Staggering student-loan debt burdens hundreds
of congressional staffers
Business Insider,
by
Warren Rojas
&
Camila DeChalus
Original Article
Posted By: Imright,
12/16/2021 9:16:23 AM
Lawmakers can't agree on how to save college students from years of stifling loan debt. It's an ideological tug-of-war that can't end soon enough for millions of Americans.
It's also a fight that's personal for many congressional staffers who work under those members, and who are still paying off the bills for their own educations — with some having paid over decades.An Insider analysis of congressional financial disclosures for 2020 and 2021 found that Congress itself was profoundly affected: About 360 high-ranking staffers owed money on student loans. Dozens of these staffers either work for House or Senate leadership,
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Roscoelewis 12/16/2021 9:22:02 AM (No. 1008847)
How about having the students pay back their own loans as they agreed to do and are obliged to do.
52 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Proud Texan 12/16/2021 9:22:10 AM (No. 1008848)
TOUGH COOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
22 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
curious1 12/16/2021 9:24:04 AM (No. 1008851)
And who, exactly, held a gun to their heads and 'made' them take out those loans? And choose a poli-sci major or other soft subject? Better get AG Garland to have the fibbies tracking down those armed robbers right away!
Why should the rest of us pay for these stupid twits' stupidity? Stupid should hurt, but leftards always try to get someone else to pay for theirs.
34 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
harleynyc 12/16/2021 9:25:37 AM (No. 1008857)
My kid's on the Hill, and the Law School tab get's paid as it should. Some people become responsible adults, and some don't. If they're not a responsible person, we do not want them on the Hill or anywhere near it.
26 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Petronius 12/16/2021 9:31:19 AM (No. 1008865)
I held down a full time night job and went to classes during the day, no student loans. I guess that is too much to ask these days. As a plus, many places of employment offer tuition assistance, the only catch is it has to be a useful degree (no master's degree in puppetry) and you have to actually pass your courses.
21 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
jalo1951 12/16/2021 9:31:53 AM (No. 1008866)
Put pressure on the colleges. As long as the government will give a loan to anyone (the only requirement is to be breathing) they will raise the tuition, the government will fork over the loan and the kids won't even begin to think of repayment. Colleges need to rethink what it means to go to college. There are a lot of courses that are required but are totally unnecessary for the degree they are studying for. My son has a degree in music education. Took a lot of good music / education courses. However, did he need a European History course? For his degree, no. For the school raking in more money, yes. If they would cut out useless crap courses the cost would be less, they would graduate sooner, and perhaps more would consider higher education because it is more attractive to them. BUT, this is the commitment they made when they took out the loan and it is theirs to pay back. My son graduated from college 10 years ago and is still paying on the loan. We help out when we can but I swear he spent at least 1 1/2 more years in college than was necessary.
15 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Toby Ten Bears 12/16/2021 9:33:40 AM (No. 1008870)
Well start paying them off, deadbeats.
18 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
singermom9 12/16/2021 9:34:50 AM (No. 1008872)
Yeah, well MORTGAGE PAYMENTS BURDEN many workers in the US. Pay those off first. Car loans too. How about just pay EVERYTHING off and we start at zero again.
14 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
seamusm 12/16/2021 9:36:16 AM (No. 1008876)
The problems are multifold. High schoolers are the victims of guidance counselors who deceive them that college is a necessity for everyone while the reality is that many kids would be better off learning a trade. Junior College is WAY less expensive than going to a four year school and would be a much less debtful way to find out college was the wrong path. But even those who ultimately become grad-school professionals would be better served by similar less expensive routes. Our young impoverished adults should have ways to work our debt through public service but I am dead set against making prior educational
8 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
wilarrbie 12/16/2021 9:36:25 AM (No. 1008877)
Perhaps college costs are too high. Anyone doing a cost analysis?
12 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
seamusm 12/16/2021 9:37:45 AM (No. 1008879)
Stupid keyboards! I am against making prior educational debt everyone else's problem.
7 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
WV.Hillbilly 12/16/2021 9:39:27 AM (No. 1008882)
"with some having paid over decades."
It takes a long time when you only make the minimum payment. If you even make it at all.
