• LovableSidekick@lemmy.world
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    20 hours ago

    It says “Trump’s changes to income-driven repayment plans.”

    I don’t get it - aren’t student loans fixed amounts, with monthly payments calculated to pay off the loan after a certain amount of time? How can they just raise the payments?

    Not much detail in the article but it does mention Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan being blocked and Trump pausing applications for some income-dependent payment thing. Are we seeing people whose payments would have been reduced by either of those suddenly not having them available anymore?

    • Dettweiler@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      16 hours ago

      Most people are relying on income-driven repayment due to high interest rates and inflated tuition costs. IDR reduces your monthly payment to a fixed percentage of your income, but it does not scale the interest generated on the principle. The new SAVE plan was intended to scale the interest along with the monthly payment so your debt wouldn’t keep piling up due to being on IDR.

      Trump is removing all forms of IDR and blocking applications to renew existing plans, which means everyone will be forced to pay their full monthly amount (which is based on a 10 yr payoff plan). A lot of newer student loans are close to ~$100K or more, so imagine trying to pay that off in 10 yrs in the current job market.

      Prepare for mass defaults on loans. This is absolutely going to crash the economy, and will very likely be worse than the housing market crash in ~2009.

      • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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        13 hours ago

        This is absolutely going to crash the economy

        That’s going to be offset by the coming war in Central America, ostensibly against the cartels that he is claiming are running the region.

    • IMALlama@lemmy.world
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      18 hours ago

      My mom qualified for, and received, federal student loan forgiveness. Yes, she had to make payments and work in a qualifying job for 10 years but due to her low income the payment amount was adjusted down.

      Unless you’re in a position that qualifies for loan forgiveness, and you trust that forgiveness will be there when you qualify, income based payment rates are not a good idea. The total amount owed by my mom actually grew over the years because the amount she was paying was less than the amount of interest charged. For a bit when she was 8 years in she had a scare that she wouldn’t qualify and was shocked to find this out, despite saying “I’ve paid thousands!!!”.

      Your average American isn’t very financially literat, or lives in the land of denial, which makes them easy to take advantage of.

      • deathbird@mander.xyz
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        12 hours ago

        They’ve basically removed all forgiveness options. Were you on year 9 of 10 working towards PSLF? Did you plan your life around it? Whelp. Enjoy the rug pull.

      • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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        17 hours ago

        This right here.

        My partner graduated with a Master’s degree and about 40k in loans. After paying on an income driven plan for 10 years, they now only owe 45k!

        Good time to point out that only about 30% of PSLF applications are accepted (so working for public sector for shit pay for 10 years has about a 30% chance of working) and (last I checked) only 37 (not %, but total) IDR plans have been forgiven.

        You have been sold a lie about college. A degree will not get you a job. It will not get you 60k starting and double it in 4 years. Your field will not be hiring, and if it is, they’ll want a doctorate and 10 years experience for barely a livable wage. Cancel student debt. Raise minimum wage, cap maximum compensation, implement a progressive tax rate, and establish social services so people can retire and turn over their jobs and roles to the next generation.

        • IMALlama@lemmy.world
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          15 hours ago

          Largely agree. The “right” degree in the “right” field you can land a decent paying job. There’s no guarantee that this degree/field lines up with your personal interests, which will make it harder to do well in the field. There’s also no guarantee that the the degree/field will remain relevant over time. If you’re in the corporate job a fun/rewarding/engaging job is not common. Much more common is a boring, soul crushing, or grind fest type position. If the only life advice you get when you’re young is “go to college” the odds of choosing the “right” degree/field is not very high.

          You can absolutely make more going into a trade. Be a plumber, an electrician, a lineman, etc. Beyond trades, America is forgetting how to make stuff and that was a major source of higher paying jobs. There are also a number of interesting shocks on the horizon - the decreasing birthrate, changes in worker aptitude, a culture that leans into instant gratification (action!) over long term results, etc.

    • yunxiaoli@sh.itjust.works
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      17 hours ago

      The US has income based repayment plans for all federally guaranteed loans. By removing or changing the limits in the formula, which is likely what Trump did, people that were paying $50/mo might have to pay market rates for their repayment which is unaffordable to pretty much everyone.

      With ibr your interest tends to not increase despite having a much longer repayment time, allowing you to, you know, live and pay your student loans instead of having to choose in most cases.