I’m not sure this helps (nor the discharge in bankruptcy idea). The financial part of the problem is that bad credit risks (college attendees) are getting huge loans. This only works when they’re regulated and backstopped by the government.
Discharge in bankruptcy makes it much nicer for those who really can’t pay as well as those who could pay, but don’t want to (because they’d rather eat or something). It makes it worse for the lenders, who don’t get paid regardless for the just-can’t case, but now don’t get paid for the “bankruptcy is better than paying” group. And part of the availability and non-insane terms of payment is because it’s the government which has special power in collecting, including not letting you out by bankruptcy. Without this special government power, most of the loans wouldn’t happen at all. Note: this is my recommendation—just stop making such loans.
Repossessing collateral for a loan is unworkable for a different idea. If a bank repos your car or house, they recover some of the loss by selling it. They can’t sell your degree, it’s valueless to them. Thus this is JUST an indication that you’re behind on payments, and employers who care can ALREADY get your credit report to see that.
They can’t sell your degree, it’s valueless to them.
What if they could? It’s a piece of paper, that people pay a lot of money for. (This would create an incentive for universities to have attendees that don’t later have their degrees get repossessed.)
No, it’s a piece of paper, which people get for free after paying for a lot of classes, books, living arrangements, etc. for a few years. That piece of paper may be the reason people give for paying so much for these things, but they’re confused—some classmates won’t get the paper, and will pay just as much. And if the bank DID sell repo’d degrees, or the school sold the paper without the classes, the perceived value of the paper would drop to zero pretty quickly.
The paper is not the degree. It is a certificate of having the degree. The degree is the fact of having had the degree conferred. This is an objective historical fact that cannot be repossessed, short of 1984 with its memory holes and workers keeping records updated to agree with currently decreed official truth (that is, official lies). Even if the university is obliged to rescind the conferral, that merely adds another historical fact to the record. If an employer regards the recission as a penalty for defaulting on a student loan, they are free to take that as evidence of the student’s financial standing but disregard it as evidence against their academic record.
I’m not sure this helps (nor the discharge in bankruptcy idea). The financial part of the problem is that bad credit risks (college attendees) are getting huge loans. This only works when they’re regulated and backstopped by the government.
Discharge in bankruptcy makes it much nicer for those who really can’t pay as well as those who could pay, but don’t want to (because they’d rather eat or something). It makes it worse for the lenders, who don’t get paid regardless for the just-can’t case, but now don’t get paid for the “bankruptcy is better than paying” group. And part of the availability and non-insane terms of payment is because it’s the government which has special power in collecting, including not letting you out by bankruptcy. Without this special government power, most of the loans wouldn’t happen at all. Note: this is my recommendation—just stop making such loans.
Repossessing collateral for a loan is unworkable for a different idea. If a bank repos your car or house, they recover some of the loss by selling it. They can’t sell your degree, it’s valueless to them. Thus this is JUST an indication that you’re behind on payments, and employers who care can ALREADY get your credit report to see that.
What if they could? It’s a piece of paper, that people pay a lot of money for. (This would create an incentive for universities to have attendees that don’t later have their degrees get repossessed.)
No, it’s a piece of paper, which people get for free after paying for a lot of classes, books, living arrangements, etc. for a few years. That piece of paper may be the reason people give for paying so much for these things, but they’re confused—some classmates won’t get the paper, and will pay just as much. And if the bank DID sell repo’d degrees, or the school sold the paper without the classes, the perceived value of the paper would drop to zero pretty quickly.
The paper is not the degree. It is a certificate of having the degree. The degree is the fact of having had the degree conferred. This is an objective historical fact that cannot be repossessed, short of 1984 with its memory holes and workers keeping records updated to agree with currently decreed official truth (that is, official lies). Even if the university is obliged to rescind the conferral, that merely adds another historical fact to the record. If an employer regards the recission as a penalty for defaulting on a student loan, they are free to take that as evidence of the student’s financial standing but disregard it as evidence against their academic record.