The average salary of a Senate attorney is $95,000 a year. Pay your damn loans.
10 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
mifla 12/16/2021 9:46:32 AM (No. 1008899)
And thousands of people have mortgages, where are their checks?
7 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
NorthernDog 12/16/2021 9:50:27 AM (No. 1008907)
Forgiven debts are considered to be taxable income. Do they want that law wiped away too? If so then it's valid to say the college degree is itself worthless.
4 people like this.
They went through college and law school and took a low paying job with hopes of political gain.
When my daughters left for college I told them they could choose whatever major they wanted, and go to the school they wanted and graduate with no debt. But they needed to be ready to live on what they could make at the job that degree would result in. If they choose psychology or communication, they needed to be ready to live on a Bed, Bath and Beyond salary. They both chose engineering.
8 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
TLCary 12/16/2021 10:01:51 AM (No. 1008919)
I think they call this: PRIVILEGE and Rich People Problems. The burden of a Federal Government job that pays more than the private sector and the same degree is a prerequisite? Plumbers and truckers who didn't get go deep in debt and don't make as much money should pay their student loans for them? Sorry, busy paying too much for food, gas... taxes. They are standing too close to the trough and their greed is showing.
9 people like this.
That's what happens when one goes to private colleges and universities for no good reason!
2 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
zephyrgirl 12/16/2021 10:09:47 AM (No. 1008936)
I worked full time, and got a graduate degree at night. It took several years, but I paid every penny myself. People used to do that all the time, now they think they deserve a free education. It doesn't work that way.
6 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
Philipsonh 12/16/2021 10:23:33 AM (No. 1008954)
It is not the taxpayers fault that these individuals took college curriculum that do not lead to a good paying job once graduated. They could have become tradespeople with NO college and NO debt. Most of us have debts, whether it if for homes, vehicles, medical bills, etc. Do We have the debts paid off by OTHERS. I have nO debt, but if debts will be paid off by others, I will go today and loan $100K+. Why not, it will be YOUR debt.
1 person likes this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
mamateach 12/16/2021 10:30:48 AM (No. 1008965)
Are these the same staffers who are exempt from vaccines? Asking for a friend.
7 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
Highvoltage 12/16/2021 10:49:32 AM (No. 1008988)
They have been suckling mom and dad for money all these years now it’s time to pay their own loans as they signed up to do. No taxpayer money for them - never.
2 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
franq 12/16/2021 10:50:21 AM (No. 1008989)
So?
1 person likes this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
snowoutlaw 12/16/2021 10:50:44 AM (No. 1008990)
Nancy Pelosi, Bernie, Boxer and many other Congress people are millionaires many times over, they could pay these loans off with out blinking an eye. FJB could donate 1% of his 10% and probably cover it or Hunter could sell a painting or 2 and donate the bribes to the staffers?
6 people like this.
Where's the legislation to prevent this from happening to other students .... in other words, let's end government involvement in student loans. Return them to the private sector only. Private lenders made sure student loans went to a career path that guaranteed students would be able to repay the loan.
Or how about a simple new rule on government student loans: you don't get to finance a second degree until you've paid back the loan on your first degree.
3 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
bigfatslob 12/16/2021 10:58:27 AM (No. 1009006)
College what an expensive joke. Dumb down useless individuals making student loans to complete their high school education.
Remedial math, simple English, history of the 1960s, liberal arts pay out the behind for this and in debt the rest of your stupid life. Somewhere in my young days I learned, borrow money, make a loan you pay it back in a designated time or even early to save interest owed. My sympathy meter for these dumb down dweebs just doesn't move from zero. MAGA
4 people like this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
Heil Liberals 12/16/2021 11:14:39 AM (No. 1009031)
Tough shite!
PAY YOUR DEBT!!!
4 people like this.
Reply 27 - Posted by:
columba 12/16/2021 11:17:37 AM (No. 1009035)
I paid mine.
3 people like this.
