Forgive Student Loans - Ideas for Change in America

What do you think is the most effective way to turn this idea into real policy? Add your suggestions here for how you think we should run an advocacy campaign to advance the idea – including the overall strategy, messaging, targets, and tactics.

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As many others do, i firmly believe in ecuaton being the key factor to a nations success. lets make it possible for everybody to get an education. The money? When we are done with the war in Iraq just earmark the money we are spending there now for education. It's like taking money our of your paycheck and deposit it in your savings. you don;t even know its there. I o/c over simplified but you catch my train of thought. Lets get educated for real and not with a lame "No kid left behind" BS. i see first hand what that does. All it does is teachers passing kids that really shouldn't so the school gets the funding.

Suggested by Anthony Tampa on 01/21/2009 @ 05:32AM PT
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I just graduated with a bachellors degree in the middle of this economic depresson with no real opportunity to make much more than $11/hour and now have almost $30,000 in student loans to pay back. For people graduating right into a mess so bad that their education is unlikely to pay for itself, it should be a no brainer to forgive the debt when we have worked so hard to get through school only to find debt and no opportunity as a result. Meanwhile the auto industry that has outright refused to even attempt to make vehicles that get good fuel economy get a bailout to save them as they intentionally further people's reliance on expensive oil. If their complete lack of effort is worth a bailout, there should be not question whether or not to bail out students' debts who have worked very hard to succeed only to find no opportunity.

Suggested by J A on 01/20/2009 @ 08:04PM PT
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this is a no brainer. people that are at low income and below poverty level should get relieved. because of my school debt, i cant get a car, i cant do really much of anything and i make less then ten thousand a year so i cant pay off my debt.

Suggested by Sunny Ball on 01/20/2009 @ 02:31PM PT
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As a student who is suffering greatly from student loan debt I agree with loan forgiveness, however, I believe that we graduates should in turn give back to our communities.

I propose that every student whose loan is forgiven be able to choose a way to provide education or educational assistance that is free of charge to recipients, and to choose a method which uses our talents, interests and certifications, and which does not jeopardize our current careers (those of us who are lucky enough to still be employed, that is).

Examples of this voluntary service might inlude teaching at vocational or public schools, community colleges or universities. Others may give back by tutoring, donating/creating a scholarship fund, or financiall sponsoring a needy student. Graduates of medical programs can volunteer as school doctors/nurses. Architects can volunteer their time to help design a new school being planned in their community. Our music and arts programs are suffering greatly; graduates of musical and arts schools can keep an after-school program alive for another year through donations of time and/or money.

This is how we would pay that forgiveness forward.

Suggested by Allison P on 01/19/2009 @ 06:55PM PT
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"Due to Congressional action over the past decade, student loans are the ONLY type of loan in our nation's history to be specifically exempted from standard bankruptcy protections, have statutes of limitations removed, be exempt from truth in lending requirements, and also exempt state agencies from the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. At the same time, law allows for draconian penalties and fees to be attached to student loan debt, allows for wage, tax return, Social Security and Disability to be garnished without a court order. As a result, student loans have become the most profitable, uncompetitive, oppressive, and predatory type of debt of any in the nation. This has occurred due to legislation- championed by the student loan industry- that took nearly every standard consumer protection away from student loans. Vast personal fortunes are being made by student loan company executives who lobbied for this legislation, at the expense of decent citizens who were not able to capitalize on their education. This has effectively crippled MILLIONS of decent citizens."Source: StudentLoanJustice.org

Suggested by David Potter on 01/18/2009 @ 09:47AM PT
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this should have been in the top 3 because the economy sucks, its harder and harder to find jobs and there are many students who have to pay for school tuitions and loans themselves without parental help because their parents can't even help them with the economy the way it is...i thought this was one of the best ideas brought about and i think barack obama should propose a loan forgivement plan regardless...

Suggested by Caitlin Riley on 01/18/2009 @ 08:24AM PT
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I paid my loans years ago (borrowed $18k initially, have paid more than $50k so far), but thanks to the 25% they tacked on when things I was dealing with underemployment and the economy of the early 90s, and toss in interest, I will be paying till I die.

Even Barack struggled with nearly a million in debt by the time he finished law school. As he put it it, it's a mortgage without a house.

On top of that, I honestly believe the industry as it is has resurrected something the Constitution forbids: indentured servitude. We take the loans on with the promise of a better life, but then have to pay till we die. This is wrong!

