Student Loans: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

[@tiltiege7842]

To anyone wondering: that's not Estonia, thats Latvia. Estonia is the one directly to the north. Greetings from Europe

[@taimatsuko]

Thank you! The college I went to did not teach geography

[@zockertwins]

@@taimatsuko If you want to train your geography skills, try seterra online

[@alexlopez5800]

Sorry the 100k$+ education didn't teach me simple geography...

[@joellahrman4557]

Those renegade republics are alphabetic from north to south. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. Heading over to Western Europe, Netherlands is North and Belgium is on the Bottom. C'mon Americans, we can do it! You can be forgiven for struggling with the countries of the former Yugoslavia though, that does get challenging.

[@angelestorres6334]

For a moment there I thought I wasn't going to be able to sleep tonight, thanks

[@cabbagenut]

Literally the entire history of the USA is just, "We have this problem and we could have spent a little money to fix it but we hated the idea of helping people so much that we waited until it was a thousand times more expensive to do anything."

[@scifirealism5943]

Yes

[@Dbb27]

You nailed it.

[@bettylynne7364]

I’m feeling it’s often a case of harvesting the human condition to the financial benefit of the ruler class, a well established olde euro playbook on USA level steroids.

[@joycej9415]

And it always happens with Republicans and then they fight against the Democrats fixing it. I am 71, so tired of this. We need to get rid of the electoral college! I think it is the reason we are in such a mess.

[@Taylor-vz4ot]

​@@bettylynne7364you're not feeling that. You're seeing it.

[@ron9146]

As a freshman in 1969, my tuition for fall term at the University of Oregon was $70 total! At the time, the minimum wage was $1.65, but I was earning $1.85. So three weeks (38 hours each) of my summer job paid my entire year's tuition and fees. We didn't need any student loans, because the government provided 80% of the cost of our education.

[@wayIess]

🤯

[@whimsical_me5135]

3 weeks of a summer job paid for a year of college tuition... I can't even wrap my head around that.

[@staticcouch135]

🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤦‍♀️

[@sauronliebtdich]

but thats socialism! ;)

[@hu3an8ty14]

Finish your story by telling them who destroyed higher education, Ronald Reagan by defunding it in 1981.

[@JA-vz1nl]

23:55 That Navient "oops" and then dropping their written legal response was great

[@ericjohnson6105]

They deny it, therefore they do it as a matter of fact.

[@BlackShardStudio]

I worked in a student loan call center for two years. I had to quit because of panic attacks. The metrics were impossible to meet, especially if you were actually trying to provide any kind of quality service, and nearly everyone who called in was stressed out, anxious, or angry. It was legitimately an emotionally abusive job.

[@DreyfuZzzz]

I have quit so many customer service jobs due to this, I have no problem telling a job to shove it. I have a great resume. Finally after 15 years, I found a company I love. Can't believe good ones still exists though few few few.

[@nielskorpel8860]

What if customer service failure was a cost to shareholders?

[@ErutaniaRose]

@@nielskorpel8860OMG XD

[@llovley]

I can only imagine the hell you had to endure. People want to shoot the messenger. I've worked customer service and in the front office of resorts and business hotels before. I just told those people who got mad and yelled at me "I don't make the rules I just follow them so I can keep my job." It's sad how many people want jump straight into shooting the messenger rather than pausing for a second and thinking who that message is actually coming from. Thank God my parents gave my sister and I the "gift of education" as I call it and left us with no student loan she a Bachelor's and advanced degree. But my husband had student loans until last year when they finally got paid off 🎉. But he noticed how he'd always be rushed off the phone or the reps were stressed, overwhelmed, and overworked.

[@nubbiewubbie7285]

How much did it pay tho 👀?

[@DerDarthenFritzster]

Eight years ago, my wife died and I came into an inheritance. I had one loan in collections, meaning they were garnishing my salary every month. When I went to pay off the whole thing with the money I had from selling our house, the Navient representative tried for an hour to get me to reconsider.

[@DTavona]

Big Pharma doesn't want medications that cure, they want people sick enough to need medications for years and years. Paying off the loan would end their steady income stream and "deny them" the ability to add more interest to the loan, prolonging your pain. A lot of funding opposing loan forgiveness or early repayment comes from loan "servicing" companies. They are in it to keep people indentured to the loan holder.

[@Estarile]

Obviously they were trying because they make more money on interest. But I doubt the rep came out and said "look we consider you a neverending piggybank. Please don't take that away." What was the logic behind them stalling you from repaying your debt?

[@DerDarthenFritzster]

I thought that went without saying. After all, on top of the interest, they were charging fees to garnish my wages, which meant only about $100 of $500 was going towards the principle. I don't remember exactly what they were trying to tell me, but it was something along the lines of, "Wouldn't you rather spend that money on something else?"

[@MountainMeg67]

That’s terrible. I’m sorry you lost your wife. Condolences 😢

[@Heeroyui752]

That's insane.

[@RedSonya4]

After paying $90K over 12 years on my $80K student loan, I owed another $90K despite working in public service the entire time. Was not originally eligible for PSLF I was in the "wrong payment plan." After two years of reviews, last year the balance of my student loan was finally forgiven under the PSLF waiver. I plan to celebrate the anniversary of the forgiveness letter every year. I don't even celebrate my own birthday.

[@scifirealism5943]

That's the point. Politicians want to make education harder to access.

[@roadraider6266]

How did they make that happen? I got about 20k more debt because of inflation shenanigans but your story is brutal :O

[@krazyoldkatlady192]

Congrats! You raise a good point. These people get on TV and rage that students either aren’t or do want to pay their loans when in fact they ARE paying their loans! They just don’t want to pay them for all eternity. Every loan should have an end point. Student loans do not. Banks sell the loans and the conditions change ensuring that they can never be paid off. There’s no way for students to know this up front so they can’t make informed decisions.

[@Iwannaps5]

Jesus that’s absolute insanity, but I’m glad you’ve paid all of that off. You deserve a huge break!

[@Brame362]

Damn

[@e-swift3923]

As someone who lives outside the US, I am constantly surprised by how broken it is in almost every conceivable way...

[@hossleboss]

As someone who's stuck in the US, it's pretty torturous. I've had some people question why I want to immigrate to Finland so I can leave "the greatest country in the nation" (never gonna stop quoting that meme because it's just so dumb and perfectly encapsulates how broken and uneducated the US is). I want to go to college, but as it is in the US, there's no way I can afford it.

[@omppusolttu5799]

@@hossleboss Finland isn't the best place for immigrants sadly. Current government is rather anti-immigrant and the people have a tendency to be too. Not overtly, but rather in a backhanded "I'mma just ignore you" way. Not that much of an problem until you try to get a job. Notably the current government intends to change job based immigration so that if you are unemployed for 3 months (6 months if a specialist or have been in finland for 2 years) you have to leave. Oh and getting true citizenship, which makes you immune to this would go from 5 years to 8. Source: Native finnish and rather frustrated with the current governance.

[@shy404usernotfound]

Why don't you say what specific country you're from, then? Or do you just like to tell Americans how "broken" you find their country to be? For what? For fun? ***eye roll***

[@e-swift3923]

@@shy404usernotfoundI think if you're a nation the outwardly proclaims to be the best in the world, you probably need to be told this every once in a while. Not that ya'll seem to be doing much with it. The fact that some are still supporting the cheeto felon is beyond fucked... smh

[@hossleboss]

@@shy404usernotfound Yeah, hi. Me again. I thought it was pretty obvious that I was born in the US. I'm 28 years old and I've been homeless twice. If it wasn't for my friends, I'd be another statistic on the street. So, please, continue to be an idiot and assume the US is the greatest ever just because you refuse to broaden your own horizons because it's too scary to leave your comfort zone. On that note, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hannukah, etc etc etc.

[@jwillis8537]

Two months into grad school (required to continue teaching), I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I couldn't drop out because then I'd have to start repayment, and I couldn't handle student loan debt and medical debt. Against my doctors' advice, I stayed in school. I attended class virtually from my hospital bed while recovering from my Whipple because the school had strict attendance policies. 5 years later I'm still paying those student loans, but at least I don't have cancer!

[@KeiPalace]

check student aid dot gov because you can convert private loans to gov loans with affordable payment plans and shorter time to pay off, please do it now before it goes away

[@dionysus9876]

Congratulations on being cancer free!🎉🎉🎉 I can't imagine the strength it took to go through that!

[@Ninnybroth]

Wow. Just, wow. That kind of stress means you need to take very good care of yourself for the rest of your life.

[@minhvuvule8568]

congrats congrats 🥰The strength it takes is unimaginable to me

[@rMDheal]

Wow- I’m so sorry you went through that. What a reflection of this society

[@thisisjvh]

I was able to pay off my students loans and got one of those "share your story with us!" e-mails from AES. The ONLY reason that I was able to pay mine off was because my dad was killed by a truck driver, and my mother got a settlement that allowed us to pay off the debt. The American Dream!

[@alienenthusiast]

So sorry for your loss.

[@TheOtherMwalimu]

I'm sorry for your loss. I also was only able to go to university after my mother died of cancer. She had only been tested and diagnosed by the 3rd doctor, the first two denied anything was wring. But by then it was too late. Yay for poor health care system and poor education system!

[@FMAeva]

oh shit

[@r.r4981]

At least you were responsible, many people would of spent it recklessly

[@aestevalis0]

Murca!

[@rboyd87]

My grandfather took out a Parent Plus loan for my sophomore year in 2007. The moment he got the first bill he paid it off entirely (something most people can't do). They processed his check AFTER applying the next interest accrual so the balance wasn't completely cleared. A decade later Navient sent him to collections on interests of interest. These companies are evil.

[@bunk95]

Slaves cant have loans. Did someone tell you they can/do?

[@zwenkwiel816]

That can't be legal, right?! You can't just let interest sit for a decade without ever notifying the debtor of this outstanding debt. Like if you haven't made any attempts to collect for ten years you pretty much forfeited the debt imo. (And I'm pretty sure this wouldn't hold up in court either)

[@dacksonflux]

How is this garbage legal? 🤬

[@thisIsFunnyLolz]

Nelnet basically did the same thing to me, I sent the money but oh no it took us an extra business day to process so instead of being fully paid off based off the day I submitted the payment, they tacked on an extra day of interest so my account on that loan wasn’t zero when it’s literally their fault they didn’t process my payment when I sent it in

[@tabathaalshalhoub1653]

If you want to pay it off, you have to request a payoff balance, which calculates the interest at the date your payment is expected to clear. Yeah, sucks big time.

[@qienna6677]

Every time I watch a video like this, I'm eternally grateful for New Zealand's interest free student loans and minimum income requirements before payments are required.

[@sheffield99]

Yes, exactly. We have it really good here. Honestly, the US could do that. Pay the loan back, but don't charge them interest.

[@CJFerg81]

Ditto. I managed to get steady work after I graduated from Waikato Uni and the best feeling was when I finally paid my loan off a couple of years ago.

[@jessicaamy6711]

Yer NZ has a great system, even Australia is better than the US indexed at inflation and has a min earning before having to pay. At least ALL the student loans are government

[@Beta1User2]

Bob, from the incredibles, helping the old woman navigate the paperwork of insurance really was a true hero without the cape. Those are the heroes we need now😅

[@michaelvossen7253]

Bob was fired... Life imitating art for real.

[@LazarusStr]

😂😂😂 Nice thought.

