The public comment period for Biden's student loan forgiveness plan is ending. 63,000 people responded.

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Photo above - Shaw University has the worst net return on tuition of any college in America (negative $121,000). But it has a dozen cheerleaders for its Division II basketball program, and a winning record!

I have to admit, I didn't realize there WAS a public comment period for student loan forgiveness. You may not have either. Perhaps it was by invitation only. Are there other public comment programs taking place? The wars in Ukraine and Gaza? Fed funds rate hikes? The new tax on our 401Ks? Sheesh!

I don't owe any student loans - that may be why I wasn't notified. My parents paid my tuition. I graduated with a dual major in English Lit and Cultural Anthropology. Stop laughing, this is really true. I had to teach myself basic survival skills in the real world. Debt collection. Telemarketing operations. Customer service scripts. How to communicate a change in terms to customers. Yeah . . . those aren't college majors. I know some people who took JAVA coding at college. They feel their degrees were pointless too, because nobody uses that anymore. They wish there'd been courses in videogame programming, like for Fallout.

Back to student loans. The link below provides amusing insights into the 63,000 people who did make comments. Most of them are deeply in hock to Uncle Sam, of course. Right off the bat, 22,000 people insisted – in a joint petition – that they personally and immediately should have all their loans cancelled. Sweet ambition, but not exactly hard to predict. Let's focus on some of the more interesting situations.

“Richard” borrowed $9,800 in 1989. He's 73 now, so that means he was 38 when he went to college, right? In any case, he owes $88,000 now. After 35 years. Apparently, he hasn't been making his minimum monthly payments. But I'm not going here to snark about his lack of diligence over 35 years. Rather, it's the student loan program itself that produces this result. You owe 1,000% more than when you started? WTH!!!! And these loan deals are still available, presumably. Some kid – or 38 year old – can take out a student loan today, end up in the same bottomless pit. How about reforming the actual student loan system before we sentence millions of new borrowers to 35 to - life?

If there was a gas station on fire, certainly someone should show up with hoses and extinguishers. But you'd also stop delivering new tankers full of gasoline to the site while the inferno was still raging, right?

Some commenters pointed out there was a disconnect between the AGE at which they got their loans (not just Mr. Richard, at 38) and an unrealistic assumption that they were on a midlife success path. I don't know what these middle-aged borrowers were studying. Cultural Anthropology like me? (I graduated at age 22). JAVA, to escape a life as a Starbucks barista? Medical coding, because you can work from home and care for your kids while doing something with a keyboard?

More than half the republicans in congress don't want to cancel anything. 70% of democrats do want to cancel, typically everything. But if that's off the table, then at least $10,000. Which won't help 73-year-old Richard and his $88,000 cement overshoes.

There's clearly no relationship between the course/degree you pick, and the amounts being loaned. Or the time left in the debtor's life to repay it. I'd be interested if ANYONE got turned down for anything.

Colleges got ALL the money. Students got huge loan bills, but evidently not degrees that could give them a chance at repayment. Let's start with three ideas, since the gummint has asked for comments.

- Stop handing out loans for degrees which are NOT related to earning a living. Art history, music theory, French literature, and cultural anthropology should be off limits.

- Put an age limit on this. If you're 40 years old and have suddenly been inspired to become a programmer, or medical coder, the odds of this working out are slim to none.

- Put colleges on the hook for some of these unpaid loans. At least HALF the balance, maybe more. If colleges had more skin in the game maybe they wouldn't be installing rock climbing walls at the student union building and concocting cafeteria menus with gourmet entrees.

I'm just sayin' . . .

~Biden’s student-loan forgiveness plan comment period is ending. Here’s what people are saying. (msn.com)~

windinhishair · 61-69, M

You might want to get a copy of the Federal Register (FR) or at least read it frequently. All significant federal regulations go through a process of proposal, revision, and promulgation and include at least one public comment period. The dates for public comment are published. When a new regulation is promulgated, the FR will include a summary of public comments and how they were addressed. That information is invaluable in understanding the rationale for the regulations and any changes that were made to them during the rulemaking process.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@windinhishair thanks for the heads up. do you read this? i don't see it in any of your own top posts.

in any case, i don't think the government should be using propaganda ("rationale") to influence people's votes during the comment period.

but then the government (both parties) uses propaganda endlessly, don't they?

windinhishair · 61-69, M

@SusanInFlorida I don't typically read it, but I have used the FR extensively for work, particularly in discussions with regulatory agencies. Sometimes they will give me bullshit (gasp!) about a particular regulatory interpretation and I will go back to the FR to show them that their interpretation was considered and rejected.

It is important to know WHY a certain regulation is written the way it is, and how it changes during the regulatory process. That's what I mean by the rationale, because they are required to show their thought process. Every public comment period results in something called a "responsiveness summary" that summarizes the comments and how they were addressed. If you see something in the future that troubles you, go read the responsiveness summary to public comments. It will enlighten you if nothing else, and may actually give you more to comment on.