As a father with kids who are about to become parents for themselves I am far more concerned with the debt i am leaving me grand kids because we had to bail out large companies that had been doing share holder buy backs before covid and by the massive increases to the deficits from Trumps tax cuts to the rich and to corporations that used the money for share buy backs.
My parents paid for my education, we paid for my kids education and now we are going to help other Americans pay for their education. I want an educated society. I care far more about tax cuts to the rich and corporate welfare than this program.
There seems to me an additional option to alleviate college expenses: don't incur them in the first place.
Post high school for many individuals college is not necessarily the optimal continuation on the way to making a living and to becoming a responsible, contributing member of society. In Europe apprenticeships have offered an alternative path to meet the needs of high school graduates for centuries and in the US could potentially catch at least some of the 40% who never finish college, upfront. Who has the political will to pick it up?
I'm disappointed in your one sided, "we'll be paying for this forever" It's easy to get rid of debt on the balance sheet. Give less to the pentagon. Take away all coporate welfare, make the rich pay their fair share, (let's start with hedge fund managers), I'm sure as a really smart guy, you can come up with two or three very long lists to rebalance who pays what. College kids (particularly lower income ones) is a good place to start someone on a reasonable path to self sufficiency and savings! (more taxes for the govt. social security and medicare.) - Not sure, maybe you don't collect SS or Medicare cause you are fiscally well off? I know you're an economist - but where is your heart. So what we give 10K to kids whose parents may not need that help. But 20K in Pell Grants for lower income kids - come on. I have a kid at home who came to live with us 7 years. He was going to stay 2 weeks and he's still with us. The dream he was promised. Work hard, go to college, and all will be well. He got a full scholarships because of being an "at risk" homeless youth - which he is and was,. He worked while at school, graduated (which many poor kids don't for lots of reasons beyond their control), but they didnt pay for room and board. 30K in debt. This is a lifeline to having a life... Lets pay for it by giving less largess to the banks, agri-business, real estate - the list goes on. And lets get some of these kids back on track to be a financially responsible and tax paying generation. Giving white men, like my father, a chance for college with the GI bill, didn;t kill us - it made us the greatest country in the world. Signed Just a small business owner with no college..
Incentive-wise this is great. One additional item would be to have the uni pick up x% of the payment in any year in which the borrower's income was "too low".
This would result in a massive reduction in enrollment, which in turn would destroy a significant chunk of schools. Graduate programs would mostly vanish, because that's where the big loans are. There would be massive cost-reduction pressure, which is great, but the changes would be so huge that few places could cope.
Distributionally, low income students would mostly be those with big scholarships, with obvious demographic implications.
States have reduced their higher ed subsidies. They should get back in the game, but the way to do it is with vouchers that line up with the vouchers they (should) offer to K12 students. Fund individuals, not institutions. Vouchers stop after 4-6 years.
That leaves advanced degrees. Loans should be available for professional (non-academic) degrees. We clearly have too many PhDs. Eliminating most PhD programs would increase the surplus in the short term (fewer teaching positions), but possibly eliminate it down the road.
Sorry Larry, but I just unsubscribed to your newsletter. I read your latest book and really liked it so I initially thought that I would get more politically unbiased yet relevant information via your newsletter. That is not the case. Reading your newsletter and its tone feels like I am listening to Fox or OAN sometimes. I don't need that.
Hi Mark, Sorry to hear this. Perhaps you can just read the personal finance columns. But I'm interested in discussing a lot more than personal finance. I'm not sure where you think the bias lies in the most recent piece. best, Larry
Just an example of the many undertones in last newsletter....." But since the Democrats have taken their shot, only the Republicans can set things right. " I am still subscribed to MaxiFi which I recommend to many. Best, Mark
Where’s the undertone? Pls call. 617834-2148. I’m just saying the dems have done their thing. They won’t do what’s really needed. BUt the republicans can.
"They (Democrats) **won’t** do what’s really **needed**. But the Republicans can." is a indeed a politically biased statement... you are implying that Democrats as a whole are very wrong on this issue and only the Republicans can make it right. If you cannot see what I am saying, there is no point to discuss further . Lets just agree that we disagree. BTW, I would have said the same thing if you wrote instead " They won't do what really needed. But the Democrats can".
Mark, What I should have said is the Democrats have done their thing on student loans. I don't see them as politically able or willing to engage in fundamental student loan reform. But Republicans haven't pushed any policy in this area. Hence, they do have the political space to do so. If the Republicans had provided the forgiveness, I would have said the same thing about them and the Democrats, just reversed. I don't view one party as better than the other on his issue. I should have made that clear from the outset. best, Larry
Mark, Perhaps you should call to discuss. I have lots of contacts with Senators and top officials in the Admin, so I think I know far more of what I speak than you understand. 617 834-2148
Stop the leak before cleaning the mess. Here we are trying to clean the mess without keeping people from doing stupid (signing up for loans they can not pay or can pay only under optimum conditions i.e. no backup plan) in the next generation of “scholars “. Only the government can be so dumb as to continue the program that just got mopped up to the tune of $325B-1T.
I would have loved to live in my buddy’s 20,000 sq ft house. But I could not afford the mortgage, taxes and utilities and didn’t have the cash to pay up front. I lived in a 2500 sq ft house I could afford and paid my debt on time every month until it was paid off. (I also paid college loans off before taking on more debt i.e. mortgage) That is why I need MaxiFi to help navigate the future into retirement. I have funds that have a positive balance.
As a father with kids who are about to become parents for themselves I am far more concerned with the debt i am leaving me grand kids because we had to bail out large companies that had been doing share holder buy backs before covid and by the massive increases to the deficits from Trumps tax cuts to the rich and to corporations that used the money for share buy backs.