[@bazzfromthebackground3696]

​@lx5xkExcept the whole thing where the point was the Disney character telling people to *read their contracts before signing.*

[@xcwarrior]

@lx5xk You realize Disney is a GOP run company that looks out for the 1% over everyone else right? Like they are not liberals friends. They just pretend to trigger sheep like you into thinking they are not the upper 1%.

[@bunk95]

Insurance is fictional.

[@3321far]

I used to work in banking and the damage student loans do to young people is shocking. Most don't even know it's debt. They need to rename the financial aid office the student debt office. They don't repay and ruin their credit. Worse, student debt can't be discharged in bankruptcy, so they have the debt for LIFE. They can't buy cars, homes, or anything else on credit. My daughters are 24 and 28 and still living at home because they can't afford rent.

[@SolaScientia]

Yeah, I'm almost 36 and I live at home. I do work though and I do many chores and the shopping. I'm grateful for my parents for allowing me to live at home. Considering both my parents now have some health issues, particularly my mother, it's actually good for them that I'm at home and can assist with anything that comes up. I used to feel awful that I was living at home still, but now I don't mind it. I spent a year and half on my own and even with a job I still had to rely on my mom giving me a little money each month just so I could make rent, make a student loan payment, and just generally live with a roof over my head. It was the better decision to just move back home. Much as the lockdowns sucked, I was so very happy that my loan repayments were paused for those years.

[@hailey8941]

I mean apparently it CAN be discharged through bankruptcy, but it requires additional forms and proof that paying them back would cause “undue hardship” on you, whatever that means to them. I don’t know how often they actually forgive them this way though. Probably not very often since it seems ppl don’t know about it, and they’re petty about money. Maybe if you were homeless and actively dying?

[@ProteinShowdown]

Yeah I live at home at 28 because I just finished grad school and student loans are holding me back from everything in my life. I’m trying to pay them off over the next two years

[@victoriamahon3765]

Or even worse they go to buy a home and get forced in the rolling into their mortgage that it’s never paid off!!! The student loan people get their money right away and you have that against your home for the rest of your life! Pushing your mortgage through the roof!

[@Justin22139]

@@SolaScientiaDon’t feel bad. I’m your age, and moved in with my mom after my apartment building was sold during the pandemic. I now have a great job that pays more than I’ve ever made in my life, but I’m still not living on my own because a studio apartment costs more to rent than a 3-bedroom house did 5 years ago. We’re not alone. I have friends in the same position who also have great jobs. Nurses, teachers, a newspaper editor, a loan officer - all in their 30’s and still living at home. The only guys out of my group of hs friends that own their own homes, inherited them.

[@peterteddy3367]

Is it really "forgiving" when people have already paid you back more than you ever gave them

[@RevyT-js7ui]

And where is all that extra money going? It sure isn't going back into the education system to improve it.

[@patriciacvener1968]

I prefer to call it release.

[@kaischreiber6833]

@@RevyT-js7ui keep on dreaming

[@Work_in_progress88]

@@RevyT-js7uiit’s going into hedge funds that the govt is profiting off of

[@Praisethesunson]

​@@RevyT-js7uiLockheed Martin to make more knife missiles

[@lilaismygirl5524]

To whoever's in the audience screaming laughing at John Oliver's jokes: you have my whole heart

[@midnari]

Thank God they don't have your hole brain. I'm not sure what they'd do with a brain cell.

[@mmiller8968]

That's a laugh track

[@condful]

I think its a mix as they do have a live audience

[@Matt_is_a_Boring_Name]

18 year olds, told to take loans for college so we can pay to afford - a house - children - a decent car - health insurance - healthcare - etc Yet all of these are now unaffordable for most folks who went to college. WEIRD.

[@bunk95]

Colleges and loans for college are fictional things.

[@aetherwizard3218]

If you were told that then you were told wrong and we shouldn't have to all pay for your bad choices in life.

[@da_kevin]

@@aetherwizard3218I’m very sorry you think this way.

[@aetherwizard3218]

@@da_kevin I'm very sorry that comrade Biden is handing out the money we all paid in taxes to people who made horrible life choices. Get this man out! Literally anyone else!

[@markbarrientos6430]

​@aetherwizard3218 Id rather pay for someone's loan then give money to Israel or Ukraine...

[@christiang9994]

I studied a five-year degree at a well-known public university in Germany, worked 10-15 hours a week while studying and luckily got enough for paying a room and a little extra from my parents. They paid my health insurance, too, which is regulated for students and cost about 50 euros a month for students at the time. Tuition was about 600 a year, including student union and public transport in the city. My wife and I graduated with no debt at all. The US have a serious problem, and the American Dream is broken.

[@avigutierrez8948]

Amen😔😢

[@dennikstandard]

Well yeah, and you used all this debt freedom to ... shut down nuclear power plants for no reason and spend all your savings on russian gas and reviving coal plants.

[@Leblribrbrrq]

The American Dream is propaganda.

[@themasterofdisaster1]

​​​@@dennikstandard we definitely have some problems here in Germany but we are at 50+% renewable energy already and climbing... Let us see how this plays out over the next few years. BTW I have done a similar thing as the creator of this post. Studied 6 years in Munich. Zero debt. There are student loans here too (if your parents can not pay for you) but you only have to pay back 50% and the total is capped at 10 000€.

[@chefcaseyryback]

@@dennikstandard can't come to terms with the problems of your own country (assuming you are American) so you put down another? And a poor attempt at that.

[@jordanhutson6962]

I work for a bank and can confirm that if your payment is off by 25 dollars or less, we don't pursue it. To be clear, your payment still counts. To not count a payment for 1 cent is absolutely ridiculous.

[@QuantumAscension1]

It’s not just ridiculous, it’s blatant outright theft.

[@GaudyGabriev]

I'm still trying to process the "it doens't count". The fuck does that mean, they just straight up take your money?!?!

[@boghund]

​@@GaudyGabriev yeah, that's what I'm wondering as well... How is that legal?

[@ramostott190]

@@GaudyGabriev It's not that it doesn't count towards paying off the loan, it is that it doesn't count as making a payment that qualifies for the loan forgiveness. The forgiveness plan is set up so you pay a qualifying amount every period for 10 years and the rest goes away, but because of the error, it wasn't a qualifying amount. Not any better, but a clarification.

[@vintagearisen]

I mean if they REJECTED the payment it'd be one thing but they're absolutely thrilled to still keep that money. That should absolutely be illegal.

[@5609Ali]

Me and almost every other physician that went through medical school in the USA have at least ~$200k in debt at graduation and that’s just from med school. Every single person in the US (and world) deserve far better.

[@loganmarks2105]

most of the world doesn't have this kind of problem. me as a KIWI had very little debt. No interest till you leave NZ

[@Phlegethon]

How much do you make

[@ijuhi]

Your income should be high enough that you can apply a large portion of your income to repaying your loans. High income means less of your income has to go to living expenses.

[@vaseklepic12]

That sounds horrible, considering that here in Czechia University is free (you still pay for dorms, but no tuition and studying in English isn't free but like 2000usd per semester)

[@gmarte12]

then everyone is complaining why it is hard to find general practitioners. most doctors choose specialization that would pay a lot more money than internal med/family practice/general practitioners for a better return of investments

[@TheRogueX]

If it's a loan that can be paid for a decade(s) with the principle balance hardly reduced, it is a loan that should not be legally allowed to exist.

[@sholtey]

That's how income-driven repayment works yes, the payment may not be enough to cover the interest, and it accrues.

[@SVSportscars]

@@sholtey Then the interest is way to high. As with the example of the woman paying what was it 70 principle and 650 or something interest and yet barely pays off anything. That is just plain wrong. For something like a student loan of 80k or the likes 700 a month should be more than enough to to pay it off in like 15 years. Student loan should not be a profit driven system if done by the government.

[@haakon_hk]

​@@SVSportscars Just ran the numbers myself, and paying 700 per month on an loan with a starting balance of $80,000 at an nominal interest rate of 7% would be paid off in 15.833 years. During that time, you'd pay back $133,000; $80k in principal, $53k in interest. The important thing to note is that: If you don't pay the interest, *it becomes principal.* To reduce the amount you pay back, you have to *make the choice* to pay more than the minimum monthly payment. It sucks, I agree, but it's mathematically sound. Raising the payment per month to just $725 decreases the time to pay it off by 11 months.

[@Ryukachoo]

​@@haakon_hk You forgot the part where people probably dont have the cash to do that, and just barely scrape by on the minimum . Its honestly weird these loans have any interest at all, or anything higher than like 1%, considering they're basically impossible to get out of

[@jebbush6657]

Good thing biden is specifically responsible for how bad the loans are allowed to be, how hard they are to escape, and refuses to use the HEA to fix the problem he was paid to cause because he pretended the SC route was the only viable one. 😊

[@oatmilk169]

It is sad to me that so many wealthy people can't honestly admit they got there with help or that they often still get help. The hypocrisy is maddening. The lack of self awareness is maddening. The lack of empathy is maddening.

[@sweetsweet4390]

It's not that they're not aware, it's that them lying to poor people stops them from revolting.

[@imnotdavidxnsx]

Lack of empathy is pretty much a defining characteristic of conservatives. No seriously...like there have been studies. There is no hope for them. They only care about things that affect them personally somehow.

[@winonafrog]

The multimillionaires bribing Congress to get millions in loans they then lobby Congress to dismiss are self-aware. Their “self” though is a rotting ghoul of greed prejudice usury and warmongering. The same way every Congress person with $800,000 in their account from AIPAC is self-aware that they sold their soul for genocide to be in politics. Every poli sci program & business school breeds these people and they run both the corporations and the governments, at great damage (debt pollution poverty no healthcare) to the other 98.5%, and we pay them to do it.

[@RandomPerson-cc9mn]

I think its because part of how they got wealthy is by getting their money from poor uneducated people. A wealthy person who isn't pulling some sort of con doesn't need to sell any lies about how they got there (not even that they tell the truth, but that the conversation just doesn't come up because they're probably not public figures).

[@ziaulislam87]

Shh...we have enough empathy to send a trillion dollars of aid to ukriane and Israel

[@acid_milk]

It's emblematic of nearly every issue facing America: greed. It's pretty absurd that we all sit around asking the clouds "how can we fix all these problems" when all the problems are human manufactured.

[@Amaje311]

Wish I could "like" this statement 10 more times.

[@SanguineMalcontent]

So, remove the humans?

[@eduardochiscuet3146]

Capitalism* all of this is the result of shit privatization, neoliberalist policies and red scare propaganda to crash the socialist bloc during the cold war, mainly Reagan and his "tRiCkLe dOwN" delusion

[@BigMek667]

​@@SanguineMalcontentno? Make the humans not have the Option to be greedy all the time?

[@SanguineMalcontent]

@@BigMek667 As a race or individuals? 'Cause that one solution would fix it at the race echelon....

[@prettypic444]

my mother's a teacher, and had a coworker get caught in a toxic student loan repayment debt cycle. she was on schedule to pay off her laon, but then she had to pause her payments when she was diagnosed with cancer. thankfully she beat it, but now she has to start all over again because the interest still accumulated during the pause.

[@nataliarivera3998]

Oh jesuuss Christ 😰🥺

[@jolo3118]

Yep. I had my loans in forbearance for about 2 years. I was breathing a sigh of relief... Until 2 years later when the payments were just being stacked waiting for me. I'm still paying for it today and that was 2014.

[@Steve-yr5vi]

When I was in college I was working in order to pay for tuition, room and board as I went, I found working did not allow me to focus on school. I joined the US Army, saved, went back to college and finished debt free. I will say this, the work ethic I learned in the army and the US Army on my resume has been helped me more so than the degree I received. Today I am multi-millionaire, and will earn millions more. This idea people have that college alone is well worth any cost is a false one, the lesson that should be learned here is that going to college and accruing debt is not the path to a good future.

