Everyone please sign the petition for retaining the PSLF program!

[kayay]

We all know that we'll be in lots of debt after graduate school. Let's make sure that we can have our loans forgiven in 10 years!! We work hard to serve others and we deserve recognition. 

 

 

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/retain-public-interest-loan-forgiveness-program-its-current-form-forgiving-all-qualifying-student/wkqnqBCH

[kgoodw2]

We all know that we'll be in lots of debt after graduate school. Let's make sure that we can have our loans forgiven in 10 years!! We work hard to serve others and we deserve recognition. 

 

 

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/retain-public-interest-loan-forgiveness-program-its-current-form-forgiving-all-qualifying-student/wkqnqBCH

Signed and shared on Facebook!

[kayay]

Signed and shared on Facebook!

 

Yay great!! Everyone SPREAD THE WORD! WE HAVE UNTIL APRIL 5, 2014!

[jarenolds]

I'm interested what you see as the flaws in this new proposal? From what I've seen most of the changes seem to be pretty legitimate.

[elbimbo]

Signed! I forwarded the link to friends and family. 

[kayay]

I'm interested what you see as the flaws in this new proposal? From what I've seen most of the changes seem to be pretty legitimate.

 

They want to cap the amount of forgiven loans at $57,500, most people in the human service field have loans for both graduate school and undergraduate that exceed this amount. Most people are in 80-150k in debt and we don't make enough money to pay the rest back at a reasonable monthly amount. 

[hiclub2]

Debt free is my dream

[ontheswpath]

I agree with kayay. I think a lot of the changes are reasonably, but it's the amount of the cap that concerns me. Don't get me wrong it's not that I don't think that there shouldn't be a cap, I just think the proposed cap should be increased to at least 75k. Also, where there was no cap before a lot of people planned their educational pursuits on the current regs for the PSLF. I think it's a bit unfair if those who are now working toward 10 year student loan forgiveness plan be subject to the new regulations. Hopefully some people will be grandfathered in or the proposed cap will be enforced several years beyond 2017 (when people can start to apply for forgiveness).

 

It's obvious we couldn't afford an uncapped system but I'm not sure about the proposed cap of 57k.

[clearbluesky22]

From reading the Heather Jarvis student loan website, the new caps would apply to new borrowers only.  Her site is very informative.  This is her blog where she discussed the proposed reforms  http://askheatherjarvis.com/blog/will-proposed-cuts-to-public-service-loan-forgiveness-impact-existing-borro

 

I agree with kayay. I think a lot of the changes are reasonably, but it's the amount of the cap that concerns me. Don't get me wrong it's not that I don't think that there shouldn't be a cap, I just think the proposed cap should be increased to at least 75k. Also, where there was no cap before a lot of people planned their educational pursuits on the current regs for the PSLF. I think it's a bit unfair if those who are now working toward 10 year student loan forgiveness plan be subject to the new regulations. Hopefully some people will be grandfathered in or the proposed cap will be enforced several years beyond 2017 (when people can start to apply for forgiveness).

 

It's obvious we couldn't afford an uncapped system but I'm not sure about the proposed cap of 57k.

[Kristopher]

Perhaps the problem isn't with the cap, perhaps it's students borrowing too much, going to schools they can't afford, schools charging too much tuition, inadequate funding for organizations that employ social workers (thus affecting salary), or students not having proper expectations for salary after graduation. Even a cap of $57,500 is very generous and unique to this field. If you are able to save that much but still have a ton of debt AFTER 10 years of payments, perhaps your financial choices weren't the best. It's not wise to make huge financial decisions hoping that in 10 years the balance will go away. I think the cap is a good thing, it will maybe encourage students to make wiser decisions.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Kristopher

[jarenolds]

It sounds like it needs some adjustments but I'm not quite sure what the answer is. There needs to be a balance between meeting the needs of students looking to make a difference and not providing people with unlimited funds for degrees that are a poor investment on their part. No offense to lawyers but they are a dime a dozen these days and $200,000 in loans from a poor law school isn't a great idea. I'm far from a total free market guy but I also think that the prices of many of these degrees, social work included, have been artificially inflated because of our governments willingness to pay nearly unlimited amounts of money. We really got on the banks for giving mortgages to people who couldn't realistically pay them back and in many ways I think student loans are turning into the same scenario.

[ontheswpath]

clearbluesky22 - Thank you for the resource/link !

[Kristopher]

It sounds like it needs some adjustments but I'm not quite sure what the answer is. There needs to be a balance between meeting the needs of students looking to make a difference and not providing people with unlimited funds for degrees that are a poor investment on their part. No offense to lawyers but they are a dime a dozen these days and $200,000 in loans from a poor law school isn't a great idea. I'm far from a total free market guy but I also think that the prices of many of these degrees, social work included, have been artificially inflated because of our governments willingness to pay nearly unlimited amounts of money. We really got on the banks for giving mortgages to people who couldn't realistically pay them back and in many ways I think student loans are turning into the same scenario.

 

You're absolutely right. There needs to be overall institutional change to the way loans are given. Schools can charge a lot for tuition because they know students can usually get loans to cover it. There needs to be better oversight to prevent this artificial inflation.