... which merely means you need to calculate where the knee in the curve of issuing them was, extrapolate to life expectancy, and know when to cash out. Convenient!
True. I think most people don't realize this. Government programs push young, naive people to borrow to pay for degrees that are unlikely to have positive ROI, and then if life doesn't go as planned there is effectively no bankruptcy protection.
Sorry, what does that mean?
You could theoretically calculate when the bubble is going to pop but figuring out when the majority of loans was issued, life expectancy and some financial details on student loan recipients. With details along these lines you can theoretically calculate an approximate picture of how much student loan debt will be written off and when.
I was with you till the last bit. How does one "keep ahead" with that timescale?
Let’s be clear, students will NEVER be allowed to default these loans, nor should they. They must either pay it or take their debt to the grave and pass it down to their heirs.
You wanna try that again with a little empathy?
I could not afford to go to the college I wanted to go to, so I went to a cheaper one I could afford but no one really gives a fuck about. However, it left me with no debt, straight after graduating.
Today, as people struggle to pay off loans for universities they once boasted proudly about, it’s clear I made the right choice.
AFAIK, (and I'm a pretty ignorant fellow) debt in America isn't passed down, the creditors just take what they're owed out of a dead person's estate before its divied up by a will. So there could be a big "pop" if a bunch of people with lots of student loan debt and no assets die.
You mean the estate that contains value I would otherwise get the full value of were it not for the student loan debt that was taken out? The debt is most certainly passed down, it's just abstracted away a bit. The only way the debt doesn't get passed down is if the debtor dies penniless.
Another way to put it is if the creditor extracts anything to pay that debt after the debtor dies, then the debt is most certainly passed on to someone because that money didn't materialize out of nowhere.
I think you mean “discharge in bankruptcy”, not “default”; default is what happens when you miss a scheduled payment; lots of students do default.
Also, they are dischargeable in bankruptcy, though the standard is harder than with other debt.
Why not?
When discovered to be so, it's also possible to alter the deal.
Regardless of whether that kid should have been free-thinking enough to see outside their existence's bubble, it's irresponsible to exploit their ignorance for profit. Most of these kids haven't ever seen a debt-ridden life like they're signing up for. I grew up with parents who ranted and raged about debt, and I still did it. Are you sure the problem lies with the kids signing the papers (I guess clicking the "Get your loan here!" button these days)?
2) There are no blood debts in the US. Debts are NOT passed on to heirs like property.
Not yet, but given the steady rightward shift of American politics I can see it happening in the future.