[@prettypic444]

@@Steve-yr5vi I’m glad you were able to find success with your noncollege skills, but people definitely need to college if they want to be teachers.

[@katysuminski7331]

The person who HOLLERED at the Rory Gilmore reference is my hero 😂😂😂

[@gonzos-twin]

Yaaas queen, tv shows are my personality too

[@one-onessadhalf3393]

My favorite part of the episode

[@caramazzola2399]

I just deleted my comment because I basically wrote the same thing lmao

[@THEDubbleHelixx]

I was hoping someone else noticed. 😂 They screamed with their whole soul.

[@LittleLadhops]

@gonzostwin1 I would have guessed your personality was being a dick for no reason

[@lauraelaineallen21]

As someone dropped SO MANY TIMES on calls from Navient, thank you for that moment. It made my night

[@michaelgreeley197]

Navient always gets their cut, even if I can't fill my gas tank up. Navient and Sallie Mae always felt like mafia loansharks.

[@arex9000]

it hit me on the loan forgiveness programs. I ignored it and paid off but I've had so many friends get screwed over it especially teachers that went to state schools

[@RedSonya4]

I couldn't have done it without the help and support of the Facebook PSLF group that someone on a female lawyer's page urged me to join after a year of vague and unhelpful calls with Mohela and FedLoan.

[@johnmoser3594]

Wasn't Navient the one that came out a few years ago to celebrate $1 trillion of net profits in one year? I'm not sure on that, I think it was Navient. I looked up their profit margins at the time, 24% net operating profit margin-for every $1 in revenue, they kept 24 cents. To put that into perspective, Walmart's net operating profit margin at the time was 2.4%, and total cash compensation to their CEO-stocks can be handwaved into existence and when you're compensated in stock the IRS wants you to pay taxes on the dollar market value of that stock as of the time you received it, so it's not useful for comparison here-amounted to $4 per employee PER YEAR. It disturbed me to see the top executives at a student loan company celebrate screwing their clients so hard, which is also the Title IX violation my school just got called out on by the DOJ, yes it was an athletics coach again. I wouldn't hold a whole lot against a student loan company for having mega profits at just a 2% net profit margin; 24% is obscene in ways I would like to describe graphically, but I have a policy of not kink shaming.

[@SinisterMD]

As a physician I was required to attend a university so that I could go on to medical school. The medical school tuition rose 25% per year for each year I was there, effectively doubling in 4 years. No new facilities, experience or other changes were at all apparent. We're a captive group that had no choice.

[@stevenp25100]

You mean once the government started giving away free money, colleges raised prices?? Wow!

[@isaaco-8933]

My wife is in Medical School right now and she already has 400k in student loans with one year to go. I recently found out residents make about 65k, my blood pressure rose to 300 😫😫😫😫

[@SinisterMD]

@@isaaco-8933 Yes, it's very unfortunate. They know that generally physicians will be high income earners so they have jacked the tuition to the stars because they know eventually they'll get paid. It's a scam. The nice thing is that she's in the fun part of medical school. Those first couple years are brutal.

[@President_Mario]

Dentist here who dealt with similar shit in school. I remember older, local dentists coming to give us pep talks about quickly paying off our debts and opening up practices. They didn't realize the cost our schooling was magnitudes higher than their's not to mention insurance reimbursements being nearly the same today as they were 30 years ago despite higher overhead costs.

[@newagain9964]

Ok. Now advocate for the plebs and tell the insurers to stop doing what they’re doing. It’s a public health crisis. Worse than loans.

[@missminti]

The one thing I took from the usually ridiculous crap my grandfather said, was “ don’t get into debt”. I’m not rich, but considering I have no debt, I’m ahead at 40.

[@CouchtrollPodcastDS]

Feel like a class action lawsuit should exist for the government loans. Contract fraud, mishandling, consumer abuse, etc.

[@xxFireFox86xx]

That's what I was thinking, but I don't understand the contracts well enough to know if this is a feasible plan. If anyone does go this route, and has evidence of it, most lawyers will have the person/company you're suing pay the fees.

[@Praisethesunson]

Humans are more than consumers

[@jakoblarok]

@@xxFireFox86xx Exactly. And we didn't understand them any better when we signed those debt contracts. That's the very point.

[@cathyhoward2160]

I am 83, living on Social Security and paying $80 to an old Student Loan.

[@jakoblarok]

@@Praisethesunson Yes, humans are social animals so complicated and convoluted that they can trick themselves into believing other animals of the same species (and conversely, trick other animals of the same species) via a plethora of rouses. They can even trick themselves into thinking that they made a correct decision, years after making a very bad decision. They can justify unnecessary, whole-sale, mass-murder to themselves and their social in-groups. They can make-believe deities into actual existence; the proof being that no sane animal would wage existential war over a fictional idea. And/or perhaps human animals are also insane. So yes. They are more than mere 'consumers'. They "contain multitudes" and whatever. Great point

[@lindalb9519]

John Oliver - you are such a breath of fresh, non-polluted air.

[@sweetsweet4390]

Him, Bernie Sanders, and Jon Stewart seem to be some of the only people left with sense.

[@revolutionchikelu]

@@sweetsweet4390 There are more but yes

[@maggie2234]

👏👏👏

[@avigutierrez8948]

Non toxic too😏

[@ChrisWEEZ]

Non-polluted, sure! But rank with the Earl’s tea

[@arthinox3317]

Damn, the writing this season so far is god-tier. The first five minutes alone are filled with so many bangers.

[@swirlingchi]

With a glorious finish calling back to an earlier commentary

[@ruskokollektiv5457]

4:14 that lady screaming at the Gilmore Girls joke is amazing

[@lennylyons777]

I wonder what percentage is done by AI!?

[@seraphimseptimus6984]

​@@lennylyons777given it is John Oliver, who did stand-up comedy shows to pay his employees while they were striking to avoid, in part, AI taking their jobs (among the many other demands the Writer's Guild went on strike to obtain), probably none.

[@khatdubell]

@@seraphimseptimus6984 that would explain why none of the jokes were good.

[@harralk]

EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THIS COUNTRY SHOULD WATCH THIS EPISODE. I had to amortize my $140k in loans over 30 years to make them affordable on a monthly basis - I realistically have no expectation of ever paying them off. Granted, IDR has made my payments a little more manageable, but at this point I have given my loan handlers more money than I originally borrowed.

[@ms_cartographer]

I am one of those student loan borrowers with private and federal loans. My debt is 1200 a month, and I have to work two full-time jobs to pay the minimum and afford rent. My interest on my loans is so huge that the interest paid each month is at least 800 per month on the private loans. I went for a STEM degree, but I still couldn't find a day job that pays enough to cover rent and the minimum payment. I couldn't find work in high school and college that could pay enough for tuition. When your loan payments are 1200 a month, but you only bring home 2k a month from your day job and your rent is 850, there's a problem. Now, I work two full-time jobs to barely get by. I haven't had a day off in years.

[@Schnibly2024]

That sucks! I just wanted to say that idk who you are but I love you and you are doing your best.

[@ms_cartographer]

@@Schnibly2024 thank you. That's really sweet of you. I'm hoping to find better-paying work soon. I'm just lucky that I can sell plasma to eat when I have to.

[@elgonzo7239]

"Now, I work two full-time jobs to barely get by. I haven't had a day off in years." Color me surprised, the system working as intended.

[@terendril]

That's dystopian af. You still having a hopeful outlook is strong as hell ​@@ms_cartographer

[@redeyesb.dragonite8562]

Not doubting you just wondering because it sounds crazy, what job, especially in STEM only pays 2k/ month? I'm working a job with no experience or degree that was required at 4k /month and as much overtime as you want if you want to make more.

[@laalaa99stl]

"How dare you spend money on something that benefits someone who isn't me." 🎯

[@Byzantion]

Well actually the money are coming from the taxes everybody pays i think people should have a say where their money go 😂

[@morbidmanmusic]

then you pay for my groceries next time... that is fair based on your comment. WHy should I pay for something I wanted? You pay for it.

[@RHCole]

​@@morbidmanmusic Go apply for food stamps if you want our taxes to pay for your groceries.

[@RHCole]

​@@Byzantion They do, it's called voting. Try it sometime.

[@richardrobbins387]

They're fixing the bridge just down the road from where I work. But, I never used that bridge. Those thieving, government-funded bastards!!

[@ingridseim1379]

My employer's dad majored in engineering at Cal Poly from 1949-1953. He had no scholarships, no loans and no help from his family. How did he pay for it? He worked summers as a bell hop at Lake Tahoe. That was his sole source of income. His only job. He went on to be an aeronautical engineer at Boeing during the glory years of the fifties and sixties. WHAT THE HELL ARE WE DOING TODAY?????? Seriously. How much human talent is going to waste because of greedy politicians and corporations? How many things have not been discovered because their potential inventors are denied the chance to develop their talent?

[@tekbarrier]

Excellent point

[@winonafrog]

Thank you. It’s bonkers. It’s usury (using money to produce profit out of nothing) as others have pointed out, and there’s reasons the Bible and Quran both forbid that: it’s not for the good of the people, it’s for the very rich to get very very rich and benefit off hoarding. Columbia’s endowment fuels land speculation in an active genocide; Harvard is buying up California’s water rights, &c. These are bad actor institutions that happen to have a campus for 19 yos to get drunk, and creditors prey on them like its a pack of fish. (In disbelief at the MAGA clowns here acting like it’s Patriotic to pay off your debt threefold, when they probably grew up in the $75-per-semester $50k job to raise a family upon graduating world, not the $20k per semester then intern for 3 years endebted forever reality of today.) Jubilee is the answer. And yes for the lost talent, more of what St. Exupery called the “assassinated Mozarts.”

[@thec9424]

The people who are rich and in power, stay rich and in power. It is by design.

[@ladydeerheart1]

They're doing it on purpose. Separating the classes. No more middle class. Just workers and elites.

[@swisscheeseluver]

And now Cal Poly costs $30k a year for IN-STATE students, and kids are graduating from a public university with $100k+ in debt. It's just insane.

[@dg1357908642]

I studied at one of the best medical schools in the world in Europe and it cost me around 170€ per semester - including free public transport during the night and weekends and insurances while being on campus. I think that the US is a great countries in many ways, but it's incredible how much higher education has become an industry there.

[@JonnyMaL]

Here's a crazy idea: CANCEL THE INTEREST on all student loans. All payments should go to the principal.

[@KennedyIvy]

Then why would you give loans? The value of the loan would just be eatten away due to inflation and the taxpayer would be responsible for the difference

[@JonnyMaL]

I'm not an expert on economics, so I'm not quite sure how the taxpayer would be responsible for the difference. I simply believe the loans are predatory in nature, thus borrowers repaying 100K+ on a 60K loan, keeping the borrower is a lifetime of debt. Perhaps setting a cap on the interest would be a good compromise?

[@youtubeuniversity3638]

​@@KennedyIvy The Whole Point is to Punish the loan givers and Force things to change. Make Student Loans A Crime. Force the systems to adapt by either making loans not needed to go college or making college less needed to live good life.

[@XxEmoBitexX]

Often times loans are already from the government. The college is already paid. The government shouldn't be making money off of it the government should simply be helping students get an education.

