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Education The Almighty Buck

Millions of Borrowers May Be Eligible For a Refund On Student Loan Payments Made During the Pandemic (cnbc.com) 171

There's good news for the millions of people with federal student loans who've made payments on that debt during the Covid pandemic: many of them will be eligible to get the money back. CNBC reports: The U.S. Department of Education says that many borrowers eligible for President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan who made payments on their debt during the pandemic-era pause on the bills will automatically be refunded. The relief policy has been in effect since March 2020, and is scheduled to end Dec. 31. More than 9 million people made at least one payment on their federal student debt between April 2020 and March 2022, according to the government. The vast majority of borrowers haven't made any payments, taking advantage of the suspension of the bills and accrual of interest.

Payments made since March 2020 on federal student loans eligible for the pause should now be refundable, said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz. The roughly 5 million student loan borrowers who have commercially held Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) weren't eligible for the payment pause and won't be for the refund either. Any payments made before the pandemic also don't qualify, Kantrowitz said.

Not all borrowers need to apply for the refund, said Elaine Rubin, senior contributor and communications specialist at Edvisors. The refunding process will be automatic for borrowers who are eligible for student loan forgiveness and for those who made voluntary payments during the pause that brought their balance below the maximum forgiveness amount: either $10,000 or $20,000, Rubin said. "They will be offered an automatic refund for the difference," Rubin said. If you paid your loan in full during the pandemic, however, you'll have to take action and request the payments back. Borrowers who have refinanced their federal loans will also need to ask their student loan servicer for the refund, Kantrowitz said.

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Millions of Borrowers May Be Eligible For a Refund On Student Loan Payments Made During the Pandemic

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  • Good News, Everyone! (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    We stole money from a bunch of really poor people to give to wealthy privileged people, who are more likely to vote for us. Three cheers for us!

    • This steals money from the future. Without knowledge of how the tax code changes over the next few decades, we have no idea who will pay for this.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by burtosis ( 1124179 )

        This steals money from the future. Without knowledge of how the tax code changes over the next few decades, we have no idea who will pay for this.

        Won’t someone think of the grandchildren’s grandparents?
        But on a serious note this is why America has browbeat the world into adopting its currency. When it prints more, it dilutes the world and gives to “the right people”. It’s another reason why, historically, quantative easing does not cause inflation at a level you would expect with a cursory domestic analysis. If you can get foreign people you don’t even know to foot a big chunk of the cost, and supreme militar

      • Well then...why do we only go back to the start of the pandemic to pay back those loans.

        There's millions of people for decades past that had student loans and paid them (in some cases paid them off, go figure)....why are we cutting them off from the Uncle Sam college gravy train?

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by dbialac ( 320955 )

        They're predatory loans with absurd interest rates that cannot be removed via bankruptcy.

        ROTFL. While the second part is true, one of the lowest interest rates I ever paid in my life was my student loan... the one I paid myself in full with no subsidy.

        Student loans are disproportionately spread among people with Latin heritage. Does that scream "wealthy and privileged" to you?

        They have wealth and privilege after they graduate from college because they get better, higher paying jobs with better social connections. Try losing the victim mentality and thinking things through next time.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Wealthy privileged people don't generally have student loans, you imbecile.

        100% of the wealthy people I know, including myself, have student loans and plan to take as much out in student loans as available, YOU imbecile. How hard is it to do the math: 10% investment returns - 6% student loan interest = free money and school. (Thus Biden is only giving me the money earlier than it was being given to me anyway. I squeaked in the 2020 threshold at $246K but missed it last year.) Of course, we're not in t
      • by mrex ( 25183 )

        Wealthy privileged people don't generally have student loans, you imbecile.

        The FAFSA line is plenty long at Oberlin, brother.

  • by jageryager ( 189071 ) on Thursday September 15, 2022 @05:28AM (#62883657)

    Those unexpected refunds, the ones going to people who paid their loan during the pandemic. The people that have money. The ones that you're going to give the money back to. I'm sure they won't spend it. I'm sure that won't cause inflation.

    • by DarkOx ( 621550 )

      Yes well direct payments to potential voters right before elections is now the go to strategy. I wish I could blame Democrats for this but really it goes back to at least - GWB's 600 dollar checks.

