Petition for Student Loan Interest cap removal

[Dominic]

http://wh.gov/lRuMn

This is a petition to eliminate the $2500 cap on the Federal Student Loan Interest tax deduction. You can check the link, and I would appreciate any signatures on this issue we can get. If you disagree, I am also ok with this. Perhaps leave a comment below about how you feel? Thanks!

 

[Rand]

I would have signed it but didnt want to signup for that website.

 

[javacontour]

Federally subsidized loans. Now the folks who got the loans and below market rates want to skip out on paying taxes on more of the income used to pay interest.

No thanks.

It's time to stop all these niche deductions, mortgage interest included and let's get everyone, regardless of age or income paying the same tax rates.

That's the only fair solution. Anything else gives some population special treatment.

 

[JHZR2]

We still have a little bit left on the wife's doctorate bills. We make too much money to be able to write off ANY interest.

Thus I think that it should be the same for everyone. Fair is fair.

You (if working) or your parents notionally could get a deduction for the cost of tuition. At least at one point in time. Anyone dumb enough to rack up interest on school (us included) should take it on the chin.

Otherwise it drives a debt-oriented society.

I sort of feel the same way about mortgages, except that there is next to no way for anyone to reasonably get into home ownership without them in many areas. There are ways to get through school without debt - I did all the way to PhD.

 

[GaleHawkins]

I guess the through is college educated folks do not need more government help?

As governments need more money to keep up interest payments I expect these kinds of actions will happen more and more.

At least changing one's own oil can leave more $$ in the pockets for other things like taxes.

 

[javacontour]

Didn't they already get help via the federal subsidized student loan?

Subsidized means the government is helping with the costs of the program.

Folks may have unsubsidized loans. However, I suspect those terms are still more favorable than just running down to your local bank and borrowing 3-10K/year to go to college, hence they too are subsidized to some extent.

How did we ever survive without all the help from the government?

Originally Posted By: GaleHawkins
I guess the through is college educated folks do not need more government help?

As governments need more money to keep up interest payments I expect these kinds of actions will happen more and more.

At least changing one's own oil can leave more $$ in the pockets for other things like taxes.

 

[Dominic]

Well guys wow, I didn't expect such a strong opposition to this. I can understand some of your frustration but I want to make something clear to those who care. Federal student loans are about the ONLY way for a person to get through 4-10 years of college when there is no parental funding. They are barely enough to pay for many colleges, and the loan rates are not competitive with rates for anything else on the market (autos, homes). Thanks to the government, there is no competition in the student loan sector, which means students are strapped with debt at 6.8% and higher rates that they then must pay back currently with after-tax dollars. Ripoff or not, it adds insult to injury when school tuition rates are rising at 7-10% per year... most students are graduating without a job, and will be poor for many years if they decided to live the dream of getting an education and hopefully land a better paying higher skilled job.

Perhaps people are stupid to try, but if SOME of the interest can be paid back with pre-taxed income, why can't ALL of it be paid back with pre-tax income like the federally backed mortgages? You'll hear nary a person want to take away that deduction (as was mentioned above).

I am simply trying to help support putting dollars back into the pockets of those willing to further themselves through getting an education, perhaps with debt because they had no other means to attend school. I figure it's far better to support the educated needy than the ones without any gumption, effort, initiative, or skill.

Sorry if I offended anyone here with that kind of thinking.

 

[Doog]

I put myself through college working two jobs and going to school 4 nights a week and studying every night. I didn't watch television for 6 years. I paid for my degrees (3) with after tax dollars what makes you think you should get something free?

Just more entitlements for the "entitlement generation"

 

[Brybo86]

I'd be willing to increase the deduction allowed if there was a clause requiring GPA to be significantly high,

how about 3.5 or higher? if your GPA is less you get NO deduction....

There were wayyyy to many bums at my school going for free and failing every semester, on my dime

This is sort of like requiring a drug test for food stamps or section 8, heck a drug test should be mandatory for any public aid

 

[Doog]

Today every body wants a free ride....maybe they should call a Waaaaaaammmbulance...

 

[TrevorS]

I thought they cut out the middleman so already saved students some points on their rate? And the base rate is almost zero already.

How much cheaper do we want loans to be? You realize that cheap money makes it easier for kids to choose degrees that add no value to society?

Beware of politicians who want everybody to own a house or have a degree. We know what happened when we made money so cheap and easy that everyone was buying property.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Brybo86
I'd be willing to increase the deduction allowed if there was a clause requiring GPA to be significantly high,

how about 3.5 or higher? if your GPA is less you get NO deduction....

