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

With over 43 million Americans paying off student loans, John Oliver discusses how so many people have come to take on student loan debt, why it’s so hard to pay off, and what we can do about it, mama.
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[@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.

[@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

[@abdullahalbeedh491]

"The greatest country in the world" - btw, i did my Masters in Germany for a total of 1200$ , and it included a free transportation ticket in the entire state ✌🏽

[@eric7441]

But if Russia or some other adversarial country invades Germany, you’ll be thanking the United States will be there to save your ass. There are a lot of amazing things about Germany and its people, and the US is far from perfect, but your comment is ignorant and disrespectful.

[@Wileylikethehawk]

That’s less than my yearly parking fee at university.

[@taniaparsons3859]

i did my first master's in Spain and it was under a thousand for the whole thing and bc i am in Andalucía the second masters is free. So i have 2 masters :)

[@Wileylikethehawk]

@@taniaparsons3859 So jealous. I have two regular Bachelors degrees but never went back for my masters primarily because I couldn't afford it. I wish I had because I would've got a pay bump (I'm a high school teacher now).

[@fuchurZero]

I have one teaching degree and a master in Education. I left university with 7700 Euro in debt 😂.

[@lilaismygirl5524]

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

[@toki1965]

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

[@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

[@VictorAntares]

4:15 that season 5 rory gilmore joke really killed that person, screaming before the punchline even landed

[@gotenks5633]

I mean in fairness, it WAS a good joke. Fuck Rory was a mess by then...

[@mollynichols4959]

Also for anyone who's familiar with Gilmore girls, just hearing "season 5 Rory Gilmore" was enough to see the punchline coming 🤣

[@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.

[@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?? 😂

[@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.

[@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.

[@guillermoalcantara8608]

2:03 I worked in car loans, and hearing someone start with $80k, pay $120k and only knock down $4k of the principal balance brings back nightmares

[@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

[@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.

[@fyca]

Biggest mistake of my life was getting my master's in the US. $49k. I've paid $22k, but the loan is only at $42k now. I had to give up the career the degree was for too (teaching, college level) because I just couldn't earn enough to live on. A friend got the same degree in England for a few thousand and left with zero debt, plus a year in England.

[@burtbloom4794]

In 1968 I graduated from a private university in New York City with a student loan that covered the last 3 years of undergraduate school. My monthly loan payment was $44; if I am remembering correctly it took about 8 years to pay off the loan. It is horrendous how times have changed!

[@thisisjvh200]

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.

[@LaurelinTheOther]

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!

[@timhaldane7588]

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.

[@DjDreyfuss]

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 👀?

[@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

[@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

[@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.

[@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

[@carloslasso4370]

My recommendation, three years before you graduate high school, just around the time you are fifteen start learning a second language. I would recommend Spanish, German or French, if you are felling fancy, Japanese. So, after you graduate high school, you should be at least decently fluent in one of those languages. Go to college in Spain, Germany, Japan, France or Canada, those countries will offer a much more reasonable price and you won’t be in debt your whole life. I went to a public college in my country that was free

[@GronaldS]

Actually Canada only has cheap education for locals. Like american schools they more than quadruple their tuitions for foreign students... which makes it about the same price as staying in the USA for an american.

[@laurakastrup]

I’m sitting over here in my Danish university class, and I was doing research on the debt crisis in the US, turns out that international economics and a little political science + John Oliver is honestly a great way to spend your free time (don’t worry; I won’t use it as a reference for my research paper but I might use some of the sources John provides in his piece) Also how much have I paid for my university degree, well if you discount the books which I bought for new, but with student pricing, and my crippling addiction to coffee, plus my literally monthly suspension to Xanax… then… about 0 dollars

[@laurakastrup]

Also for the record: the country be called Estonia is Latvia. Estonia is above it. They used to be the most eastern part of NATO but with Finland’s recent admission they’re not alone. Welcome to the history of the Baltic states it will drive you nuts

[@scifirealism5943]

I cried reading this.

[@scifirealism5943]

I'm in poverty at college

[@stereo-soulsoundsystem5070]

brb going to Europe for free education and xans

[@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.

[@tiegjac]

​@@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]

​@@tiegjac 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. 😊

[@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.

