Tuesday, December 05, 2017
Can't Pay Your Student Loans? In Some States, That Means You Can't Work Either.
Hit & Run : Reason.com: Shannon Otto took on thousands of dollars in student loan debt to pay for nursing school before an unexpected medical issue left her unable to work for more than a year. While she was recovering, her loan payments lapsed into default.
When Otto was ready to go back to work, she got more bad news: The state of Tennessee had revoked her nursing license, leaving her unable to work legally in the field she'd spent years mastering. Getting her license restored would require an additional payment of $1,500.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
This article exemplifies partly of what is wrong with government today. Can’t pay your student loans? We’re taking that document that you need to have in order to work. It’s counter productive and doesn’t even consider the factors involved. Yes, there are many other ways in which a student loan company can get repayment, all without the need to ruin someone from being able to work. It really goes for any type of repayment, taxes, child support, alimony. It doesn’t help someone who has fallen on hard times if they lose their job because of a collection item or can’t get a job because of the same. The majority of people who are behind on their student loans or other debts are trying to survive in today’s economy where everything is getting more expensive but the cost of living adjustments have remained stagnant. Tuition rates keep rising but salaries do not, well unless you are a corporate CEO. Cutting taxes on corporations does not trickle down to giving employees more money. Those cuts result in more profit for the CEO and the shareholders. States like Tennessee need to get on board and realize that you can’t legislate out of poverty if your rules are what is keeping them there.
This notion does seem rather backward. There are many reasons why an economy could be failing, but I think this is probably up there on the list. It seems counterproductive to prevent young, educated, individuals from getting work because they are carrying debt behind them. Sure, I won’t deny that there is some liability here but the fact is, especially in today’s time, that many recent graduates are going to have school debt. This is also a shame to see because many of these individuals are among the best candidates for a job.
I don’t wish school debt upon anyone, but there is something to be said for “having some skin in the game.” This is something that my mom has always told me and to be honest it really has been a big motivating factor throughout my college career. At the end of the day, debt is a very serious thing and I sucks to see Americans suffering from the cost of education, with tuition prices only increasing I fear that this problem will only get worse and decrease the number of people that choose to go to college.
Well this is a horrifying state of our country: "In 20 states, government agencies can revoke driver's licenses, hunting licenses, and (most importantly) occupational licenses simply because the license-holders fall behind on student loan payments, according to an investigation published last week by The New York Times." The idea that getting behind on debt allows the government to prevent you from driving or working is ridiculous, especially in light of the GOP's plan to destroy access to higher education by taxing graduate student's stipends, loans, and scholarships. I had the wonderful gift from my undergrad institution to go to a college that was a no-loan institution that protected its students from having to graduate with debt. Now, on my own and in school once again, I am confronting being in massive amounts of debt for the first time in my life, and it is terrifying. The idea that a job I have won't be able to cover my payments, or even worse if the bill on these tax changes happens, I might not be able to work 10 years in a non-profit for loan forgiveness. This country is shooting itself in the foot if these changes do pass, and higher education will become a burden people will be unable to handle nor willing to attempt.
This is shocking that states would take away professional licenses for unpaid student loans. It seems a lot like debtors prisons. Logically, how would someone pay a debt if they cannot work? We outlawed debtor’s prisons, we should also outlaw any means of taking away someone’s livelihood for an unpaid debt. I have seen a lot of things lately on Facebook about how student loan providers are some of the largest lobbyists to Washington. I understand that there is no inherent corruption in the practice of lobbying, but when a corporation can spend so much money to further their profits at the expense of students who often have never had to deal with money before, it seems like corruption to me.
Post a Comment