Student Debt: Hey Boomer, STFU.
Unf*cking The Republic
UNFTR Media
4.9 • 683 Ratings
🗓️ 21 May 2022
⏱️ 71 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Various sources report that the Biden Administration is set to release its plan to deal with student indebtedness. Cancellation? Forgiveness? Refinance? Today’s episode covers the spirited debate surrounding student loan forgiveness and the structural issues that plague the American system of higher education. We cover the history of student loans and how perverse incentives, corporate greed and colleges with endless appetites for growth created a juggernaut of debt and bureaucracy no amount of forgiveness can fix. And, we build a case for policy measures that can restore some balance in the system.
Chapters
Prologue: 00:01:25
Intro: 00:03:08
Chapter One: So…How bad is it? 00:04:07
Chapter Two: The Best of Intentions: 00:13:02
Chapter Three: Take it away, Sallie Mae: 00:20:36
Coffee Break: 00:29:49
Chapter Four: The Tuition Death Spiral: 00:30:31
Chapter Five: To forgive or not to forgive? 00:35:25
Post Show Musings: 00:47:05
Outro: 01:09:07
Resources
The Atlantic: Who Really Benefits From Student-Loan Forgiveness?
Education Data Initiative: Student Loan Debt by Race
Sallie Mae: Annual Report
Sallie Mae: Proxy Satement
The New York Times: Student Debt Is Crushing. Canceling It for Everyone Is Still a Bad Idea.
Brookings: Student loan forgiveness is regressive whether measured by income, education, or wealth
Jacobin: On Student Debt Forgiveness, Joe Biden Is Pushing Stringent Means-Testing Yet Again
Federal Student Aid: Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)
Book Love
Josh Mitchell: The Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became a National Catastrophe
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We understand that this debt can compromise your future and limit your creative ambitions. |
| 0:07.0 | We do not want to see this happen. |
| 0:10.0 | We want to empower your imagination, your creativity, and innovation. |
| 0:17.0 | So we are pleased to announce today that Evan and Miranda, through their Spiegel Family Fund, |
| 0:23.6 | have made the largest single gift in the history of Otis College. |
| 0:29.6 | Their gift will enable you to repay your student loans. |
| 0:33.6 | Would you like to try a college education |
| 0:42.9 | own your landlord's house |
| 0:46.9 | take the family on vacation |
| 0:49.5 | eva and her blessed fund can make your dreams come true |
| 0:57.1 | Here's all you have to do, my friends |
| 1:00.5 | Write your name and your dream on a card or a pad or a ticket |
| 1:04.6 | Throw it high in the air and should our lady pick it |
| 1:08.5 | She will change your way of life for a week or even two. |
| 1:14.3 | Name me anyone who cares as much as ever for a... |
| 1:16.9 | Go, go, go, go, go, and, row, and, row, and, go, go, and, go, and, go, and, go, and, |
| 1:23.6 | the performative benevolence of the capitalist class. |
| 1:29.5 | Operating under the assumption that tech oligarchs won't be able to subsidize education |
| 1:33.3 | in the entire country, the Biden administration is weighing options to potentially relieve |
| 1:38.0 | millions of student debt holders. |
| 1:41.1 | What will the process be? |
| 1:42.8 | Who will qualify for relief? Can he do it with an executive order? What happens next? |
... |
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