[@mixiekins]

​@@KennedyIvy yeah, that's the point, to put a stop to predatory loans. They're only in the business to keep payees in a debt trap that perpetually funnels wealth whule simultaneously doing nothing of value. The ones benefiting from the interest payments are leeches on society, when in reality the function they *should* be providing should simply be a public service. QQ about taxpayers all you want; but try to realize that, in the end, it would have been a fraction of a fraction cheaper for us all as a whole had we cut out these vampire middlemen in the first place. Like, did you even watch the video?? 😂

[@kuno3336]

I love how the same gang who hates the idea of any kind of social safety net is also like "WHY AREN'T YOU HAVING KIDS"

[@entertainmentyoutube3606]

That's so true, conservatives became assholes with no mercy and liberals became gays that are weak and offended by everything, the extremes are always bad, the truth is always in the middle

[@sethpatterson7281]

That's because they want to create another generation of people to take advantage of

[@Gingersnaps_the_pumpkin_kitty]

Because the kids are there to saddle you with more debt.

[@aavvcc]

One hundred effin’ percent

[@kuno3336]

@@Gingersnaps_the_pumpkin_kitty but like the sad thing is I'm very much in that guy's shoes: I actually very much want to be a dad, my wife wants to be a mother, but we can't justify having a child with how things are financially

[@charleswalker3120]

Just cleared mine this week. Much as I have done it, I hope a majority of the rest of it is forgiven for the rest of you. Best wishes to those struggling w/ student debt out there.

[@riesvanwijngaarden3417]

I hope you enjoy your retirement next year! You earned it.

[@lauralafauve5520]

Charles you are a gentleman and a scholar. 🧡

[@braddivens5179]

Thanks. I'm holding out hope to be rid if my 185K debt someday. If worst comes to worst, it won't fall onto my family.

[@LuLuLately]

Congrats on getting your loans "forgiven" but in reality all it does is simply pass the debt on to you, your family and everyone else to pay off through their taxes, which will keep increasing astronomically. It's amazing how many people still think everything should be free yet complain about how much everything costs. 🤦🏼‍♀️ I'm 100% behind waving the outrageous interest on these loans but the principal shouldn't fall on anyone else.

[@lauralafauve5520]

@@LuLuLately Dear LuLu, Charles did not get them forgiven. He "cleared" them himself. Even though he has "has done it" himself, he hopes the majority of the rest is forgiven for other people. This last is an important statement, in that one of the arguments against forgiveness is that "other people", such as this gentleman, have paid off their debts, so others should be forced to pay them also. This generous, upstanding gentleman says he hopes other people receive help, even though he didn't. Maybe he's a Christian, or something. I also hope for debt forgiveness because when I went to college I only paid $400 a semester and was able to graduate without debt. If we're talking about unfair, creating a situation where only the children of the wealthy are able to graduate without crippling debt, now THAT is unfair. I did not have to borrow huge amounts of money to get my college degree. It is unfair that Americans younger than myself cannot attend even a local college without taking out huge loans. About people wanting things that are "free", you seem to have forgotten that all government money comes from our tax dollars. We have "free" bombs and "free" fighter planes. America would be better served with "free" college and universally "free" healthcare instead. Just sayin', as I've heard the youngsters put it.

[@maria44688]

I remember sitting in a room with my parents (cosigners) and having someone explain the loans we were about to take out for my tuition. And I remember him talking about how we were going to take out two different types of loans, one of which they wouldn't have to pay back if I "heaven forbid happened to die" and the other type, they would still have to pay back if I were to die. And I remember thinking, "Wow, I can't even die for free."

[@MSWMW]

I worked hard and paid off my own 6-figured student loans as quickly as possible. I could have waited and qualified for PSLF but didn't because I didn't want to take the risk at the time. I STILL support loan forgiveness. I don't begrudge other people for "taking my tax money.' Why? Because just because I was able to repay the loan doesn't mean everyone has the same opportunity to do so. Also, I don't want to live in a world of stupid people. I am always in favor of education.

[@jackq.6545]

EXACTLY, as of Jan of 2024, I am student loan free but just because I did it doesn’t mean I want others to go through this financial struggle. It’s like a recovering drug addict saying to you, well I recovered from drug use so you get addicted and get clean.

[@TimeTravelerJessica]

Thank you. I see so many people who paid off their loans complaining and I do not get it. I gave up my dream school to attend a very inexpensive university and I got substantial scholarships. I only had a tiny loan, which I was able to pay off within a couple of years of graduating. And I still support student loan forgiveness. I don't think people should be punished in perpetuity for financial mistakes they made at eighteen (if you can even call them that when a degree is required for the vast majority of jobs and there's only so many scholarships to go around).

[@jamiefrontiera1671]

Congrats. I paid off my alternative loans, my Stafford loans, and am only down to my parent plus loan. Unfortunately after 16 years, I still have 5 years to go. And I hate the comments saying well, you shouldn't have made the minimum amount. But you if you don't have the available money after all other financial obligations are made, how can you pay more, especially when it will only shave a year or so off that time.

[@figureinthedark8]

Forgiving all student debt will do nothing to fix the problem

[@Flassh81]

We need to make student loans disappear during bankruptcy.

[@jenw5056]

What I never hear proposed is forgiving the interest. It’s the interest that is burying most loan holders.

[@Bryanbkk]

This. This is fair.

[@petgranny194]

You have to limit finance charges too or they will still stick it to us. And congress sets the interest rate. Why was it so high - 6.25% when a house note was 3%?

[@jenw5056]

@@petgranny194 interest rates on my student loans in the early 90s were 8+%

[@whitneychrzanowski3140]

Right!!!

[@jenw5056]

@@petgranny194I replied earlier but I don’t see my response so repeating here. Rates in the early 90s when I was in college were 8+%. No one should be paying back double or triple what they borrowed. It’s nuts.

[@TheOtherSteel]

John Oliver, you are a precious light and credit to all humanity. Never give up. Never surrender.

[@michelebechard1523]

Loan forgiveness through public service is a false promise. I've been working for more than 20 years- social work, never missed a payment, applied for programs that promised to forgive remainder of my loans. Denied. Still paying. There was also no pause on my payments throughout the pandemic- "didn't qualify." Beyond frustrating. I continue to support loan forgiveness even if it hasn't benefited me.

[@scifirealism5943]

Yep

[@ruthosornio7779]

Private or federal loans? Federal loans were paused.

[@megamawax]

Do you have FFELP loans? Those, despite being federal loans, were not paused, nor were they eligible for any type of loan forgiveness. If those are the loans you have, you need to go to StudentAid.gov and consolidate your loans with the Dept. of Ed. Then, you would be eligible for the forgiveness programs. I had FFELP loans administered by Navient, but I consolidated them last year. I also have private loans, which are not eligible for any type of forgiveness. My wife had her federal loans forgiven through the PSLF program a few years ago.

[@LiamRichie825]

Are your loans direct? If so, you need to do a direct Liam consolidation

[@markattenborough9107]

Check to see what payment plans you are under and whether you are doing yearly ECFs (trying to get proof of employment to Dept of Ed years down the line especially if you left the employer for whatever reason is incredibly difficult.) Like what others said, check to see what type of loans you have and whether you can consolidate it to a qualifying type of loan. There is a subreddit r/PSLF that is a great resource of information and is mod'd by people who work in nonprofits that help student loan borrowers in general, a real wealth of information if you look through it.

[@oxtim394]

Graduated in 2008. Will finally be paying off my loans in June this year. I cried last summer when I had $10k of it forgiven. Why is our society like this?

[@ChristopherSadlowski]

Because we live in a kleptocracy...

[@letsplayer1018]

Greed

[@josephinethornton3823]

Finished school in the 1990's, and just had the last bit forgiven in 2024. If I never see the name Mohela ever again, I'll be pleased. Having that hanging over my head the ENTIRE TIME I RAISED MY CHILD to full adulthood was absolute crap. It became time for them to go to college while I was still paying my own student loan. That was a horrifying and staggering realization.

[@flopimus]

Aristo-kleptocrats

[@Zer0Blizzard]

America is the most genocidal empire in human history that was founded by slaveowners.

[@QuickenFixen]

Honestly surprised John didn’t mention the most obvious solution: Abolish interest on student loan debt. It’s one thing to argue that you need to pay back what you borrow, but there’s no reason to punish people for getting an education by charging them more than that amount. At least then the debt would be manageable and you wouldn’t end up owing twice what you borrowed.

[@aribantala]

Doesn't even need abolishment. Make the Interest rate fixed so """"some"""" profit motive can be achieved If the Lender took loss from inflation, tough luck, that's the risk of running a business But that's the thing, these Ghouls won't even consider that an option because it draws their bottom lines lower... "We can't have that! Think of the Shareholders!"

[@ExestentialCrisis]

​@@aribantala It used to be a "reasonable" 3/4%. Republicans changed the law several years ago.

[@BryTee]

And make it retro-active. If you've paid $90k on a loan that was originally $80k, your debt is now gone, AND you get back that $10k you overpaid. How to pay for it? Easy ... put a tax on people worth more than (say) $10M

[@sandwhale4292]

@@BryTee tax the rich? how much more should they pay over the none rich? and why ?

[@elaexplorer]

​@@sandwhale4292well, they could pay anything. They are the biggest beneficiaries of tax credits and loopholes making it so they don't pay anywhere near their fair share. Many pay nothing in income tax.

[@christianwendt7852]

It's Latvia, Estonia is the one bordering in the north

[@senfdame528]

I've been to Estonia and I still had to look it up. Thanks Merkel

[@shane883]

We guess yr right🥹

[@Oroberus]

Lel, I found another european in the comments!

[@m4l490n]

Let me guess, you don't have student loans.

[@mattz9268]

Handy way to remember the four NON Nordic countries bordering Russia/Belarus is that they’re in Alphabetical Order: Estonia LAtvia LIthuania Poland Edit: Changed Scandinavian to Nordic.

[@MomotheToothless]

US : "ScHoOl Is On Me." Countries with free tuition : "um...yeah? Shouldn't the government help its citizens?" US : Lol

[@geekgirl_luv4262]

About 99% of what comes out of right wing politicians’ mouths is just them bitching about not wanting to help their citizens

[@johnmccrossan9376]

*School*, the basic education we've collectively decided that you need is the government's responsibility. Higher education is an individual choice and you wanting a degree is your choice alongside your responsibility. The very simple solution here is to pass a law that requires jobs that require an education for a certain position to explain why they want that education to the state labour board and give them power to fine for predatory requirements. Take if from someone who lives in a country where higher education is largely subsided, people treat it with much more entitlement, and an alarming amount of jobs require it because it's so ubiquitous. I know a minimum wage factory worker who spends all day up to his elbows in used cooking oil with a degree in accounting.

[@midnari]

"Shouldn't the government help it's citizens?" Have you ever been to these countries? I have. The government is usually intrinsically tied into your life in a way you'd hate. You don't know how good you actually have it. The grass is always greener...

[@johnmccrossan9376]

@@midnari exactly! People don't understand just how much the government tries to own it's citizens in these places

[@SickRedApple]

​@midnari As someone who lives in one of these countries: No. Just no. You have no idea what you're talking about mate 😂

[@kaseywahl]

I will eternally feel tricked and trapped by the pressure to go to college and being told I'd be able to pay off the loans I needed to take out because the degree would help me make more money. I'm a damn software engineer and feel completely weighed down by loans.

[@bunk95]

College is fictional. Be abused and/or tortured in ways lied about with that fiction?

