From the Project on Student Debt:
Secretary Paulson’s plan to prop up private student loan providers as part of the $700 billion economic bailout package is misguided and would be harmful to students and borrowers. We should not spend taxpayer dollars to help CEOs while students are denied the right to discharge their education loans in bankruptcy if they run into financial hardships.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s plan to prop up private student loan providers as part of the $700 billion dollar economic bailout package is not a wise use of taxpayer dollars. However, it is an opportunity to raise awareness about the dangers of private student loans and push for stronger consumer protections.
Let Paulson know that we’re watching, and urge him to make receipt of government funds contingent on better treatment of past and future borrowers. Bailing out the lenders so they can make more of the same high-risk loans to students without any new consumer protections would be unconscionable.
W. Wilson said,
February 17, 2009 @ 4:17 am
I am writing this plea to ask that private student loans be given the same flexible repayment and more favorably, repayment based on salary, so that paying back these loans are much more manageable. Right now, with private student loan debt burdening the livelihood of millions of folks who hoped that higher education would better their lives, have found that they may have been better off not attending college because of the enormous debt that they do not have the ability to pay or discharge in bankruptcy.
Please do not bail out companies that provide private loans. I would prefer to see private student loans be illegal. There seems to be no consumer protections with regard to these loans…they are very risky and many struggling students are not able to make such a huge financial decision since they will not know the salary they will be given to repay this inflexible debt.
I currently have a bachelor’s and master’s degree and have to pay $1,300 per month in student loans. I will have to significant change my lifestyle, which will include not spending ANY money on anything other than rent, food, and transportation. We need HELP!!!
David G said,
May 7, 2009 @ 1:55 am
Leave it to that buffoon Obama to be doling out our money to the clowns, idiots, and his friends that got him elected, instead of the poor and oppressed that he said he was going to help. The student loan system makes prisoners of those who either must utilize it to afford higher education or who shy away from it to avoid the crippling debt they’ll live under for the next 25 years, making it impossible to do anything but survive.
Meanwhile, rich people running companies are enjoying Obama’s gifts to keep their companies running, so that they can continue pulling down their extravagant salaries a little while longer. Stop giving BILLIONS to big business, President Obama. Give it to the poor, the oppressed, the downtrodden…in other words, give it to the people that NEED it rather than to those who can make significant donations to you and your party.