      Being able to buy votes with the public purse is not just one more advantage of being the incumbents. I even suspect the public at large sees this for the naked vote purchasing it is - but I also am not confident they care. To be honest I am not sure I care. We are really at an inflection point in our history he

      • by CubicleZombie ( 2590497 ) on Thursday September 15, 2022 @08:57AM (#62884017)

        GWB's handout was $200 per person. But at least it was fair. Everybody got it.

        This is a big FU to everyone who paid off their loans.

        • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15, 2022 @09:02AM (#62884037)

          This is a big FU to everyone who paid off their loans.

          My husband and I both paid off our loans. This isn't a "big FU" to us. And even if it were, you wouldn't care, because all you're doing is parroting a reactionary talking point. Just because things were shitty for us for a long time doesn't mean we want them shitty for everyone else in perpetuity.

          • I do care, and it does make a difference because all this loan forgiveness is going is going to cost 2500$ per a tax payer, this means we either won't be able to do other projects like health care or infrastructure and contrary to popular believe money doesn't grow on trees. Money and taxes are a zero sum game, if you divert money to one area you take it from another. Eventually we will be paying so much debt interest that the system will break down. I'd rather have a functioning country.
            • I do care, and it does make a difference because all this loan forgiveness is going is going to cost 2500$ per a tax payer

              So you're concerned that it's costing a tiny fraction of your tax payable once off? Oh no!. Maybe stop funding your war machine instead if you want to save money. Tax is designed to be spent on improving the lives of the general populace. In the grand scheme of what your tax money gets spent on, this isn't very offensive and actually has a positive benefit.

              Money and taxes are a zero sum game, if you divert money to one area you take it from another.

              Indeed. Stop spending tax money on useless shit and start investing it in people.

      • I wish I could blame Democrats for this but really it goes back to at least - GWB's 600 dollar checks.

        I'd use FDR as a better example. Not the first, mind you, but, in general, the "bribe the voters with their own money" thing was about all FDR did other than WW2.

  • INFLATION? HELLO? (Score:5, Informative)

    by mrex ( 25183 ) on Thursday September 15, 2022 @05:48AM (#62883673)

    So inflation is skyrocketing, leading to massive embarrassment just this week for the White House as they staged a very public celebration of the "Inflation Reduction Act" on the same day that another unexpected and huge rise in inflation was announced.

    All the economists I've read indicate that this sort of massive government spending will only add fuel to the fire.

    So, why is this "good news" again? Because it temporarily helps get votes for the preferred candidate, while impoverishing us all in the long run? The people getting this benefit will pay for it in unaffordable housing, $10 gallons of milk, etc.

    • by guruevi ( 827432 ) on Thursday September 15, 2022 @06:30AM (#62883727)

      The people it benefits are already at the higher end of the income brackets and cheer for this as higher prices in stores doesnâ(TM)t impact them. The rich always benefit the most from socialism and communism. As Margaret Thatcher said, as long as the gap is smaller, theyâ(TM)d rather have the poor poorer.

      • Bullshit. My GF makes below poverty wages where she works a job requiring a 4-year degree. She is not even close to being wealthy.

        • Do you mind sharing the industry?

          Personally, I think it doesn't make sense to spring for a four-year degree in an industry that will then pay below poverty wages. One would be better off going to a trade school and learning a trade that pays much better. Or picking a different four-year degree.

          Or is she entry-level and just paying her dues as she builds experience in the field?

        • My GF makes below poverty wages where she works a job requiring a 4-year degree.

          I know a LOT of starter jobs, even for college grads starts low, but below poverty wages?

          I'd be curious about what line of work this is for what degree...

          And I might recommend she look for a better paying job if this, in fact, is the case...

          Good Luck to you and her.

        • enterprise car rental? must be why they push the add ones so much.

        • by guruevi ( 827432 )

          What do you consider poverty wages? And why get a degree for that field at all then?

      • The people it benefits are already at the higher end of the income brackets ...

        The cutoff for the student loan forgiveness is $125k for an individual and $250k for married (see below). Is that what you consider to be the "higher end of the income bracket"? If so, I've got some news for you -- it's not.