[@hotarubinariko]

This. All the people shamming people for taking out loans (even for "those damn liberal arts degrees) fundamentally don't understand (or maliciously do understand) that as students, we were not at all told the truth of the situation. We were told a bunch of sugar coated BS from our own public schools, parents and grandparents, friends and universities themselves, that in no way prepared us for the consequences of taking student loans. It's predatory. We're just kids getting aggressively advertised to. My parents had no clue what to expect (despite themselves both hold degrees from a decade prior) until we were doing the loan paperwork and they expressed some concern but didn't feel like we could go back on it. Plus, my grandparents said they'd cover it and pushed really hard for me to go ahead anyway, (Btw, it's been 5 years and I haven't seen a cent. They gave my college fund to my uncle. They still say they will pay but want to see if Biden will follow through first.... penny-wise and dollar-foolish are the Silent gens). I got grants and scholarships and completed an AA while in high school through a state program, so I'm extremely lucky at only $15,000 in debt but now my degree, which I was told was a sure thing, is basically useless thanks to the pandemic and my personal life changing significantly. It's not fair to blame the kids who's lives are ruined by propaganda and parents assuming nothing has changed. Both the kids and parents were lied to, or at the very least, not provided with informed consent. This situation sucks. All of America's systems suck.

[@sholtey]

If a student loan payment is weighing you down you need to look at your "lifestyle expenses" especially if you're making software engineer money

[@kaseywahl]

@@sholtey Right, it all went wrong when I had the audacity to want children. 🥸

[@Odima16]

@@sholtey Why do you boldly make assumptions about this person's situation instead of genuinely asking them for more detail to find out whether your assumptions are accurate?

[@DafieYo]

as a scandinavian, i think one of the things i will just never get over is how education isn't free in a lot of other countries. i literally can't wrap my head around it.

[@space4099]

Did you fall on the paint and smack your little head? Nothing in the world is free somebody has to pay for it somehow. And in your little country you charge people more money from their income tax am I right? So you have higher taxes which then intern, is given to a government and the government give it to other people. That’s how you seem to think it’s three, but it isn’t. We in the United States, like to keep our money in invested our own way to take care of our own family and selves. We feel we can do a better job of investing our own money to take care of ourselves because, unlike what you hear in the news, our government is just really good at spending money on foolish things. once again, nothing is free. That’s the fallacy.

[@debbricker1095]

How much are taxes in Scandinavian countries?

[@opsec175]

Let me help you. There are 385 million people in USA, but only 5k CEO positions. Therefore most really shouldn't waste their time when they are going to end working classes. 🛑 Telling people the have any chance they don't.

[@TheEmperorGulcasa]

The us doesn’t use much of its money for social services that you would think would be necessary, like healthcare, retirement and education. A lot of that is instead left up to businesses and other strange financial work around a that usually let some companies pocket a lot for worse results.

[@lindblommicke]

​@@opsec175you don't need to become a CEO when doing any higher education.

[@Bc232klm]

Paid mine off. Cancel it all. I font want people to stay stuck on the tracks just because I was able to get off. We are not crabs in a bucket. We can do better for each other.

[@stevenp25100]

So cancel it all while we're still giving them out?

[@temiomogunloye5819]

​@@stevenp25100 Amend the current giving and YES! Cancel it. Have you not read the comments!!!

[@stevenp25100]

@@temiomogunloye5819 I don't see anyone saying reform the program. Just a bunch of people that think they're above everyone else.

[@andyrangel7383]

That's really great for you. However, everyone's story is different. Thank you for the motivation though. Perhaps it isn't the debt that is the problem, but a lack of seeing a clear fruitful future away from the debt

[@pugness]

​@@andyrangel7383no it's the debt

[@adorablegs]

This needs to be shared with everyone that calls student loan forgiveness as terrible, but giving the rich a pass on paying their share of taxes as all OKAY. We are smarter than this.

[@cosmomontanaro5759]

Looks like someone doesn't understand federal income taxation.

[@jonniemarks7113]

Thanks for your confidence, but I'm afraid we aren't.

[@alflemming5381]

The portion about Navient is ABSOLUTLEY TRUE! I used to work for (first) Sallie Mae FedLoan Servicing in 2012 and then Navient in 2013, before moving over to Sallie Mae Bank. One of the most predatory companies on the face of the planet! I finally had my IBR forgiven this year (2024) after being in the program over 20 yrs.

[@hhunstad2011]

I was a financial victim of Navient. It's been over a decade and the resentment I have for that company hasn't ceased in any way. They have had a significantly negative impact on my adult life. My blood heats up at the thought of it.

[@kylegonewild]

@@hhunstad2011 Yeah they sweet talked me into forbearance a few times when I was desperate and hadn't looked into what it actually meant. Disgusting company.

[@nachoolo]

I'm a historian in Spain. My degree cost me around 40 euros (the cost of the paperwork) thanks to easily available grants. Without them it would have cost me around 2,000 euros for the entire degree (around 500 per year) thanks to the "large family" (familia numerosa) discount. Without it it would have been 4,000 euros. My masters, on the other hand, cost me 600 euros. I seriously can imagine paying what Americans students need to pay. It's mental. Edit: And now my PhD is costing me 300 euros a year without grants.

[@alexlopez5800]

It's just that the American has to jump through so many obstacles to even get a proper education. Be it 100k+$ education that teaches you nothing else but one subject that can be learned by reading a book. It's a paper ceiling that is going away

[@DavidBezemer]

What's even more crazy is that Americans pay more for their education through taxes as well. Just like the health care system it's just optimized for profit rather than efficiency.

[@mkrawc1]

It’s stupid. America’s programs for everything are stupid.

[@rav3style]

My uk degree was 5800 for one (scholarship) and 12k for the other

[@Littlemilkjug533]

@@user-ye4bu6xh4cwho do you think writes those books you read lol

[@kjorlaug1]

We've bailed out industry after industry. Allowed corporations to price gouge and raise prices when they're having record profits. But somehow Student Loans is the line for people.

[@ArchmageMarlock]

Not all people. Republicans. More specifically uneducated republicans - their declared strongest voting block. See how your life is played with by them. Humans are the smartest, yet people have allows education to become optional.

[@Shadowtiger2564]

Don't forget forgave PPP loans that many in congress who argued against student loan forgiveness, took and had forgave

[@arthurfoyt6727]

If we stopped unlimited loans for colleges, the tuition rate would drop back to affordable. Colleges are a BUSINESS and they raised rates to astronomical because uneducated people could now get $200,000 loans without question.

[@richgerow3472]

That's because college students aren't wealthy corporations who can bankroll politicians for favorable financial treatment and legislation.

[@aprotosis]

Let's not forget that the reason Biden wasn't able to forgive more student loans is because the corrupt Supreme Court granted standing to a State, arguing on behalf of a servicing company that it would put hardship on the servicing company. Meanwhile that servicing company told the courts, "No it wouldn't".

[@willerwin3201]

I've been taking my kids on college tours over the last couple of years, and it is astounding how much these schools are spending on luxuries, administrative functions of no relevance to academic education, and chic interior decorating and features in brand-new buildings that are constantly going up everywhere. College campuses seem like cruise ships. They're blowing huge amounts of money, and there's no incentive for thrift outside of community colleges.

[@8arrows]

Pricing out the poor students. Just like they’re doing with housing, and property taxes.

[@willerwin3201]

@@8arrows I think it’s more that colleges want to attract more students; whether those students can pay their own way or use government loans doesn’t matter because the colleges get paid either way.

[@8arrows]

@@willerwin3201 you’re right. They are trying to “attract” the upper classes of society. No way anyone I know, could afford the cost. Let alone afford a debt of a college loan. Those federal tax dollars providing student loans are U.S. tax dollars. They use our taxes to loan kids money, with inflated interests rates. It’s the most crooked thing I ever seen politicians do. How about using those tax dollars for low income housing and vocational schools?

[@lianafreeman8954]

As a Latvian-American, I was screaming when you showed the map of Europe. Lmfao

[@CursedDeepFake]

I've paid off all 200k of my loans, but still in favor of free education . America needs more/better educated people

[@Mavryck_Tha_Myghty]

Never confuse education with schooling. Also, nothing is ever truly “free”. Someone pays. Life lessons.

[@The_Internet_Is_Overrated]

Free education is different than forgiving student loans tho. I'm all about reducing costs and increasing education, but that's not achieved with forgiveness. It just puts in a floor to costs, not a ceiling.

[@DestinBeachImages]

How? That's strange. Who helped you? With compound interest ? It's NOT possible to work 15 hour days and not be close to death and dying. It's not a physical possibility to do that and be 100% productive.

[@justliberty4072]

@@Mavryck_Tha_Myghty Bingo on both counts.

[@justliberty4072]

@@The_Internet_Is_Overrated No, it puts a floor on the price paid by someone, not on the costs in general.

[@MrSimdanimal]

That lady at the 24-or-so minute mark was so right. We were told taking out school loans was the way. However, the way was broken.

[@kylegonewild]

My grandmother, rest her soul, drilled two things into me as a kid: get a license so you can be mobile and go to school so you can support yourself. We've been sold a lie for a long time now.

[@ArkovichLaw]

Yep - most people including me believed that you should go to the best school you can, and get the best degree you can and everything would take care of itself. But it's not like that - it's much more predatory unfortunately.

[@Jake-rs9nq]

​@@kylegonewild Well she wasn't exactly wrong. The US is incredibly car-centric. And while cars are indeed a debt trap, most businesses won't hire you if you do not have a license. Similarly, many businesses will not hire you unless you have a degree. And it could literally be anything, I've known people who got a communications degree and ended up at an engineering firm. And others who got a history degree and ended up working as store managers at retail chains. The degrees might not even be related, but a college education is still often a requirement for any salaried/decent paying position.

[@undeadfrak]

I feel like this is something that isn't discussed enough when this topic comes up. For many of us, especially those the school deemed "smart", we were either going to go to collage or be a massive fucking failure working at McDonald's for the rest of our lives! We were told that by everyone from our parents to our teachers for our entire lives! Anything other than going to collage (besides enlisting in the military) was portrayed as a failure or a waste of our life and talent! I left collage and work a blue collar job now. I like it, am free of debt only because of my parents, make good money, and hilariously enough use my brain more in my everyday work than most people in jobs that require degrees! Millennials are the "lied to" generation. We were lied to about the wars in the middle east, lied to about the economy, and lied to about higher education. After all of that, people still want to blame us for where these lies got us.

[@TrainerAQ]

Millennials got screwed over and I made damn sure my Gen Z brother knew that.

[@megmoore335]

I wish they touched on how the Pell Grant was reduced by 33%, from lifetime eligibility from 9 years to 6 years under the Paul Ryan tea party congress in 2013. Instead of students being able to qualify for more Pell Grant, they had no choice but to take out loans, especially for the advanced degrees.

[@scifirealism5943]

That's messed up

[@TheRamseyShow]

Thanks, John for using a clip from our documentary to shed light on the student loan crisis. Watch the full Borrowed Future documentary featured on our KZbin channel.

[@toneygyrl3479]

Thank you @daveramsey I have been trying to drill this into my kids head for a decade. STILL trying to get through to him. But the fact remains, how is a young student going to pay out of pocket for medical school. The system is TERRIBLE. So far no debt, but only one year in. Thank you for all the years. I love you guys!

[@gemsbyjackie5479]

Heading over now to watch. Thanks Ramsey show

[@chernobyl169]

I was immediately interested based on this comment. I clicked your channel to browse and see what you're about. And I immediately opted to not watch your documentary because anyone pitching home-buying advice to Gen Z is clearly far enough out of touch to not be relevant.

[@rightsarentpolitical]

@@chernobyl169 💯 A lot of his other advice is bad too, but he'll happily sell you a book, a course, and yell at you for questioning it or not being able to have the choices and access he had.

