New York Times | 8 June 2014
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The Greens say there have been more than a million hits on an online calculator it has launched to show how much a degree now under the fee regime announced in the recent budget. Government sources have questioned the accuracy of the calculations on the What Will My Degree Cost website, but there can’t be any doubts about the interest in the outcomes. Obviously, the actual amount a graduate would pay depends on a whole range of factors (starting salary, career progression, real interest, any time out) but we ran a three year arts degree through the calculator and this is what it came back with. Meanwhile, the proponents of “Americanisation” of Australian higher education might take note of recent actions by the US government to stem ballooning student debt, which now stands at more than $1 trillion and, according to economists, is acting as a drag on the economy.
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Obama steps in to ease student debt
President Barak Obama has taken executive actions to ease the burden of college loan debt for potentially millions of Americans, in a White House event coinciding with Senate Democrats’ plans for legislation to address a concern of many voters in this midterm election year. On 8 June, Obama announced “new steps to further lift the burden of crushing student loan debt”. Despite past actions by the administration, borrowers’ debt load is growing and retarding their ability to buy homes, start businesses or otherwise spend to spur the economy, economists say.
Obama’s main action will be to expand on a 2010 law that capped borrowers’ repayments at 10% of their monthly income. The intent is to extend such relief to an estimated five million people with older loans who are currently ineligible — those who got loans before October 2007 or stopped borrowing by October 2011. But the relief would not be available until December 2015, officials said, given the time needed for the Education Department to propose and put new regulations into effect.
Obama also announced that the department will renegotiate contracts with companies that service federal loans to give them additional financial incentives to help borrowers avoid delinquency or default. The Education and Treasury Departments are to work with the nation’s largest tax-preparation firms, H&R Block and Intuit Inc., to ensure that borrowers are aware of repayment options and tax credits for college tuition.
The president said in January, in his State of the Union address, that he would use his “pen and phone” to take executive actions and enlist private institutions on matters when disputes with congressional Republicans block legislation.
But legislation generally is more far-reaching, so Obama will also urge passage of a measure that the Democratic-led Senate plans to take up. The Senate bill would allow an estimated 25 million Americans to refinance student loans, federal and private, at lower interest rates. Reduced interest payments would cost the government about $58 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office, but the legislation would raise $72 billion by imposing a new tax on some high-income individuals.
Because of the tax and the bill’s overall cost, it is unclear whether Democrats can muster enough Republican support to get the 60 votes needed. Even if they succeed, the Republican-controlled House is likely to ignore the measure.
Obama has defined the choice before Congress in political terms: “Protect young people from crushing debt, or protect tax breaks for millionaires.”
About $1 trillion in federal student loans or loan guarantees is outstanding, on top of more than $100 billion in outstanding private student loans that are not federally guaranteed, the Congressional Budget Office reported. While economists argue that a postsecondary education is an investment that pays off, average tuition at four-year public colleges has more than tripled over the past three decades, according to the administration, and 71% of those who graduated with a bachelor’s degree carried debt, which averaged $29,400.
See
Behold, The Student Calculator Of Doom!