Reply 28 - Posted by:
paral04 12/16/2021 11:49:21 AM (No. 1009072)
First, they are supposed to be intelligent people so they knew what heir obligation was when they took the loan. Second, we need to find out why it is costing such an obscene amount of money to go to a college/university? They classroom's are packed and taught by student teachers in many cases. Many of the science classes have one hundred students in the lecture hall at the tune of $400 a credit hour each. Where are all these fees going? It is especially egregious for state run colleges where taxpayers are funding money. We need to look at the perks, such as the Chancellor having his own quarters and in some cases a plane. Where does this person need to go that public transportation can't take him/her/it?
6 people like this.
Reply 29 - Posted by:
VietVet68 12/16/2021 11:53:55 AM (No. 1009082)
So who forced them to go to an expensive liberal college? I didn't so I don't want my tax dollars used to bail them out. I attended college for a while, recognized the folly, then opted for a technical career at AT&T that didn't require a college degree and never looked back.
5 people like this.
Reply 30 - Posted by:
Strike3 12/16/2021 12:16:55 PM (No. 1009116)
In my Father's world it used to be easy, you signed your name at the bottom of a loan application and did whatever it took to pay it back, even if it meant delaying the purchase of that new home or car. The government "guaranteeing" student loans changed all that. I don't think a salary of $174K is insufficient to make a student loan payment in spite of what the Puerto Rican Donkey says.
3 people like this.
Reply 31 - Posted by:
bad-hair 12/16/2021 12:18:19 PM (No. 1009119)
FTA ... Lawmakers can't agree on how to save college students from years of stifling loan debt
How about don't take on stifling loan debt.
3 people like this.
Reply 32 - Posted by:
skacmar 12/16/2021 12:22:51 PM (No. 1009124)
There are a lot of very stupid smart people working on Capitol Hill. If they can't figure out how to pay their own bills and debt, how can they be expected to figure out how to budget and run a country? No wonder the country is running such a big deficit. The people running the country don't know how to budget, be responsible to handle the money they have, or pay the loans that they legally obligated themselves to pay back when they signed on the dotted lines to get he money. I think everyone in Congress needs to read something like the Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and use it a s a guide to make financial decision for the country and their personal lives. Of course they won't, as it involves deferring things in order to get out of debt.
2 people like this.
Reply 33 - Posted by:
Strike3 12/16/2021 12:31:24 PM (No. 1009136)
#10, the cost of the actual education is not all that high but when students are forced to pay for sports stadiums, pools, athletic scholarships so their star players can enjoy a free four years with a degree in ball-handling, bands, cheerleaders, travel to out-of-state games, million-dollar coaches, buses and other vehicles, security, etc. If one does the math (assuming one CAN do the math) I would wager that college athletics make up more than fifty percent of the entire tab for a four-year education whether you participate or not.
1 person likes this.
Reply 34 - Posted by:
stablemoney 12/16/2021 12:42:55 PM (No. 1009152)
Congressional staffers get paid a salary. Use that to pay off your debts. BTW, the payoff terms are very generous, and loan workouts are available. If student loan debtors have a problem, the government provides budget counselors to help them make a budget.
1 person likes this.
Sorry kiddies, but just because you are congressional staffers doesn't make you exempt from paying back your debt. If you chose poorly, that problem is on YOU. Not the taxpayers. My guess is AOC is beating this drum so hard because she herself has a lot of student loan debt hanging over her head as well.
2 people like this.
Reply 36 - Posted by:
DVC 12/16/2021 1:05:47 PM (No. 1009186)
Pay it back youself, you deadbeat slackers.
2 people like this.
Reply 37 - Posted by:
Kumoan 12/16/2021 9:17:09 PM (No. 1009600)
I would guess that a large number of these staffers went to schools that offered useless degrees majoring in hate-America bilge at high prices, so instead of becoming educated persons their heads were filled with marxist mush...so send all the bills to Chairman Xi.
1 person likes this.
Reply 38 - Posted by:
doctorfixit 12/17/2021 2:50:38 AM (No. 1009752)
If you don't want to stagger then don't borrow the money in the first place. Score - Zero Fs
1 person likes this.
Reply 39 - Posted by:
judy 12/17/2021 5:24:27 AM (No. 1009796)
Where's the concern & sympathy for the private sector? Poor little government employees. Soooooo maybe Biden can stop the billions of $$$ being spent on illegals & keep his promise of student loan forgiveness??? His priorities are ????
1 person likes this.
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