[@nofurtherwest3474]

I still don't get it. Why should the people be responsible for someone else's debt? Why only school debt and not other debts? The universities get to keep the money and keep gouging students but then the taxpayers have to foot the bill? Make it make sense

[@pizzaovenpizza]

I like what John said, how policies don't need to benefit you personally, it can be worth it if there's a net benefit to society.

[@roncur]

“Im from the government I’m here to help. “ that always works out

[@hazelnuiit]

But that would require empathy which is scarily hard for too many people apparently 😰

[@far2ez]

@@hazelnuiit How about you have some empathy then? Empathy for the people who sacrificed something else: they sacrificed their education so they could make more money earlier on in their lives and start their families sooner. They get railed at on the daily about what uneducated idiots they are for not understanding vaccines and shit because they worked out of high school taking on backbreaking construction jobs that will ruin their bodies by their 40's. And now they need to pay for you so you can ride your college's lazy river AND pay the wages of your lifeguard who makes sure you don't drown in a lazy river. When you graduate, yes you will have to deal with a kafkaesque student loan beaurocracy (I didn't find it hard to navigate but who knows maybe I'm a genius) and paying back those loans might delay your ability to buy a home or have a family by 10-15 years.. But you will also have more earning power over your life. Your kids will inherit more money from you. You don't want kids? Then you'll be taking vacations and trips or own a bigger home or donate to charities that are important to you or whatever else. Meanwhile, mister construction worker with his ruined body will not be able to work as late in life nor will he be making as much as you. His kids will inherit less than yours. He'll take fewer vacations than you. If you both die at 35, then arguably he had a better life. If you both die at 80, then you likely did. That's the nature of the world. It's trade-offs. Except you don't want a trade-off. You want him to also pay for your college with his tax dollars after he refused to even go to college himself. Where's your empathy? Why is it only that YOU get free crap? Will you use your salary to subsidize his income when you make more? Will you use your vacation days to give him more time off work with his family when you have more? Will you pay for his kid's student loans when you have more savings? Will you give his children shares of inheritance when you die? Or is "empathy" when you get free crap and don't have to sacrifice anything for your goals, and not when you have to actually consider how your selfishness only benefits you and does nothing to recognize the trade-offs inherent in people who make different sacrifices?

[@sholtey]

You would say the same thing about tax cuts for the rich, right?

[@aGiantTurtleInSpace]

​@@sholtey Net benefit does not apply to tax cuts for the rich

[@scarletletter4900]

After seeing all of this, I'm now convinced that all of these problems aren't bugs; they're features. Someone did these things on purpose to hurt a lot of people.

[@teslaphilipson2406]

Exactly, humans can't stop being selfish to save their life.

[@JaredBissell]

And that's why they're against forgiveness, you can't make money if the kids aren't being forced to pay it.

[@edwardcollins8102]

and did you see who it hurts the most? THAT'S the target. like everything else, if it benefits one black kid half as much as it benefits your kid, you'd still oppose it, because it helps the black kid.

[@scarletletter4900]

@edwardcollins8102 I'd actually want that black kid, and all the other black kids as well, to benefit.

[@scifirealism5943]

Yep

[@teresajones3059]

I work for one of the servicers, and everything you say is correct. We are supposed to be under 7 minutes on calls but I don't follow that policy and I get reprimanded for not meeting that metric.

[@RosieRoserules]

I was an orphan from a children's home in Alabama and I got a scholarship to go to Belmont music University in Nashville but of course I was penniless so I had to get loans to be able to help with living expenses. It was 1983 and I borrowed $5,000 and 30 years later I ended up paying back $38,000. I did finally get it paid off in 2020

[@utezahn3174]

This. Is. F***ing. Insane

[@1MinuteFlipDoc]

god bless you but you never should have gone to school for music.

[@joeslowy]

Did you do that forbearance thing? I don't see how the full minimum payment being paid monthly would take 37years (1983-2020) to pay off 5k.

[@24adithyanonline]

Good God, that is literally more than 700% more than what you have to pay for... Glad to hear you managed to pay your debt off, but 30 years is too much...

[@joni5028]

What an incredible broken system. I’m sorry for you. I hope you can also laugh about the absurdity because life is better now

[@waunke56]

I work mental health as a therapist which is considered under the loan forgiveness. I recently was changed providers so that they could automatically cancel out my loan forgiveness payments which I had consistently paid for probably 7 years at that point. In that change they basically told me that because the records didn't transfer over they couldn't confirm my payments............. System isn't even a joke. Its outright theft.

[@splendidcolors]

That's horrible! It happens way too often. I have heard that the Biden administration is working on fixing all the problems like this. The Supreme Court may have killed the big debt forgiveness plan, but recently the White House announced they will be sorting out all the "records problems" with PSLF programs. Don't know how long that will take, but keep an eye on your account.

[@stephaniefitzsimon1021]

That's bs, I wish you could file a grievance about this bc you deserve loan forgiveness too if President Biden says you're eligible. Don't take "no" for an answer and don't let what they told you be the end of it.

[@waunke56]

@@stephaniefitzsimon1021 Appreciate that Stephanie and yes I will continue to try and fight the fight.

[@mtn1793]

Theft via the republicans privateers kleptocracy.

[@reesov5962]

If you have any records at all of payments, bank statements anything, then you can quite literally tell them you will sue them. It should be an easy Dunk. Find the local lawyer who'd be willing to hear you out first to advise you on what to say. If you play your card right you could end up richer than you started...

[@kyliegangwish17]

I had no idea the SAVE program was a thing until watching this video. If im accepted it will be a huge burden off of my shoulders and a blessing to my family 😭 thank you so much!!!

[@steffanpiper]

Adding to the madness: They kept selling my loans without notice, even though I was making full payments, which kept sending them into delinq / nonpay status, over and over. It was insane.

[@Soguwe]

I'm blessed to live in Germany I've majorly switched my field of study with a big depression break in between, and it cost me nothing.

[@EclipseOverSalem]

We might have different experiences of the student situation in Germany. I mean, it's nowhere near US problems but getting BAföG is a pain. And with the rents in big cities the University selection is pretty limited if one doesn't have a drivers license or supporting parents Still blessed that's the level of problems though, yea

[@davidhutchinson5233]

Because in your country, your population forces the gov't to put people first. And I love that your nation doesn't embrace nationalism. I know why of course....but I still respect it so much.

[@Oroberus]

@@EclipseOverSalem And now imagine even higher costs of living, no BaföG at all but indeed a credit institute managed private tuition credit which might at any time being upscaled by the bank you took it from and on top still having to pay up to a quarter of a million for your college/university ;) Germany is in another universe if you compare those 'issues' ^^

[@findliza]

Germany has been expelling and deporting “undesirables” since before the crusades. You benefit from the policies that benefit eugenicists. For a long, long time.

[@redkingrauri3769]

@@EclipseOverSalemFunny thing about that. I was applying to go to an animation school in Babelsberg as an international student from the US and when looking for a place to live nearby I was flabbergasted. Your rent is CHEAP. I found a 3-bedroom place that was a 15 minute bike ride from the university for half what it costs for a studio apartment where I live. And for context, I live in Idaho, one of the most empty states in the country with almost no industry outside of farming. Even after I got an estimate on general expenses from a friend living nearby there, I found out that if I had moved and kept my current remote work job I'd have an extra 500€ every month.

[@fastsilverado]

I went to college and had $60,00 in debt. A year after graduating i got injured and ended up on disability. For the last 14 years i paid my loans on time and in full amount. I still owed $55,000. Finally heard about a program that pays off student loans if your disabled for a 3 years. Still took to more years to get approved.

[@esmee6308]

Where I'm from we had a loan-based system introduced when I was about to go to uni, my health went to shit and I spend over a decade in rehabilitation. I dodged a bullet compared to my highschool classmates by simply avoiding loans and still being able to get a similar paycheck, because our country is overeducated, so be exceptional, or your uni course ain't going to help you actually be high earning. If it'd happened a few years later I'd never get myself out of that debt...

[@cicirunner]

You can see when your estimated payoff date is. You could have checked that, and if the time frame didn't sound favorable then you could increase your loan payment. Making the minimum payment will never pay it of when accounting for interest.

[@thaddeusgenhelm8979]

@@cicirunner You do understand that most people in situations like this do not have the ability to continue, like, functioning in society while paying much over the minimum amount, right? And that, in fact, as cited in this very show, most of them are encouraged to sign up for loans at a time when they do not have the understanding of the finances they'll have in the future sufficient to even know if they'll be *able* to make more than the minimum payment, or, for that matter, be sufficiently aware of the nature of loans to understand the dynamics of paying off the principal versus paying the interest. Blaming the victim of a system of being ignorant of the "right" thing to do when the system is incentivized to keep that information from them is not as smart as you think it is.

[@stevenp25100]

​@@thaddeusgenhelm8979 thinking that adding a valley girl "like" to your comment makes you come off as edgy or interesting also isn't smart. Let's make blue collar workers pay the bar tabs of people that don't understand simple interest.

[@thaddeusgenhelm8979]

@@stevenp25100 Oh wow, nitpicking someone else's phrasing rather than addressing their actual points definitely shows me. The fact that that's what you focus on rather than the substance of what I said does, in fact, communicate a lot more about you than simple word choice does about me.

[@musicofnote1]

In 1974 I graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelors of Music Education - yes, a school music teacher. At that time I had about $5'000 in student loans. Paid them off in 3 years - yes it was a struggle, considering what a teacher earned back then - and left to study in Europe. And never came back. But back then, education was more affordable and I could pay it back. Now, a few decades later, my kids in my adopted country went to college and grad school (sociology and medical school) and that cost us $700/semester. So no student debt. None. We could pay as we went. Why is this so possible for so many OTHER countries and impossible for the self-proclaimed bestest, freest, greatest country in the universe?

[@HolyCrapitsaDragon]

For comparison I graduated medical school here in the US last year and am $360k in debt. I went to a state school on a full scholarship for undergrad and received $80k worth of need-based grants in med school and it’s still $360k.

[@youshort3708]

It's not possible because the US is bigger and people don't want to get taxed more to pay for other people's schooling

[@peterphan7214]

Also, because we spend so much money on war around the world.

[@evakamenna2916]

That is why I would never consider moving from Europe to USA. I will gladly pay for other people’s education just as they paid for mine

[@musicofnote1]

@@youshort3708 - "people don't want to get taxed more to pay for other people's..." says it all. Here, we realise, that we all win when ... we all win. No one has to lose for us to win - it's not a zero-sum-game. It helps that we get to vote 4-5 times a year on how or taxes are spent. We just had a vote three weeks ago: 1) to give our retirees an 8%/year raise above the cost-of-living - PASSED. 2) to raise our retirement age from 65 to 67 - FAILED. So retirement age stays at 65. And another point: you already are paying for "other peoples' schooling". Public K-12 schools, local and state colleges are already supported to a great degree through taxes. As are ours. So while y'all are claiming we're commie socialists - you are too in this respect. As you also pay with your taxes for roads, highways, airports etc.

[@KonaDawg411]

I spent 5 years in the Army. Those 5 years are supposed to count but don't towards loan. I have applied several times and have always gotten denied for any forgiveness. I have tried to set up automatic payments. The first one was debited correctly and zero after that.

[@ZebulaJams]

18:54 I saw my loan agency in that list, rolled my eyes harder than I ever have before and then John took the words right out of my mouth.

[@braddivens5179]

HAHAHA, right? I recognized 3 from experience and it made me start to see red.

