from Hacker News

Ask HN: Are student loans being forgiven?

by noobly on 8/24/22, 6:30 PM with 16 comments

• by IceMetalPunk on 8/24/22, 7:11 PM

  If you received any Pell grants and make less than $125k, then $20k is forgiven. If you didn't receive Pell grants and make less than $125k, then $10k is forgiven. That's what I've read so far, at least.

  I've also read the estimated cost of this is $300 billion, and doing the math on that and the number of taxpayers, I've calculated that the cost to each taxpayer is about $2k, which is less than the cost of tuition for one person at public colleges (or at least, less than the tuition at a public college near me). And this is to pay for the forgiveness for all student loans for these people that have accrued over decades.

  Tiny cost to help stop punishing people for wanting to learn in a society literally built upon knowledge, in my opinion. Especially if it acts as a proof of concept that paves the way for future policies applying to new loans -- which would be much cheaper than this all-at-once batch iteration.

  I'm in the group of people who would qualify for this. Do I care personally? Not really, I've spent the last 7 years factoring my loans into my budget and I guess I'm content with the sunk cost fallacy now. But do I care as a member of society? Absolutely. This is a wonderful step in the right direction.

  EDIT Correction: the $300 billion figure I read is not, as I first thought, annual. It is an estimate over 10 years. Which means the taxpayer cost is actually more like $208/year, not $2k. Even better!

• by ars on 8/24/22, 7:37 PM

  Are they going to do this again? Because I have some people who don't have government loans, they got private loans.

  If I knew they were forgiving debts I would have had them quickly get government loans instead. I'm kind of irritated that my prudent financial planning is a bad decision in hindsight.

  Why do they have to link it to loans, why can't they just give some money to every student?

• by h2odragon on 8/24/22, 6:39 PM

  It's been widely reported but AFAIK the official announcement is still due at 2.15pm EDT. These things often turn out to be a bit different in detail from the initial reporting, and the particular issue of student loan forgiveness has been "widely reported" before without follow through.

  So don't go on a spending spree just yet. Wait until the paperwork comes through on your new balance before assuming anything.

• by jamesliudotcc on 8/24/22, 6:38 PM

  Basically, yes, for 10k.

  There are various terms and conditions, like your income and family status (if you are single, you have to make 125k), and whether you qualified for Pell grants when you were in college (if so, you get 20k instead).

  I still have not seen the actual document that spells out the terms in detail, just some news reports.

• by jshzglr on 8/24/22, 7:23 PM

  Who's gonna be there to cancel the US's debt?

• by lapcat on 8/24/22, 7:53 PM

  Why would you ask Hacker News commenters instead of just reading news sites?

  Nobody here on HN has any special insider knowledge from the Biden administration that isn't being reported publicly in the news.