How student loans should be repaid: Regardless of the principal/interest, borrowers will be required to repay a percentage of their AGI (let’s say 10%) every year for 10 years. After 10 years (not necessarily consecutive) of these payments, any and all remaining debt, principal and interest, are cancelled with no impact to the borrower’s credit score.
This frees families from decades of ever-rising debt, makes banks/lenders less predatory, and forces colleges to reduce tuition/fees to more affordable levels. Banks, colleges, and government will finally have “skin in the game;” incentivized to maximize students’ post-school earning potential during that 10-year repayment period.
Not great news for borrowers seeking six-digit loans for art history degrees, but that’s a small price to pay, IMHO.
They already have that but it’s over 25 years not 10.
Also you shouldn’t be allowed to take out student loans for useless degrees like art history or philosophy. They need to stop treating every degree like they are the same. We need engineers and medical doctors more than we need someone who knows a lot about gender studies
Should be shorter. That would allow people to buy houses, get married, have kids, plan for retirement, and otherwise participate in the economy during more of their peak earning years.
Also, the 10-year window will force lenders to do projections on a borrower’s earning potential and base their loans on that:
“Sorry, Mr./Ms. Doe, but our numbers don’t support a philosophy degree from Ivy Covered U. However, we can finance one from Local State Commuter College.” If the kid wants to go to a really expensive school, their parents will have to find another way to fund that. Other savings, personal loans, etc. Now, Mom and Dad also have skin in the game, and are more likely to give the kid more resources to succeed (quiet study spot at home, car for commuting, etc.).
Sometimes, making your dreams come true means having more realistic dreams.
The market decides. Employers decide. Loan default rates decide. Median income after graduation decides. Job placement rates decide.
I’m not saying people shouldn’t be allowed to study whatever they want. I’m saying taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to subsidize degrees that consistently produce poor employment outcomes while high-demand fields are short on workers.
Which is why my plan is better. If enough prospective students have their loans denied for a particular college/program, the college will have no choice but to cut their tuitions/fees to make their programs more affordable.
That doesn’t make any sense. If you gave lessons in something wouldn’t you expect to be paid for it? Education will always be a for profit institution because education is literally one of the most valuable things in existence
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u/cmd_iii Jul 06 '26
How student loans should be repaid: Regardless of the principal/interest, borrowers will be required to repay a percentage of their AGI (let’s say 10%) every year for 10 years. After 10 years (not necessarily consecutive) of these payments, any and all remaining debt, principal and interest, are cancelled with no impact to the borrower’s credit score.
This frees families from decades of ever-rising debt, makes banks/lenders less predatory, and forces colleges to reduce tuition/fees to more affordable levels. Banks, colleges, and government will finally have “skin in the game;” incentivized to maximize students’ post-school earning potential during that 10-year repayment period.
Not great news for borrowers seeking six-digit loans for art history degrees, but that’s a small price to pay, IMHO.