[@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

[@shanesteinmetz4563]

02:03 An interest rate of 7% on $80,000 would still result in (0.07/365*30*80000) nearly $460 in interest in a 30 day period. She states that she paid $120,000 over a 10 year (or 120 month) period. That would average out to $1000 a month. For her balance to have moved so little, she must have either had periods of time during which she severely underpaid or did not pay at all (which would have led to additional interest), and/or she accrued fees or penalties that got added to the balance.

[@user-df8rt4un9h]

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...

[@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.

[@sarasnider4550]

Thank you for covering this with such depth and nuance. I’m a public school teacher who has been paying $700/month since November 2014. Unfortunately, I’m ineligible for a PSLF program because you have to make 10 years of consecutive payments like I’m already doing. We should shorten the length of time folks have to serve in low paying public service jobs before we forgive their debt.

[@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."

[@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!!

[@omi_god]

I worked at the phone company for 25 years. When I was hired, the only requirement for the job was to pass a simple competency test where I had to be able to identify a screwdriver and recite Ohm's law. The very same job today requires a 4-year baccalaureate degree in "communications", although the employee will seldom need to do more than add 2 plus 2. The change is an example of shifting responsibilities from the employer to the employee. When I was hired, the company had an internal training department - long gone now. Almost everything I know about IT I learned while being paid by the hour. That's very different from today.

[@SeaHorseNSparrow]

JUST RECITE OHMS LAW????? Please tell me you’re joking😮😮😮😮😮

[@arthurfoyt6727]

It's an IT job now, not wires and land lines.

[@Julia-lk8jn]

That is absolutely horrific. And it's crazy, that last thing I'd expect to learn in a 4 year (??????) communications degree to learn would be Ohm's law.

[@Julia-lk8jn]

@@arthurfoyt6727 4 years of your life worth of IT? And the sort of IT that you only learn in a communications degree? I doubt it.

[@Konraden]

You don't go to college for a work permit. I want my society to be well educated.

[@olives216]

My student loan providers kept saying they didn’t have the paperwork saying that I was in grad school and didn’t need to make payments. I called once every couple of weeks to remind them that they already had the paperwork and they kept saying they were reviewing it. I ended up getting sent to debt collections and the person I spoke with there finally helped me. AFTER my credit got nearly obliterated.

[@RealtorLubin]

Seeing that elderly woman happy to see her student load cleared after 38 years had me angry that it took so long to help out people like her and that most others won't see any help at all in their lives. A simple solution to help out students is to take a year or two off from graduating high school, work while living with family, and save up. In that time, you can do your research to evaluate if going to college or university is a worthwhile investment or not. If after a couple years of savings, you feel it's worthwhile, you should have save enough for school, maybe start your own business, or to make a deposit on a home... There are more opportunities when you simply have money and no debt.

[@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.

[@lx5xk]

Maybe people need to spend less time watching Disney and more time reading paperwork they sign

[@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%.

[@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€.

[@adamhicks9597]

@@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.

[@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.

[@bobbert1945]

This should be required viewing, for all potential college students and their parents.

[@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!"

[@kellyalvarado6533]

​@@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.

[@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.

[@shana.ball3]

For average American to survive,I think will all need to find alternative means, imagine working for 40yrs to have $1m in your retirement, while some people are putting just $10k in a meme coin for just few months and become multi millionaires. if you don't invest, you're missing out on opportunities to increase your financial worth.

[@graceagb]

Absolutely right,Money invested is much more better than money saved, when you invest, it gives you the opportunities to increase your financial worth.

[@William.Mancini]

Exactly,The key to financial freedom and wealth is someone ability to convert earned income into massive profit to build generational wealth.

[@idowunoah]

You are right to be wealthy you have to trade, earn and live your life as you please, Don't say tomorrow when you can do it now. Don't continue watching others earn when you can.

[@elishadan212]

I'm with you the best way to build massive wealth for the next generation is to consistently invest in business and guard them grow

[@RosellaLCraig]

absolutely right,many people are really ignorant of the massive income in investment and that has been the major reason limiting their trading.

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@TAC0FACE]

Turok! Name ur baby Turok, Dinosaur Hunter and get a free N64!!!

[@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

[@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

[@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

[@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.

[@dianemadison1679]

Thank you for exposing this corruption!