        Under the administration's plan, federal student loans borrowers who make less than $125,000 per year as an individual – and if married, less than $250,000 in combined income – are eligible to receive $10,000 in forgiveness.

    • Inflation is skyrocketing because corporations are raking in record profits knowing that they're untouchable. Oil has been this price-per-barrel before, but for some reason oil companies are making more money than previously. It's because they can. Same with a lot of pre-packaged food companies. They all claim it has something to do with the supply chain, but if you scrutinize them for even half a second you realize that they have no problem making their product and overcharging all of us for it.

      And then wh

    • So inflation is skyrocketing, leading to massive embarrassment just this week for the White House as they staged a very public celebration of the "Inflation Reduction Act" on the same day that another unexpected and huge rise in inflation was announced.

      Yes, because everyone knows that the goals of any bill are fully realized immediately after it's signed into law. They were celebrating the fact that it was passed and signed, not that its goals had been realized one month later -- especially as many of the provisions won't even go into effect for a few years.

      • by mrex ( 25183 )

        First of all, that's not true. Only one day earlier, the Biden administration had been claiming that inflation was falling.

        Secondly, why is the Biden administration implementing inflation reduction measures that, by your own admission, will take years to take effect? Are we expecting to confront crisis-level inflation for years, now? And if so, why is the Biden administration sticking to its increasingly dubious claim that this bout of inflation is temporary?

        Third, why do all the economists who look at the

    • So I don't know what the hell you're talking about with inflation skyrocketing. There was a significant risk because of the railroad strike but Biden averted that.

      Economists I'm reading are saying that we're on track to control inflation unless they're the same Yahoo's trying to cause a recession because they're hoping to get wages down. The problem with inflation was a combination of supply chain issues and huge de facto monopolies. The supply chain issues are clearing up but we've got a long way to go
      • by mrex ( 25183 )

        So I don't know what the hell you're talking about with inflation skyrocketing.

        Yes you do, don't lie. You've got Fark in your damn signature, and there have been several articles on Fark about the inflation numbers that came out this week.

        Economists I'm reading are saying that we're on track to control inflation

        I guess expecting any level of genuineness in this dialog was shooting for the moon. I missed. You're not clueless, you're a PT Barnum, a marketer.

    • by giampy ( 592646 )

      If you run the numbers, we're talking about a hundred B$/year in a 25T$/year economy, so even if all the refunds get spent (and it won't) the effect on inflation is less than half of 1%.

      Also, to the extent this is paid for in taxes, then the money paid in taxes won't get spent so that has a negative effect (that is decreases) inflation.

      So, no, you should not expect loan forgiveness to change inflation in a measurable way.

  • This is wrong (Score:5, Insightful)

    by davide marney ( 231845 ) on Thursday September 15, 2022 @05:54AM (#62883679) Journal

    Sometimes people do things where there might be some question about whether it's right or wrong. This is not one of those times. This is flat wrong. It's wrong to force people to pay other's debts. It's wrong for the one who receives it, they didn't earn it. It sends all the wrong messages about how one needs to manage debt. It devalues the currency we're all using, which hurts people on fixed incomes such as retirees. It's unfair on its face, and regressive as hell. It hurts the poor the worst of all, and helps the rich.

    Shame on you, Democrats. You complain about the Republicans and then pull a stunt like this. How do you expect people to take what you say seriously or honestly, now? Bah.

    • Re:This is wrong (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Thursday September 15, 2022 @07:22AM (#62883797)

      In that case I expect every republican to immediately repay their forgiven PPP loan.

      • They can also make it illegal for private equity firms to borrow against a company's value to buy that company and then add that debt to the already often burdened company.
      • by DaHat ( 247651 )

        That's some pretty weak whataboutism you've got there.

        On the one hand, you have a 'loan' program, established through an act of congress and signed into law by a president, which specifically included clear language about forgiveness of PPP loans... on the other hand, you've got a president, acting unilaterally, exploding an existing law going back to 9/11 with clear language about specific and targeted forgiveness, expanding that to a blanket pass, citing an emergency which his administration has not once,

        • by DarkOx ( 621550 )

          Remember though - Trump was the the autocrat!

          Whatever a Democrat accuses a Republican of doing it is a 100% certainty they either have been doing it themselves for past two decades or have immediate future plans to do something similar but more blatant.

