Forgive Student Loan Debt

[BDBoop]

We know they're sealed. We also know he can have that seal removed. He chooses not to. So, we don't "know" that he graduated with honors. No matter how often you repeat it, that doesn't make it so.

So, we take the words of some journalist absent confirmation?

No thanks.

HE might very well have graduated with honors.

But we have no confirmation.

How about a confirmation from the Harvard schoolpaper, The Crimson?

Obama Left Mark on HLS | News | The Harvard Crimson

Days before he launched his campaign for the presidency, Barack H. Obama gave Law School professor David B. Wilkins ’77 a heads up: one of the professor’s favorite students might be heading to the White House.

But that favorite student wouldn’t be Barack. It’d be Michelle R. Obama, his wife.

The presidential hopeful graduated magna cum laude from the Law School in 1991; his wife earned the degree three years earlier.

But the senator was still outstanding in his own right—“brilliant, charismatic, and focused,” said Wilkins, the Kirkland and Ellis professor of law. The two forged a relationship after Obama became the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review.

Nope. His transcripts. You know: actual confirmation.

The school stating it is proof enough. I'm kind of surprised you're doing this. I shouldn't be - but I am.

 

[BDBoop]

I didn't see his grades in there. Maybe he'd release his test scores?

Liability wanted proof he graduated with honors. I provided said proof.

Where? The Crimson doesn't qualify as "proof."

The school he graduated from with honors stating he did so doesn't qualify as proof? Why.

 

[Trajan]

I have. But since you won't give him credit for jack, intelligence is just one item on the list of things you refuse to give him credit for.

What's the proof?

Graduating magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, for one. You can't bullshit your way through that one. Top 10% of the class, and from what I understand, blind grading. So no favoritism there.

so? why didn't he graduate summa cum laude, if hes all that and a bag of chips? You do realize that at magna cum laude depending on how the grades shook out for the class honors wise overall, he could have had a C+ average, right? So no, he wasn't the top 10%, more like the top 20%.

 

[syrenn]

Read the image and tell me why you think things are just fine as they are.

Do you think taking out a loan is free?

 

[Annie]

I'm a pragmatist. Suppose some shmuck who is shelling out 60K a year to send to 2 kids to college decides to let their kids take on that debt themselves, will BDboop's plan relieve the family of that debt next year? If Obama is re-elected, wouldn't it make financial sense for parents to stop footing the bill? Hmmmm.

The kids will probably be denied according to FAFSA status.

This does happen. Parents who have an income to contribute substantially to their children's education decide not to, yet keep claiming them on their IRS forms. Not a thing the kid can do.

THAT should change. The parents should not be able to claim 'dependents' that are not.

 

[Toro]

We shouldn't forgive student debt. The more educated people are - in general - the more money they make. The educated are the biggest benefactors of student loans, because without the loans, their pay would be much less. For individual situations where this isn't true, people should declare bankruptcy. There should also be tough penalties against institutions who knowingly mislead job prospects for those who enroll in their colleges.

 

[Liability]

How about a confirmation from the Harvard schoolpaper, The Crimson?

Obama Left Mark on HLS | News | The Harvard Crimson

Nope. His transcripts. You know: actual confirmation.

The school stating it is proof enough. I'm kind of surprised you're doing this. I shouldn't be - but I am.

The school isn't stating it. The Crimson is not "the school." It is a paper quotng some people about something about which they may or may not have actual knowledge.

I am indifferent to your surprise, though. Facts are still facts. The FACT is: we don't have his transcripts. We DO know he went to Harvard Law. We DO know he was the big cheese at their Law Review. We DO NOT have a damn word he ever published in any law review. We DO NOT have a single transcript of his law school or college academic career.

See those? Those are facts.

 

[Liability]

Liability wanted proof he graduated with honors. I provided said proof.

Where? The Crimson doesn't qualify as "proof."

The school he graduated from with honors stating he did so doesn't qualify as proof? Why.

The Crimson is not the school.

 

[BDBoop]

We shouldn't forgive student debt. The more educated people are - in general - the more money they make. The educated are the biggest benefactors of student loans, because without the loans, their pay would be much less. For individual situations where this isn't true, people should declare bankruptcy. There should also be tough penalties against institutions who knowingly mislead job prospects for those who enroll in their colleges.

Student loans can't be included on bankruptcies.

 

[BDBoop]

Where? The Crimson doesn't qualify as "proof."

The school he graduated from with honors stating he did so doesn't qualify as proof? Why.

The Crimson is not the school.

It's their school paper.

I get it. I'll drop it. You've gone to a hill you have to defend, and knowing you can't hear me is sign enough that you won't back down.

 

[WorldWatcher]

I'm a pragmatist. Suppose some shmuck who is shelling out 60K a year to send to 2 kids to college decides to let their kids take on that debt themselves, will BDboop's plan relieve the family of that debt next year? If Obama is re-elected, wouldn't it make financial sense for parents to stop footing the bill? Hmmmm.