There were wayyyy to many bums at my school going for free and failing every semester, on my dime

This is sort of like requiring a drug test for food stamps or section 8, heck a drug test should be mandatory for any public aid


Good idea tying it to drugs and GPA. But I doubt that many people are getting their education paid and then failing. My scholarships had a GPA mandate on them, as Id hope all do.

Id have more sympathy if they stopped trying to make everything at every university "high end", and instead make it bare bones like it was in past years... And then got completely rid of Title IX, and stopped most/any sports not truly profitable on the books.

 

[Doog]

Originally Posted By: TrevorS
I thought they cut out the middleman so already saved students some points on their rate? And the base rate is almost zero already.

How much cheaper do we want loans to be? You realize that cheap money makes it easier for kids to choose degrees that add no value to society?

Beware of politicians who want everybody to own a house or have a degree. We know what happened when we made money so cheap and easy that everyone was buying property.


+1000 and when the student loan default hits it will happen again.

 

[NMBurb02]

You are talking about feeding the cycle: easier to get and cheaper (by allowing deductions for more interest payments) student loans result in higher demand for student loans, which justifies raising tuition, which justifies making student loans easier to get and cheaper...

The higher interest costs for student loans are a function of basic finance. If you have no collateral (after all, they can't reposses your degree), the bank is taking on more risk and therefore needs a higher return. Add to that the fact that you have not proven an ability or means to pay it back, there is no guarantee that you will graduate, there is no guarantee that if you graduate you will land a well paying job, and there is no guarantee that you will keep a higher paying job if/when you do land it (all this assuming you got a degree that is valuable in the marketplace and not something like German polka history), the only reason they go as low as 6.8% is because of the government insurance. Try to get a non-government insured student loan (yes, there are such things) and you will see the true costs of student loans.

 

[Doog]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: Brybo86
I'd be willing to increase the deduction allowed if there was a clause requiring GPA to be significantly high,

how about 3.5 or higher? if your GPA is less you get NO deduction....

There were wayyyy to many bums at my school going for free and failing every semester, on my dime

This is sort of like requiring a drug test for food stamps or section 8, heck a drug test should be mandatory for any public aid


Good idea. But I doubt that many people are getting their education paid and then failing. My scholarships had a GPA mandate on them, as Id hope all do.


Thousands are using up the 4 year time allotment and not finishing the degree. So you have a non-degreed kid with a $50,000 loan and no job. Typical government handout program...now this guy wants to pay with pre-tax dollars...

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Doog
Originally Posted By: JHZR2


Good idea. But I doubt that many people are getting their education paid and then failing. My scholarships had a GPA mandate on them, as Id hope all do.


Thousands are using up the 4 year time allotment and not finishing the degree. So you have a non-degreed kid with a $50,000 loan and no job. Typical government handout program...now this guy wants to pay with pre-tax dollars...

I edited my post a bit since when you quoted it, but if one did require drug/alcohol tests (especially given that most college years are underage), and GPA requirements, then youve already done a decent job separating the wheat from the chaff, and the high performers will be graduating by year 4. Those failing despite being on scholarships must have athletic or affirmative action scholarships, which arent scholar-related at all and should also be abolished.

 

[NMBurb02]

And I do support eliminating the mortgage interest tax deduction. This coming from a guy who does not yet own a house and will have to pay $350,000+ for a decent home in which I can raise my four kids in Southern California. (The housing bubble is pretty directly relatable to the student loan mess we are in now and the solution is definitely not freer flowing money.)

And I also worked my way through school, having to pay for some of my tuition and books, sometimes putting my tuition payments on credit cards (ridiculous, I now know) because I valued my education that much and did not think it was an entitlement owed to me by others.

 

[TrevorS]

Modern technology really means anyone can get educated for a fraction of what all these private institutions that are getting bigger and bigger are charging.

Government and corporations really need to get together and shift the paradigm on what is required. Right now, companies don't care how many debts you've incurred to get your foot in the door, institutions don't care about anything but making money, and govt is encouraging more, not less of this.

 

[Dominic]

Education is definitely not an entitlement, nor should it be, but without educated minds our country will surely suffer more than it already does. We also need more vocational technical training as well, but that's a different topic. Education should be obtainable through public means of some sort, not reserved for the wealthy elite that can afford their kids the privilege. Perhaps you disagree on this, however I argue that the country would be worse off if it has fewer educated minds.

Perhaps formal education is a ripoff scam then. We should all be plumbers.

 

[bvance554]

I have a student loan, and no i will not sign the petition. Its a really cheap loan. If you can't understand the economics of borrowing money then the education you recieved is really lost on you.