My parents paid for my education, we paid for my kids education and now we are going to help other Americans pay for their education. I want an educated society. I care far more about tax cuts to the rich and corporate welfare than this program.
Agree entirely, Michael. best, Larry
There seems to me an additional option to alleviate college expenses: don't incur them in the first place.
Post high school for many individuals college is not necessarily the optimal continuation on the way to making a living and to becoming a responsible, contributing member of society. In Europe apprenticeships have offered an alternative path to meet the needs of high school graduates for centuries and in the US could potentially catch at least some of the 40% who never finish college, upfront. Who has the political will to pick it up?
Hi Larry,
I'm disappointed in your one sided, "we'll be paying for this forever" It's easy to get rid of debt on the balance sheet. Give less to the pentagon. Take away all coporate welfare, make the rich pay their fair share, (let's start with hedge fund managers), I'm sure as a really smart guy, you can come up with two or three very long lists to rebalance who pays what. College kids (particularly lower income ones) is a good place to start someone on a reasonable path to self sufficiency and savings! (more taxes for the govt. social security and medicare.) - Not sure, maybe you don't collect SS or Medicare cause you are fiscally well off? I know you're an economist - but where is your heart. So what we give 10K to kids whose parents may not need that help. But 20K in Pell Grants for lower income kids - come on. I have a kid at home who came to live with us 7 years. He was going to stay 2 weeks and he's still with us. The dream he was promised. Work hard, go to college, and all will be well. He got a full scholarships because of being an "at risk" homeless youth - which he is and was,. He worked while at school, graduated (which many poor kids don't for lots of reasons beyond their control), but they didnt pay for room and board. 30K in debt. This is a lifeline to having a life... Lets pay for it by giving less largess to the banks, agri-business, real estate - the list goes on. And lets get some of these kids back on track to be a financially responsible and tax paying generation. Giving white men, like my father, a chance for college with the GI bill, didn;t kill us - it made us the greatest country in the world. Signed Just a small business owner with no college..
Incentive-wise this is great. One additional item would be to have the uni pick up x% of the payment in any year in which the borrower's income was "too low".
This would result in a massive reduction in enrollment, which in turn would destroy a significant chunk of schools. Graduate programs would mostly vanish, because that's where the big loans are. There would be massive cost-reduction pressure, which is great, but the changes would be so huge that few places could cope.
Distributionally, low income students would mostly be those with big scholarships, with obvious demographic implications.
States have reduced their higher ed subsidies. They should get back in the game, but the way to do it is with vouchers that line up with the vouchers they (should) offer to K12 students. Fund individuals, not institutions. Vouchers stop after 4-6 years.
That leaves advanced degrees. Loans should be available for professional (non-academic) degrees. We clearly have too many PhDs. Eliminating most PhD programs would increase the surplus in the short term (fewer teaching positions), but possibly eliminate it down the road.
Sorry Larry, but I just unsubscribed to your newsletter. I read your latest book and really liked it so I initially thought that I would get more politically unbiased yet relevant information via your newsletter. That is not the case. Reading your newsletter and its tone feels like I am listening to Fox or OAN sometimes. I don't need that.
Hi Mark, Sorry to hear this. Perhaps you can just read the personal finance columns. But I'm interested in discussing a lot more than personal finance. I'm not sure where you think the bias lies in the most recent piece. best, Larry
Just an example of the many undertones in last newsletter....." But since the Democrats have taken their shot, only the Republicans can set things right. " I am still subscribed to MaxiFi which I recommend to many. Best, Mark
Where’s the undertone? Pls call. 617834-2148. I’m just saying the dems have done their thing. They won’t do what’s really needed. BUt the republicans can.
"They (Democrats) **won’t** do what’s really **needed**. But the Republicans can." is a indeed a politically biased statement... you are implying that Democrats as a whole are very wrong on this issue and only the Republicans can make it right. If you cannot see what I am saying, there is no point to discuss further . Lets just agree that we disagree. BTW, I would have said the same thing if you wrote instead " They won't do what really needed. But the Democrats can".
Mark, What I should have said is the Democrats have done their thing on student loans. I don't see them as politically able or willing to engage in fundamental student loan reform. But Republicans haven't pushed any policy in this area. Hence, they do have the political space to do so. If the Republicans had provided the forgiveness, I would have said the same thing about them and the Democrats, just reversed. I don't view one party as better than the other on his issue. I should have made that clear from the outset. best, Larry
Thanks for the clarification Larry. I appreciate it.
Best, Mark
Mark, Perhaps you should call to discuss. I have lots of contacts with Senators and top officials in the Admin, so I think I know far more of what I speak than you understand. 617 834-2148
best, Larry
Stop the leak before cleaning the mess. Here we are trying to clean the mess without keeping people from doing stupid (signing up for loans they can not pay or can pay only under optimum conditions i.e. no backup plan) in the next generation of “scholars “. Only the government can be so dumb as to continue the program that just got mopped up to the tune of $325B-1T.
I would have loved to live in my buddy’s 20,000 sq ft house. But I could not afford the mortgage, taxes and utilities and didn’t have the cash to pay up front. I lived in a 2500 sq ft house I could afford and paid my debt on time every month until it was paid off. (I also paid college loans off before taking on more debt i.e. mortgage) That is why I need MaxiFi to help navigate the future into retirement. I have funds that have a positive balance.
Hi Mark, Glad MaxiFi is helping. But we do need something for the next set of borrowers. Otherwise, it's bk to sq 1. best, Larry