The kids will probably be denied according to FAFSA status.

This does happen. Parents who have an income to contribute substantially to their children's education decide not to, yet keep claiming them on their IRS forms. Not a thing the kid can do.

THAT should change. The parents should not be able to claim 'dependents' that are not.

Dependency status for taxes and dependency statues for FAFSA are two different things. It's true it's pretty hard for most children to get out of being classified as a dependent while under 24 and enrolled in a bachelors degree program or lower.

That is very different than dependency for taxes. If a person is living independently from their parents and supporting themselves with over 50% of the expenses, then legally (IIRC) the parents cannot claim them as a dependent. If they do, that would be fraud. If the child wants to claim themselves on their taxes and the parents illegally claim them, then their is something that can be done about it as an adult person is always legally able to file their own taxes and take the personal exemption. Now financially speaking, being able to claim the child as a depended will "normally" (but not always) have a greater return on the exemption claim as a function of taxes for the parent then the child would because of typically lower incomes for the child.

>>>>

 

[Artevelde]

If after 23 years you haven't been able to bay back a student loan of 26,000 you are either:
-) very stupid
-) spending your money on all sorts of other things
-) a freeloader
-) all of the above

On the other hand, writing stuff like this shows you have never had to borrow money to go to college. Did you even earn a HS degree, Sparky?

I studied and leant enough to understand basic economics, unlike the OP.

 

[Artevelde]

The school he graduated from with honors stating he did so doesn't qualify as proof? Why.

The Crimson is not the school.

It's their school paper.

I get it. I'll drop it. You've gone to a hill you have to defend, and knowing you can't hear me is sign enough that you won't back down.

You really have a tough time dealing with your ignorance being demonstrated.

 

[Toro]

We shouldn't forgive student debt. The more educated people are - in general - the more money they make. The educated are the biggest benefactors of student loans, because without the loans, their pay would be much less. For individual situations where this isn't true, people should declare bankruptcy. There should also be tough penalties against institutions who knowingly mislead job prospects for those who enroll in their colleges.

Student loans can't be included on bankruptcies.

I know. They should be.

 

[Trajan]

How about a confirmation from the Harvard schoolpaper, The Crimson?

Obama Left Mark on HLS | News | The Harvard Crimson

How about if he releases the records claiming his "citizenship status" in college, as an "adult"?

Sorry, I don't play birfer games.

then how about he unseals his transcripts period?

 

[Trajan]

We shouldn't forgive student debt. The more educated people are - in general - the more money they make. The educated are the biggest benefactors of student loans, because without the loans, their pay would be much less. For individual situations where this isn't true, people should declare bankruptcy. There should also be tough penalties against institutions who knowingly mislead job prospects for those who enroll in their colleges.

Student loans can't be included on bankruptcies.

I know. They should be.

why?

 

[WorldWatcher]

We shouldn't forgive student debt. The more educated people are - in general - the more money they make. The educated are the biggest benefactors of student loans, because without the loans, their pay would be much less. For individual situations where this isn't true, people should declare bankruptcy. There should also be tough penalties against institutions who knowingly mislead job prospects for those who enroll in their colleges.

Student loans can't be included on bankruptcies.

I know. They should be.

You think that someone should be able to go to school for 4-years and rack up 80K in debt and then declare bankruptcy after graduation?


>>>>

 

[BDBoop]

No. But I also don't think that the collectors tacking on another $30k "just because" and that being legal per an attorney, is okay either.

I think that all the late fees, finance charges, and all manner of crap that gets tacked on 'just because' is doing a literal shit-ton of damage to the students, and the economy by extension.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

I'm a pragmatist. Suppose some shmuck who is shelling out 60K a year to send to 2 kids to college decides to let their kids take on that debt themselves, will BDboop's plan relieve the family of that debt next year? If Obama is re-elected, wouldn't it make financial sense for parents to stop footing the bill? Hmmmm.

The kids will probably be denied according to FAFSA status.

This does happen. Parents who have an income to contribute substantially to their children's education decide not to, yet keep claiming them on their IRS forms. Not a thing the kid can do.

THAT should change. The parents should not be able to claim 'dependents' that are not.

The only way you can claim a dependent is if you assert that you provide at least half of his income during the year. The IRS doesn't audit most people, but if you get caught lying it will get expensive really fast.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

The school he graduated from with honors stating he did so doesn't qualify as proof? Why.

The Crimson is not the school.

It's their school paper.

I get it. I'll drop it. You've gone to a hill you have to defend, and knowing you can't hear me is sign enough that you won't back down.

Actually, it is the student paper. There may, or may not, be faculty advisers, but all the boards are staffed by any student that wants to join them. The masthead doesn't mention a single faculty member.

Masthead | The Harvard Crimson