Suggested by Rick Smith on 01/18/2009 @ 05:22AM PT
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There are two main problems in my opinion.
The first is that you don't see the interest rate when you sign up for the student loans (or it is hidden somewhere). When buying a car you you see the interest rate and the payment amount you have to do but why isn't the same required for student loans? Such a requirement would be an easy fix for the problem of not knowing how high the payment will be after school.

The second problem are high interest rates. Why are the rates for homes and cars lower than for student loans? My suggestion is to provide more student loans from the government with interest rates only as high the inflation rate. Educated citizens/residents of the USA will pay over time more money in taxes and will pay with taxes for those lower rates. It is very hard for a students that just got out of school to pay for the student loans if they have less money every month for living just because the student loan payments start. It takes years for many students to earn enough money to cover the cost of the loans in addition to the regular living expenses and especially with the current job market.

Suggested by M G on 01/18/2009 @ 05:09AM PT
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Considering that this CAUSE came in 12th place, short very few votes in order to make the "TOP 10," I believe this issue is one that should remain on the front burner of "CHANGE.ORG."

Student Loan debt is affecting literally MILLIONS of Americans, among many, and due to no fault or negligence of their own have become VICTIMS of predatory lenders. The company leading the pack among these lenders is Sallie Mae, who takes serious advantage of some, harasses many, and is a knife in the back to ALL!

During the the first SIX years of the Bush Administration, when there was a Republican RULED Congress, and a Republican controlled White House, many, if not most of the laws that once protected student loan borrowers have been displaced and bridled with the heaviest financial burdens.

It astonishes me that the American Tax Payer, via Congressional action, has pledged 700 BILLION DOLLARS to bail out banks, brokerage firms, insurance companies and CEO's of big companies; but the HARD WORKING middle and lower income citizens of this country have been FORGOTTEN!

I'm sorry, and with all due respect to the equally virtuous "TOP 10" winning ideas, I believe this CAUSE should have been one of them.

Unfortunately, I became aware of this "Cause" only three days before the voting ended and in those 3 THREE days I saw the vote count go from just over approximately 6500 votes to nearly 9000.

I posted widgets and blogs on my FACEBOOK PAGE, MYSPACE BLOG as well as BULLETINS, which garnered a lot of attention and interest towards this cause.

I have NO DOUBT that if given more time I would have got the vote count way over 10,000. Many people emailed me stating that they were glad I brought this "CAUSE" to their attention.

PLEASE GIVE IT ANOTHER CHANCE!

Suggested by Shani Angel on 01/17/2009 @ 09:36PM PT
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We should look at solutions that are working elsewhere in the world. And I have been living in Australia and know of a quick fix that is compatible with our current income tax system.
In Australia and New Zealand, they have the Higher Education Loan Program. The payments of this loan is deducted from your income by your employer and the debt is paid down based on your ability to pay, e.g. based on your income.
If your income is too low, there are NO PAYMENTS. And the interest charged is just the official inflation rate.
When there is no payments, there is no penalty: The loan rate is equal to the official inflation rate for the life of the loan. And the student has a lifetime to pay it back the loan.
On a voluntary basis, people can pay extra on the loan when they want to pay it off faster.
As people's career progresses, their incomes generally grow, and so does their ability to pay the loan off.
This solves two problems:1) People can pursue the work of their dreams rather than take work they do not want to do just to pay their loans.
2) People only make payments on their loans WHEN THEY CAN AFFORD TO DO SO: This is a much fairer system.
This is the rates of repayment that the Australian government has for these HELP loans:http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/content.asp?doc=/content/8356.htm&pc=001/002/046/002/013&mnu=6864&mfp=001&st=&cy=1

So, how we go about it, has already been suggested:
A new agency: FANNIE MAE or FREDDIE MAC is set up to take over all student loans, and the payments of these loans are set-up with employers to deduct and send the payments to new agency automatically (just as Social Security and Medicare is done today) . And those whose income is too low to sustain payments would get IMMEDIATE relief of these payments.
The final bit, from what I understand, in New Zealand, if the loan is not paid by end of individual, the remaining amount is deducted from the estate.
So in the end, this system is fair and over time virtually all loans are paid back: There is probably some level of loans that have to written off due to no assets or estate left due on death of an individual: But this cost should be viewed as acceptable. In theory, that individual still paid taxes and contributed to their country, neighborhood and families, or were in such dire straights that we as a society needed to support them anyway.

Suggested by Paul LaFreniere on 01/17/2009 @ 01:30PM PT
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