[@jenw5056]

Where is the accountability for these predators? It’s sickening.

[@jackprice4959]

"You borrow the money, you pay it back" are the words of someone who wasnt paying attention.

[@CJScrol]

Also, those are words coming from someone who doesn’t pay back loans.

[@UberUdder09]

@@CJScrolthis

[@ibrahimalharbi3358]

Muslim and Catholics historically prohibited "usury," with only Muslims maintaining this prohibition today. Leviticus 25:37, “You shall not lend [your brother] your money at interest. Quran: O believers! Fear Allah, and give up outstanding interest if you are ˹true˺ believers. Talking about Jewish: "Taking interest despite its prohibition, and consuming people’s wealth unjustly. We have prepared for the disbelievers among them a painful punishment."

[@TheMrKlassy]

@@CJScrol probably because they didn't take them out in the first place

[@danielrobertson5725]

I have $500,000 worth of student loans, am a doctor, and haven’t been able to make a dent in the debt for years, and just came from buying my family nearly groceries to live check to check. I can literally change lives but my own. I’m so tired.

[@JustMe-fo4ev]

No, you're lying and a larp. It's obvious.

[@MemoContrerasf]

I get you. But why did you choose to get 500k loan? You could watch a 3 minute video that explains what is a loan

[@Amaje311]

​@@MemoContrerasfI think med school costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.

[@nickm9538]

What kind of doctor are you? Because that’s the only excuse for having that much debt.

[@SlickSimulacrum]

@@nickm9538, Nope, Medical school is absurdly expensive. It's a racket. They'll all rackets. That's why you don't let profiteering human sh*t control your education system. Or for that matter, any of your systems.

[@Picking.a.name.is.hard1]

I knew student load debt was like INSANE, because honestly that is such a weird system. But the fact there is INTEREST?!?!? What????

[@Clintsessentials]

Designed to be profitable for the elite!

[@lrwest16]

My cousin has a private student loan so she is paying interest on the loan while still in college

[@luckyasmr1374]

When I was a kid, our teachers pressured all of us students to start prepping for college before we even got to middle school. It’s understandable to make sure you know what you want to do for an occupation, but when you’re forcing children who are still developing mentally, into hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt that you know they don’t fully understand, that is just unforgivable.

[@giglioflex]

Parents encouraged college as well. A lot of these older folks seem to think paying off student loans is easy, they don't realize that it's nowhere near as cheap as it was when they went to college.

[@mystman7722]

This. And so many out there who are against loan forgiveness keep saying "nobody forced you to go to college. Take responsibilty". That is false. Most are GROOMED into going to college at a young age, believing that to be the only option in life. (unlike conservatives, I actually used the word "groomed" correctly here). Brainwashing somebody into doing something is very much "forcing" them.

[@coreyboyd28]

@@giglioflex keep in mind. They encouraged us when we were kids back when this shit was this maddening and expensive to the point where death is the only cheaper option we have! It's so insane but them and their generation and the one before are the ones that made it so damned terrible! Yet we're the issue because they were told by the ones in control that we were when we didn't do shit but EXACTLY as we were told. Its tragic af

[@josephyoung6749]

You can't get a job in the US that is career-focused without a graduate degree, maybe if you do nursing but you'll have to spend your whole day on your feet in that case. Socio-economic mobility is impossible without a VERY advanced education in the US

[@hopeoconnell8053]

I totally agree! during the summer i'd see kids touring my college campus and thought "let them have a childhood before deciding if college is right for them."

[@heatherrockwell9012]

This was the funniest episode in AGES. I was in stitches at “Leonardo DiCaprio keeps skulking around your school”

[@haznation1]

My daughter borrowed 190K for college and law school. Pays 1600 per month for almost 15 years and the balance is almost 200K. 1200 is to interest. What they dont tell you is that every 6 months, they "sell" the loan to each other and apply outrageous fees in the thousands, which eats up the principal you paid in and you owe more each year. And they are allowed to. We dont want free money - just to pay our loans back at a reasonable interest with no add-ons. It is a shame that that two generations are trapped in these crazy private loans. Why did the universities let these vampires take over their student loan offices and processes?

[@forthebirds4]

It's always the people that exist on free money claiming you want free money. Vampires is what we are all preyed upon. They know it, we know it, and they know we know it. A metric fuckton of money is spent on keeping us from saying it out loud and fighting with each other.

[@KeiPalace]

Honey, right now your daughter can convert private loans to gov loans and be eligible for lower payment and shorter time to pay toward forgiveness, do it RIGHT NOW before that goes away, yes, Republicans have sued to take that away.

[@chromeshock3774]

Really?

[@herpiegerbstick6808]

It's not the universities, it's Congress that let it happen after Freddie and Fannie took a dump in '08.

[@rickmoody9258]

It wasn't the university, it was congress and the greedy politicians lining their pockets.

[@aimeeelizabethj]

Everyone in the U.S. should watch this episode on student loan debt. Beautifully explained and a rousing call to action. Well done.

[@l-b284]

and he only scratched the surface on all the schemes these "servicing centers" pull to ensure you cannot qualify for discount programs or relief.

[@scifirealism5943]

Yep

[@meriboberi]

When I graduated high school, I was staring at a reality of becoming homeless. I could take out crazy amounts of money and go to college and live there, or I could be homeless. So I took out crazy amounts of money and went to college. Now I'm in my 30s, and I have been paying for over ten years, and I can't qualify for a mortgage because of the crazy amounts of loans I owe.

[@aj383]

Don't worry. I can't get a mortgage either, because of 8,000 in student loans that were supposed to be under forbearance... My paperwork somehow gets lost every year, and I haven't seen a tax return in 12 years... But somehow, I still owe 7,000...

[@kbruns33]

Shitty "solution"

[@edgarallenhoe3518]

​@@Jojokicksass2 totally agree, just sell your body to the government!

[@lillyho2635]

Much respect to John Oliver and his team for speaking the truth about student loans with a very in depth analysis. This episode is much better than any student loan documentaries in the mainstream media.

[@claytoncourtney1309]

I would not say it is good. He had two people where one said she paid 120k on an 80k loan still owed 76k and another who spoke about the 600+ dollars of interest in her payment. I am not saying they are lying but something else is going on that was not presented in the story because it seems with those numbers the interest rate was 500%

[@Taylor-vz4ot]

@@claytoncourtney1309 could it be that student loans arent consistent and individual people have individual experiences and having two different people with two different debts was demonstrating that? Or is that too high concept?

[@DestinBeachImages]

Check out the Debt Collective. There's more -

[@edwardcollins8102]

@@claytoncourtney1309they showed you why. She was paying about $700 a month (the minimum) and like $25 went toward the principal. TWO THIRDS GOES TO PAY OFF THE INTEREST! That's how you can spend $300k on a $1k loan and STILL owe like $299k...

[@lillyho2635]

@@Taylor-vz4ot what ClaytonCourtney said just confirmed the fact that he does not fully understand the evilness of the finance industry. If the debtor in that case for any reason underpays a small amount in each payment, she will never pay off her loan regardless of how much she has paid into it due to the compound interest piling up. For instance, with the original $80K student loan, and the debtor agrees to pay within 15 years, the payment is at least $612.00 per month without taking the account of any other hidden fees. Furthermore, the majority of monthly payments will go toward interest payments to start with. The finance industry just abuses a few math formulas to confine consumers in forever debt to serve their evil greed. It's funny that he does not believe debtors can incur 500% of interest in total of their loan terms. The finance industry has many evil ways to rip off debtors. Even in the case of refinancing a mortgage based on home equity, it never benefits borrowers in both short and long run, but hardly borrowers realize.

[@ObeseChess]

Navient did that shit to me. “Accidentally” pushed me into two years of forbearance instead of deferring my loans for six months. I have made every payment on time for ten years. I graduated with $24k in debt. I’ve paid $18k. I still owe… $14k.

[@petgranny194]

Exactly my experience, ObeseChess. Hell of a racket.

[@Kefka2010]

Not to insult you but have you paid attention to what you're paying and how long it would take to pay it off? From just some rough math it looks like you're paying $120/month on a 3% interest loan. Honestly, I'd probably pay the bare minimum on that loan and put anything extra in the market but if you wanted to pay it off it's not too difficult to make a higher payment. If you were paying $50/month more that would've resulted in thousands less currently. 3% is 100% worth not paying off early but I don't see the reason to complain when you're making such small payments to a 24k debt. Not trying to insult you just trying to figure out the complaint.

[@Sayphonik]

@@Kefka2010no, you probably don’t know how predatory those school loans are and I have similar numbers in the past but I paid double what you just said for 10 years and ended up paying back more than double what I got for my loan

[@Kefka2010]

@Sayphonik You'd need notably less principle to have 240 work out to double it over 10 years. You'd also need a pretty high interest rate. Either way, if that's the loan you agreed to it's what you agreed to. If I sign a really shitty business loan shouldn't the onus be on me for that? If I sign a shit car or home loan shouldn't that be my fault for making that decision? I'm just saying, financial responsibility should be in the picture. The average person comes out of college with 30k debt and a degree that will net them $1mil in additional income over their lives. It's hard to sympathize when someone's complaint is being financially irresponsible.

[@Anlo252]

​@@Kefka2010 you actually just don't understand how student loans work. They get you when you're young and impressionable, not really certain of what exactly you're signing up for, only that this plan will allow you an education. It's only during or after you find out they've completely ruined your life.

[@567secret]

We need something like this show in the UK. We have a similarly troubled loan situation here that's becoming untenable in certain areas of the country.

[@Aussieloz1]

Agreed. Although it definitely sounds worse in the states. I originally came over to the UK as an international student and my debt per year was £6500. That was the international rate, I couldn’t get a loan for it for obvious reasons and that was fine. After 15 years and many issues that messed with my health and in turn, my career options, I decided to go back to uni, this time as a home student, and not only is the fee close to £10000, I am unable to get a loan because I already have a degree. I qualify in every other way, and have always worked and always paid taxes. I feel like certain governments don’t want their own people to have an education. They just want to get the money that comes with hosting international students.

[@caitlinclow6637]

That audience member's scream at the Season 5 Rory Gilmore joke had me ROLLING. hahahahaha I see you!!!

[@AntoniadeB]

They lost their damn mind 😂😂😂😂😂

[@danx4813]

Women...

[@fwfulton]

Having worked three jobs (Simultaneously ) while going to College, I was totally against the Student Debt Relief program. After seeing this, my empathy has kicked in; I truly believe these people are being taken advantage of.

[@Arltratlo]

i working 1 job, my daughter will attend university next year, will cost her €150 per semester! she gets €780 per month from the government, without the need to pay it back...and she will get extra money for living expenses...also for free from the government... its just great to live in a socialist country in Europe! her cousins in the USA can drive cars, she can buy and drink beer since her 16th birthday! rich kids get no money from the government...,we are not in the USA!

[@ll2323]

It’s essentially a ponzi scam when u look at the money math of it.

[@schurrwrestlr125]

It’s so misleading when folks flex they worked multiple jobs to pay for college. How many hours? Number of jobs doesn’t matter

[@turtletail313]

I'm a little concerned that you took this long to realize this is a problem. I was wondering why so many people are against student debt relief, and now I realize they're just ignorant

[@contedefees]

I'm glad you came to that conclusion. I'm a little confused about why you mention your number of jobs. Many students are working multiple jobs while attending college. It's not ideal - they have no time to study and do much worse in classes than students whose families are rich enough to pay for their college without them having to work.

[@indiesongwriter5474]

I was one of those people who just had their student loan forgiveness loans zeroed out. I just hope that more people can have their loans forgiven!