[@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.

[@katysuminski7331]

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

[@gonzostwin1]

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

[@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.

[@hetrosjistin4837]

Reminder: If a loan holding company cannot give you proof that they have literally every single document related to your loan, you owe them -nothing- Not a thing, not anything. If you've had your loan traded around like 3 or 4 times, might want to look into this.

[@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.

[@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.

[@stevearnold100]

I took out a student loan for only a few thousand dollars for a 6 month "Computer Electronics Technician" certificate. What I was taught was completely useless in the real world and I ended up back in retail with a spinal fusion hampering me. After paying on it for years it was sold from one bank to another, each one charging higher and higher interest. After paying on it for years I ended up owing more than I started with. I'm not ashamed to say I took the student loan forgiveness back in the 90's. If the banks and loan companies weren't sticking it to the students and would settle for a reasonable return on the loans the entire country would be better off.

[@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.

[@joshuagrahm3607]

This period of history will be of intense interest to historians for how effective our systems of social control were. The planet is boiling and every person who doesn’t own capital is getting railed but half the people that see this comment will instinctively scream “BUT STALIN” if you even dare suggest something as milquetoast as social democracy

[@richgerow3472]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@ericn3519]

"Good debt." This term was repeatedly used during economics classes in high school and college regarding student loans. "It's good debt to take because it will pay off later." I then took out a government loan for 7%+ interest when global interest rates were less than 3% because that's where we're supposed to loan money from.

[@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....

[@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?

[@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?

[@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!

[@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.

[@earthling7183]

i was denied a $17,500 loan to buy a trailer house due to my student loan debt. It would've cut my living costs by 60%.😢

[@earthling7183]

Irony is... i work for a state university.

[@privacyplease1556]

You don’t make enough money to own a home. Not if you have to borrow just $17009

[@l-b284]

@@privacyplease1556 I don't get it

[@e-swift3923]

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

[@1renegadegeek]

Thirty years ago, back in college, when I was dating my future husband, we joked that if we were lucky we'd be able to pay off our college loans before our kids started college. We both work in education and have been jerked around by the system for decades. But after 25 years of consistent payments, and help from Biden's college debt relief programs at the end of last year, we are officially student loan free just in time for our youngest to start college this fall. See kids. Dreams *can* come true!

[@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.

[@Searsnick18]

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

[@ms_cartographer]

@@Searsnick18 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.

[@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.

[@jonathanrivlin6248]

I remember studying the changes to the bankruptcy law for the CPA exam in '98. Student loans were made almost impossible to discharge. It was positioned as ensuring the stability of the system and an ethical issue. I don't think things turned out in the way they were advertised back then. I would say intentioned, but perhaps this was always the intention? I believe in education as a collective investment in the future success and security of our nation. No one should be deprived an education, nor shackled to endless debt to the point of harming family formation. There has to be a better way.

[@edwardnelson3413]

We need to have fixed pricing for all public universities.

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@Ashtondragon99]

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.

[@markkjacobson]

This literally happened to me. Forbearance when I was struggling. I put off relationships because I never wanted to saddle anyone with my debt if I died. I paid back 2x what I borrowed and still owed 2x what I paid back. My balance of what I owed was forgiven last year after I made payments for the last 20 years. Thank you Biden!

[@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

[@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

[@CSCI4X]

Higher Ed funding here in California is $23B. Seven years ago it was $15B. Yet tuition at UCSD has risen from $16k to $34k.

[@MrBrewman95]

Seems like government involvement doesn’t help at all and makes it worse.

[@cosmomontanaro5759]

@@MrBrewman95 Bingo! This is the student loan crisis and ballooning college tuition rates in a nutshell, but the geniuses that don't think they should pay back their student loans because it's "predatory" can't connect the dots. I have a theory: the student loan crisis is mostly stupid kids borrowing to get an education they can't utilize due to their limited intellects.

[@kelleycheek5142]

Thank you for speaking on this. I went to in state 4 year and professional school, I'm over 300,000 in debt

[@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

[@toki1965]

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.

[@nonya.bizness]

hanging up on you has been a thing at more than just navient, and for many years. i can't remember who held my student loan- it's been 20 years and i prefer to forget that nightmare- but i do remember now being on hold for hours, my call finally getting answered, and being hung up on instantly. over and over and over, so many times through those years.

