Education Sec. Cardona: "At some point, people are going to have to start paying what they can"

[ThatRobGuy]

Education Sec. Miguel Cardona on student loan payment pause: 'At some point, people are going to have to start paying what they can afford to pay'

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona offered a stark reality check for hopeful student loan borrowers this week: Payments are coming back and borrowers should be ready to make them.

"At some point, people are going to have to start paying what they can afford to pay," Cardona told MSNBC's Symone D. Sanders in an exclusive interview slated to air this week.

Federal student loan payments and accruing interest have been on pause for more than two years due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. First implemented by former President Donald Trump in March 2020, the reprieve has been extended several times since. And in April, President Joe Biden extended the pause one more time, telling borrowers that they should prepare to resume payments come September.

Cardona's comments are similar to those of former Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who said in April that she expects student-loan borrowers will have to pay off their debt "at some time" during the Biden administration.


Some lawmakers are pushing for $50k in student loan forgiveness (though Biden has previously indicated that $50k isn't an amount he's willing to consider)

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer, and Raphael Warnock — want Biden to hold off on issuing an executive order until they have a chance to meet with him one last time and urge him to go big on relief.

Hopefully Biden sticks to his initial instincts on this one.

Or if there is any sort of "compromise", hopefully it'll be something like "we'll give loan relief to people who's career prospects were directly impacted by the Covid situation" and "it only applies to people who pursued degrees that had better than a X% job placement rate pre-covid"

...as there's a stark contrast between someone who had good prospects that were dashed by the covid situation, and a person who picked a degree for something that was a longshot even in a near perfect economy, and just looking to have someone else pay for their mistake.

 

[cow451]

Education Sec. Miguel Cardona on student loan payment pause: 'At some point, people are going to have to start paying what they can afford to pay'

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona offered a stark reality check for hopeful student loan borrowers this week: Payments are coming back and borrowers should be ready to make them.

"At some point, people are going to have to start paying what they can afford to pay," Cardona told MSNBC's Symone D. Sanders in an exclusive interview slated to air this week.

Federal student loan payments and accruing interest have been on pause for more than two years due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. First implemented by former President Donald Trump in March 2020, the reprieve has been extended several times since. And in April, President Joe Biden extended the pause one more time, telling borrowers that they should prepare to resume payments come September.

Cardona's comments are similar to those of former Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who said in April that she expects student-loan borrowers will have to pay off their debt "at some time" during the Biden administration.


Some lawmakers are pushing for $50k in student loan forgiveness (though Biden has previously indicated that $50k isn't an amount he's willing to consider)

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer, and Raphael Warnock — want Biden to hold off on issuing an executive order until they have a chance to meet with him one last time and urge him to go big on relief.

Hopefully Biden sticks to his initial instincts on this one.

Or if there is any sort of "compromise", hopefully it'll be something like "we'll give loan relief to people who's career prospects were directly impacted by the Covid situation" and "it only applies to people who pursued degrees that had better than a X% job placement rate pre-covid"

...as there's a stark contrast between someone who had good prospects that were dashed by the covid situation, and a person who picked a degree for something that was a longshot even in a near perfect economy, and just looking to have someone else pay for their mistake.

I think the student should pay a portion, the colleges should pay a portion and Elon Musk should pay a portion.
The student signed an agreement, the colleges and universities are complicit in some of the scammery… and many of them are sitting on mega trust funds.
And Elon is salt of the earth.

 

[RDKirk]

I think the student should pay a portion, the colleges should pay a portion and Elon Musk should pay a portion.
The student signed an agreement, the colleges and universities are complicit in some of the scammery… and many of them are sitting on mega trust funds.

The government and the banks were equal partners with the colleges in that scammery.

 

[cow451]

The government and the banks were equal partners with the colleges in that scammery.

I was trying to lessen the burden on taxpayers by letting the magnanimous Elon Musk take a bite. But, yes, the government is culpable.

 

[FireDragon76]

I am in favor of debt forgiveness because the COVID pandemic was unforseeable for most students.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

I am in favor of debt forgiveness because the COVID pandemic was unforseeable for most students.

Covid was unforeseeable ...however, students majoring in "niche fields of study" not being able to find work was very foreseeable even if covid hadn't happened. For instance, we have 90,000 people per year graduating with journalism degrees (despite BLS only forecasting about 40,000 open positions over the next decade)...and roughly the same getting degrees in visual and performing arts (and BLS forecasting for that is even more bleak). Those were long-shots even before covid.

For those scenarios, it reads more like someone wanting others to pay off their mistake because they didn't do their market research prior to picking a field of study.

Putting an extension in place or a "pause" was the right call, but simply wiping the slate clean for all borrowers doesn't make sense nearly 2 years later.

 

[FireDragon76]

Covid was unforeseeable ...however, students majoring in "niche fields of study" not being able to find work was very foreseeable even if covid hadn't happened. For instance, we have 90,000 people per year graduating with journalism degrees (despite BLS only forecasting about 40,000 open positions over the next decade)...and roughly the same getting degrees in visual and performing arts (and BLS forecasting for that is even more bleak). Those were long-shots even before covid.

For those scenarios, it reads more like someone wanting others to pay off their mistake because they didn't do their market research prior to picking a field of study.

Putting an extension in place or a "pause" was the right call, but simply wiping the slate clean for all borrowers doesn't make sense nearly 2 years later.

An education in the arts or humanities is not a mistake, even if certain people of no refinement believe otherwise.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

An education in the arts or humanities is not a mistake, even if certain people of no refinement believe otherwise.

It's not a mistake from an educational aspect and learning new things if you've got the money.

It's a mistake from a simple numbers standpoint if you're banking on getting employment in that field after graduation.

Spending $50k+ on a degree that will lead to you and 90,000 other people all competing for 2,000 openings isn't a great strategy.

With certain realms of the arts (music stands out), they're not only competing with other graduates, but other talented musicians who may not have even gone to college. Some of the best musicians out there never got a music degree.

A good litmus test would be "Is it possible for someone with no degree (and just lots of natural raw talent) to be better than me at this even after I get my degree?" If so, that could be a potential warning sign that it's not a great investment.