability, the drive and the ambition to get one. It is so much worse than when I got out in the early 70's. I got out with a manageable debt that I paid off in 5 years. Most of the grads in the past 15 years have debt that they won't pay off until they are in their 60's if at all. The stress is stupid.
Those with money have no clue and honestly don't care about their fellow graduates.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)I worked while going to school which is the best way to go to school. It's not easy or fun but worthwhile at the end. I have a friend who got her bachelors in sociology with loans and is having a hell of a time getting a job. I told her to get her masters with me but didn't want too. So frustrating but I am trying to convince her to do it.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)Get her that million. I almost wished she would have majored in something else.
salimbag
(173 posts)My university cost about $400/semester. I used the G.I.Bill and graduated with no debt. My son is attending the same school. His tuition is $4000/semester. He just finished his first year and is already in debt. Something wrong with this picture!
aspirant
(3,533 posts)Change the bankruptcy laws
Filing as a corporation allows you to discharge mega-dollars
Or, let's find a way for all students, if they choose, to file as an organized corp. since corps. are people too.
appalachiablue
(41,131 posts)little to no tuition, mostly only housing and fees in Germany, France and Scandinavia because they care about their 'intellectual infrastructure' as Thom Hartmann says. This predatory nightmare has to end.
K & R