[@TheMetalGaia]

My dad did. He had to file bankruptcy about 10 years ago or so, and still had to pay on his loans as part of it. He and my mom got a letter in the mail saying the remainder was being forgiven, and he also got a check for the last $5k he had paid into it. He's hoping mine will get cut too, but I told him I'll be fine.

[@billybarbosa5342]

Congratulations never fall in debt again. Or do what I do. Never take loans in the first place EVER unless you extensively know the contract. But seriously, I’m happy for you. I wish more people had complete student loan forgiveness

[@indiesongwriter5474]

​@@billybarbosa5342the only loans I ever take out are my car loans, so I mostly agree. I only use my credit card to build credit but never to loan money I don't have. We don't have financial literacy cooked until our culture though, quite the opposite in addition to capitalism becoming a game of shoots and ladders with more and more shoots and less and less ladders

[@indiesongwriter5474]

​@sandyedwards2681I strongly agree!

[@ibrahimalharbi3358]

Are you secret Muslim? Muslim and Catholics historically prohibited "usury," with only Muslims maintaining this prohibition today. Leviticus 25:37, “You shall not lend [your brother] your money at interest. Quran: O believers! Fear Allah, and give up outstanding interest if you are ˹true˺ believers. Talking about Jewish: "Taking interest despite its prohibition, and consuming people’s wealth unjustly. We have prepared for the disbelievers among them a painful punishment."

[@Kitsudote]

I think I've never laughed so hard, as when John dropped that company statement with a plush "Ups...".

[@markchalled3976]

My parents paid for my education. That was 50 years ago. When I married my wife 22 years ago she owed over $100,000.00 for city college education and law school at UCLA. My priority was paying off that debt. Goal reached years ago but we had her law degree and my profession to pay for it. Don't know how people even cope with that debt.

[@elpulpo800]

I luckily had parents pay for undergrad and I got loans for law school. It took me 17 years to pay them off. If I had to get loans for undergrad as well? It probably would have taken 25 years or so to pay everything off. Paying into your 50s--and that's with a good income practicing law.

[@sfi3807]

I can't afford tuition at a community college nor living expenses.

[@RedSonya4]

@markchalled3976 It was law school that damned me, as I paid for my BS by going at night and working a FT and 2 PT jobs. Since I was already in public service, I fell for the PSLF lure with the promise of forgiveness. And it was the reason I stayed in public service, rather than go private for more money.

[@sfi3807]

@@RedSonya4 that's messed up

[@RedSonya4]

@@sfi3807 I did start at community college but I always worked full time

[@rebeccamueller5466]

Congrats John. One of your episodes has officially made it into my weekly therapy sessions.

[@panthercatstotherescue]

I spent years paying off my student loans. I can't tell you how many times I was charged a late fee on an autopayments or how many times I caught discrepancies in my account amount. I spent hours and hours on the phone getting everything fixed monthly. The system is a joke. I may not owe anymore student loans, but I am all for helping those who were duped into getting them.

[@MarilynManson666ify]

If you choose to take on that student loan debt in order to get an education. An education with the intent to make more money in the future doing somethingyou love. Then you agreed to take on that debt and should be solely responsible for paying that back. I came for a family that could not afford to send me to college so I joined the military were I developed mechanical skills. Once I was out I did apprentiships and now make over 150k a year. I brought my own house which I agree is my responsibility to pay back that debt. Why the Hell should my taxpayers money go to help someone who made the decisions they did? Absolutely not! If you work hard enough you can do anything in this country. We shouldn't reward people who dont want to put the work in period!

[@enemyspotted2467]

@@MarilynManson666ify​​⁠Did you watch the video? It really doesn’t seem like you did. What happens if you get laid off, will you file for unemployment, of bankruptcy even? I think so. You have that option for your house, your car, or whatever other loan debt you might have, not for student loans. You were also not 17 years old when you bought your house. Wouldn’t you agree that it’s the decent thing to do, helping your fellow citizen get back in their feet while they’re down on their luck, to help them become a productive member of society again? After all, it’s not your fault if you get laid off, just as it’s not the student’s fault their loan provider doesn’t count their payments for 9 years, or that institutions are incentivized to charge are much as possible, nor is it their fault that once entry-level jobs now require degrees. It’s quite ironic that you say you joined the military, which taught you mechanical skills. If that’s the case, then you’re education was 100% taxpayer funded! Young middle class people are the backbone of this country. If they’re all riddled with debt, they cannot afford to buy homes or raise children, and that will be the downfall of the american economy. Not now, but in 30, 40, 50 years from now.

[@hollyartistauthor]

Nailed it. These hypocrites dont care or get it. Nor do they realize building a strong taxpayer base with better education AND jobs w higher pay helps our future...nir do they acknowledge the front end savings or cause in taxpayer funding/subsidies being reduced.. so its kind of prepaid.

[@JoeyisDREADful]

​@@MarilynManson666ify What do you want, a gold star sticker? No one gives a fuck how much you make, no one gives a fuck you paid off your debts. Our decisions on the collective education level and quality of life of our entire country do not actually revolve around how badly you want to talk about your income because you have 0 redeeming personality traits. Get over yourself.

[@ghostreyn]

I was trying to go back to college for an accounting degree and had to take out some loan while working full time. When settung up my repayment plan the only thing i could think of was, "more then half of what i pay back will be intrest." It was incredibly disheartning.

[@Sylenced1]

There is no video/topic/discussion/comedic relief I look forward to more every week than John Oliver. Coming from an Anime nerd that's saying something - please never stop John and crew. You bring such vital information w/ a smile plastered on our face all the way through each and every time. Much love

[@gingersnap4295]

I've been doing IDR for over 10 years now and tried to apply for the Save Plan and the payments actually had it going up. I got a "How are we doing" questionnaire from Navient. I told them how depressed their tactics made me hoping they would forgive the loan since I've been out of school since 1999. They literally sent the police to my house for a wellness check instead.

[@kaila2932]

.... I'm speechless. We live in hell.

[@jokuvaan5175]

Sent police to make sure you would stay alive so you couldn't run away from paying to the afterlife

[@subversiveSubduction]

I've been in the IDR and recently consolidated to get into SAVE but . . . two years of payments don't count because they were under FFELP so . . . I'll be paying at least twice as much more per month now.

[@agoo7581]

Jesus Fucking Christ

[@tyghe_bright]

Student loans are not like other types of loans. 1) They are given to young people who usually don't understand what it means to take on a large debt 2) They can't be charged off the way regular loans can, even if you declare bankruptcy -- they're harder to get out of than *taxes* 3) They can attach not only wages and property--but your social security And yes, part of the problem is also the ridiculous tuition of American colleges and universities. But if these loans were treated like any other loan, it would be less of an issue.

[@ibrahimalharbi3358]

Muslim and Catholics historically prohibited "usury," with only Muslims maintaining this prohibition today. Leviticus 25:37, “You shall not lend [your brother] your money at interest. Quran: O believers! Fear Allah, and give up outstanding interest if you are ˹true˺ believers. Talking about Jewish: "Taking interest despite its prohibition, and consuming people’s wealth unjustly. We have prepared for the disbelievers among them a painful punishment."

[@anhbarker]

So thankful my husband and I paid ours off! We started at community college, where we met, and got our associates. Then, we both transferred to an in state university for our Bachelors. Then we took turns attending the same university for our masters degrees while the other worked full time. We paid as much tuition in cash as we could and took out as little debt as possible. It's possible to get through college with minimal loans, but it's a lot of work.

[@scifirealism5943]

Those are crazy sacrifices

[@scifirealism5943]

I'm at community college now. I'm very poor. I want to live independently and attend school full-time in person, but I don't know how.

[@anhbarker]

@scifirealism5943 you are not poor. You are broke. Being poor is a state of mind. Being broke is a temporary situation. I was also broke while in undergrad. I think it's a good thing to be broke while attending college. It forces you to focus on what is really important.

[@scifirealism5943]

@@anhbarker I see.

[@scifirealism5943]

@@anhbarker being broke made me realize I don't want to live with my dad or watch my brother (since I can't attend my classes in person watching him). If I truly want this degree, I will need to abandon the hope of grants/scholarships, rely on welfare and charity programs while working part-time and going to school full-time. It'll be hard.

[@dmall747]

I enrolled in the SAVE plan and my payments went from over $450 a month to about $80 a month. I was quite literally was having panic attacks being worried that I would lose my home or not be able to cover basic living expenses, to a place where I am able to manage the payments.

[@kibachan1975]

Same! My payment would have have been close to $800 a month, but because I make less than $30k at my current full time job, I only have to pay $100 a month, AND it counts towards the 10 yr forgiveness. I really am scared if the next president that gets in decides to scrap that plan and I have no choice but to pay that insane amount, I'll end up homeless....

[@stevenp25100]

​@kibachan1975 how much did tax payers go in the hole for you to make 30k? You don't anticipate a pay raise the next decade? Wasn't the beat investment

[@goatgirl5968]

​@@stevenp25100If income goes up, payments go up.

[@bigmonkynick]

yes and to cover the missing cost how many years did they tack on to your debt payoff timeline? How much did the interest increase? Why would I want to adjust my debt payoff time line from 25 years to 50 years?

[@goatgirl5968]

@@bigmonkynick that's how the old program worked but now with the new program the remaining debt will be cancelled after the 10 years of payments (as I understand it).

[@alexandraprassas6178]

I paid $25K for 2 years of nursing school and in three years I've only paid $1100 of the principal. Its a debtors prison, you pay forever, and then if you finally do finish you're credit score drops.

[@akatheking82]

Then pay more duh. RN make enough money to pay more than 400 dollars per year of the principal. "ZipRecruiter reports that annual nurse starting salaries range from a low of $45,500 per year to as much as $89,500"

[@lynnebucher6537]

It looks like Navient calculated your minimum payment using a very long repayment schedule. Start throwing several hundred a month extra monthly at the loan, make sure you follow their rules so that extra is credited towards principal. Increase this over time as your income goes up.

[@brentwhittington1184]

It’s called an amortization schedule. A simple KZbin search would explain why you had that outcome. It’s a shame financial literacy is so low in this country.

[@elizabeth9134]

​@@akatheking82wow, you are really stupid.

[@supertonic64]

I think all of you in this comment thread need to take a step back and stop blaming the victim here and actually have a tiny bit of empathy for your fellow human: you don't know what their other financial obligations are. You don't know what they're going through. And they are absolutely right: it's fucked up that you have to pay so much just to get the loan off of your back, only for your credit score to drop.

[@Albertk96]

I must admit to coming into the topic thinking "I had to pay, why shouldn't they?" But once again, John has taught me that nothing is as simple as it seems. Another eye opening and entertaining piece from the Last Week crew!

[@Gotred]

He makes some valid points, but keep in mind that this is a very one-sided narrative carefully crafted to lead to a specific conclusion - i.e., student debt forgiveness.

[@misspat7555]

Yeah… some of the practices “servicing” student loans are REALLY shady! 🤨

[@andrewhall6479]

Skeptical, but willing to learn is a good attitude to have. Good on ya.

[@RealDafuh]

@@Gotred it is one sided, because there is objectively only one side you should take... His topics are mostly highlíghting the shitshow that got out of hand...

[@mewho8057]

it always helps me to remember that I want the world to be a better place. I want the next person in my shoes to have an easier time than I do, because I wish I could have an easier time right now.

[@laneybobaney7415]

this made me feel a lot better. i'm currently in an absolutely hellish dispute with my health insurance company but at least I don't have to deal with navient. thank you john!