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The Student Loan Debt Blog: A Blog About Student Loan Debt and Student Loan Consolidation

Student Loan Debt

A Blog About Student Loan Debt & Federal Student Loan Consolidation

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Student Loan Default: Pay Back Those Student Loans or Else The Government Will Come After Your Social Security Benefits!

If you ever needed a good reason to start making payments on those student loans you've been neglecting, here it is:

James Lockhart has been told that he must repay the over $80,000 he owes in student loans, even though Lockhart is now past retirement age and his student loan debt is over 10 years old.

Student loan deadbeats: get out your checkbooks, fast!

Looks like Lockhart should have consolidated his student loans a long time ago. Now he has to contend with the most powerful government on the planet coming after his social security benefits. Yikes!

I sympathize with Lockhart but the bottom line is he should have made at least some effort to make payments on his student loans, just like the rest of us. If you want a free graduate school education, you'll have to move to England (and become a British citizen!)

I really wasn't surprised about this story. After the whole bankruptcy bill nonsense, I think the federal government is on a "get all the deadbeats" run this year. And the banks, credit card companies and other major lending institutions are all smiles about it.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not trying to come off as self-righteous here. In fact, I was the quintessential student loan deadbeat about decade ago. But I cleaned up my act, and I think Mr. Lockhart should as well. A part-time job for Lockhart? Maybe. He's old, has a heart condition and diabetes. But he was unemployed after 1981 and didn't work much after that. Hmmmm...All that education and not working for decades? Not a strong case, Mr. Lockhart!

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3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

The government should take a page out of Englands student finance program and provide more funds for education that does not require you to go into debt for the rest of your life in order to get an education. Canada has free health care England provides it's citizens with free education the US does neither. I have over 35000 in student loan debt, it is currently deferred and consolidated but with compounding interest, i'm going to owe over 40000. My major is Information Technology and I can't find a job where I live in North East PA unless I want to work in a restaurant. I am seriously considering moving to another country. There is something fundamentally wrong with the US educational system. Don't get me started on the Health care system. What if I become disabled. I reciently had to file for bankruptcy.
I am going somewhere where my education will be an asset not a liability. (maybe Canada? India? Mexico?) since all these kind of jobs are being exported there.
Screw this!

Saturday, July 02, 2005 1:39:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

> The [US] government should take
> a page out of Englands student
> finance program and provide more
> funds for education that does
> not require you to go into debt
> for the rest of your life...

England's system is very enlightened. As long as you can get in (have the grades) and you're a Brit, then yes: they'll pay for your higher education.

The US government obviously has the resources to do the same, but it's simply not the American way. Remember: if you have excellent grades, then you can go to school for free by winning scholarships and grants. That's a fact.

But what about the rest of us who have good grades yet don't have the many thousands of dollars it takes to get through a good college? We are expected to take on life-altering debt in order to pay for the "privilege" of getting the sort of education that would in turn help us to be more competitive in this modern global marketplace? Yes, we are, and that's not right. And, believe it or not, Congress is considering taking away student loan consolidation, effectively making student loan debt even more oppressive for future graduates. Not very enlightened.

A better way would be to let students borrow money to pay for school but to make those loans interest free, or set the interest rate very low, so as to keep pace with inflation. That would be a good step in the right direction. But it's not going to happen, not with the kind of Congress we have to contend with these days.

Moving to Canada? I don't blame you. People are starting to give up on America, moving to places like Canada because of the war, health care, quality of life, etc. Before you go, make sure to let your Senators and Congressmen know why you are leaving.

http://www.yourcongress.com/MemberSearch.asp

Thanks for posting, and I wish you well.

Student Loan Consolidation Blog

Saturday, July 02, 2005 2:34:00 PM  
Blogger Zack said...

It really bloggles my mind how England can provide a free education and Canada can offer free healthcare. We are the richest country in the world and we don't offer these services. I would imagine that the government probably makes more off the higher salaries and business developement that college graduates provide in taxes than what the actual student loans cost.

Monday, November 28, 2005 10:25:00 AM  

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