[@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.

[@user-lx8sl9gr8q]

Before entering the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a full-time graduate student in their doctoral program in philosophy for the fall of 1987 I met with the current department chair and informed him I would need a leave of absence for my spring semester in order to obtain a loan package for the remaining years that would cover my costs. "No problem". I requested the leave at the end of my first semester and it was denied. The reason: the new chair and assistant to the chair had over-admitted students. I had an "A", an "AB" and an approved incomplete...the incomplete was given for what would be a publishable paper. They refused to honor my coursework. The money I had spent for the fall was wasted. I still get notices in the mail in 2024 telling me how much in student loans I owe for attending a scam program.

[@fguestFX]

Thank you so much for putting this video up. To have someone speak to millions on the behalf of all the student loan borrowers was beautiful to behold. After 9 years my career tanked due to strikes in my industry. My area of the industry wasnt apart of the stikes but we were still drastically impacted. Now with 6 years of college and 2 degrees I can't find a job for new home I purchase last year much less think about paying student loans with no money. I was only able to save for a home when I wasn't paying for student loans during covid. 9 years of work and I was always reluctant to make a single financial change. I have put off so much in my life. Especially starting a family. The one thing I have learned over my career is hardworking doesn't pay off when you have a student loan. You can make 6 figures and still live paycheck to paycheck. Debt is a blackhole and most can't out live it.

[@Charlotte__Single__again]

My brother recently retired from Georgia Tech; he said there was absolutely no reason for it to be considered a state school anymore.

[@gizmoguyar]

I graduated from GT in 2015, and I completely agree.

[@B_Bodziak]

It's very expensive. My daughter went to UGA and with tuition, room and board, it was $26k/year. GT was significantly more, and I just couldn't afford for her to go to GT. So, she got her engineering degree from UGA.

[@bernardwylie9760]

I got in to Georgia Tech. It was my most expensive offer, and the revoked my admission when I didn’t send them an acceptance response by their artificial deadline. No other school bothered to do that. Other schools I got accepted to and didn’t attend: Howard, South Carolina, NC State, Villanova.

[@MONCBaller]

GT has masters programs now for only $10K. I'm seeing other school's follow this trend.

[@opscontaylor8195]

Why did 4 people reply to a porn link bot?

[@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.

[@johnryan5497]

My wife had major loans (unfortunately, the a.p.r. Sally Mae said, "Oh, it has a Cap of 13%, but it probably won't go that high." It only took two months to make it to 13%. My wife covered the interest, and I payed 1/2 of my teacher salary to the principal! We saved over $100,000 in interest debt. We had to budget, but it was worth it! Good Luck!

[@PorrunSigurd]

I wasn't financial free until my 40’s and I’m still in my 40’s, bought my third house already, earn on a monthly through passive income, and got 4 out of 5 goals, just hope it encourages someone's that it doesn’t matter if you don’t have any of them right now, you can start TODAY regardless your age INVEST and change your future! Investing in the financial market is a grand choice I made.

[@DustabChristopher]

yeah investment is the key to sustaining your financial longevity but venturing into any legitimate Investment without a proper guidance of an expert can lead to a great loss too

[@adakkristinn]

Hello, I’m 37 and I am not worth much yet , please help me out. Bought my first house last month and I can't seem to make any other smart investment.

[@PioliAugusthus]

wanted to trade, but I got discouraged with the market price fluctuations

[@PioliAugusthus]

Can you recommend a guide for me?

[@OlicMichael]

Haven't you heard of Expert Chrissy Barymoer ?He gives excellent guide on the right stock with high dividend

[@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.

[@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.

[@polariswalls4477]

John oliver is a living legend

[@freeagent.87]

Why are the interest rates so high if the money is coming from the govt.?

[@macthemeh]

You ever know a video is going to make you depressed but you click it anyway? Here we go.

[@pamelas1816]

😂 yes

[@angelestorres6334]

Depends where you're watching from 😃

[@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.

[@sinclairlanier4081]

This is a VERY important episode! Thank you so much for all the time and effort put towards the creation of this!

[@sathappan]

love it. so informative. after so many years on the air, LWT still knocks it out of the park regularly.

[@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.