          Its just who the type of person that both identifies as a Democrat and actually seeks office is.

          • Fine, post all the democrats who took PPP loans. Congress members shouldn't be running million dollar businesses on the side either. Their primary job should be congress.

            • by DaHat ( 247651 )

              Fine, post all the democrats who took PPP loans

              Congress members shouldn't be running million dollar businesses on the side either.

              Why not? Or is it ok if their spouse or kids does it instead?

              Their primary job should be congress.

              Doesn't that depend on how much time congress is actually congressing? They have a loooot of downtime. Isn't it good to have people who understand how things other than congress work?

              Can we start with term limits? Citizen legislators, instead of career politicians?

        • That's some pretty weak whataboutism you've got there.

          No it isn't. I'm supposed to be outraged that a student was forgiven $10k when an already wealthy politician was forgiven $4 million? https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fb... [twimg.com]

          • by DaHat ( 247651 )

            Yes, it is.

            You're effectively dismissing speeding through a red light, while being angry that Trump did a lap on a NASCAR track.

            Apples and oranges.

            Both involve loans/autos, however the conditions around both are widely different. You focus only on the parts you care about and support your argument, and ignore the rest which disproves it.

            If you were honest, you'd take a few steps back and realize how very different they are, but you're not.

    • Wasn't there some famous quote about democracy being two zombies and a human deciding what to have for dinner?

    • Re:This is wrong (Score:5, Insightful)

      by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Thursday September 15, 2022 @08:11AM (#62883919) Homepage Journal

      It's wrong to force people to pay other's debts.

      In that case, you Republicans can pay for all the times you raised the national deficit in order to provide pork for the MIC, and a few paltry jobs for red staters. Get cracking, you owe us trillions.

    • by ljw1004 ( 764174 )

      Sometimes people do things where there might be some question about whether it's right or wrong. This is not one of those times. This is flat wrong. It's wrong to force people to pay other's debts.

      On the other hand, "let me craft a system where a group of people are disproportionately and unreasonably likely to have worse debt, through the incentives I create and the structures I set up, and by exploiting every advantage I have".

      In such a situation it's right and proper that a group of people who statistically benefited from that exploitation should be the ones who are forced to pay it back.

      (I think that US education system, the US prison system for poor people, and US historical racism, all fall int

    • I agree. Let's stop subsidizing suburban and rural communities who built towns and cities that require federal money to stay afloat. Let the rural communities deal with their own electrical, water, transportation, and data networks and stop expecting urban tax bases to prop up these financially degenerate communities.

      • by DarkOx ( 621550 )

        Ah this argument again. The one where some prick ubranite forgets where the contents of his cereal box comes form.

        You want to see some inflation at the grocery store - go right ahead cut those subsides to red states. Hint you will pay whatever they tell you to pay for corn, wheat, chicken, etc in that case because you like eating..

        With the exception of maybe some parts of Appalachia that has seen the coal industry devastated, those subsides are passed right back onto the rest of the country in the form in i

    • If you're over 40 odds are the State and Federal gov't paid for 4/5ths of your college education. They didn't hand you the check though, they gave it to the university who passed the savings onto you.

      If you're under 40 you started to see those subsidies removed. But again, if you've over 40 you already had Student Loan Debt Forgiveness, because the gov't paid to make sure you didn't have the debt in the 1st place.

      Oh, and if you didn't get a college degree.... what do you think made our economy grow
      • by mrex ( 25183 )

        I get it, no college degree, so you didn't have an economics course.

        This is a pretty ironic statement considering the complete lack of even the most basic economics knowledge that you, drinkypoo, and the other commies in the thread continue to demonstrate.

        Remember when your (presumably highly educated) colleague claimed in this thread that inflation's primary cause is corporate wealth hoarding? Yea.

        Or when YOU claimed that huge new deficit spending programs would have no effect on inflation? Yeaaaa.

        The kind

        • It's not corporate wealth holding. It's trusts and monopolies. You can find the infographic pretty easily but there's basically seven companies that make everything you consume. When you don't enforce antitrust law capitalism cannot function. You stopped doing the basic maintenance necessary to have a capitalist economy and you wonder why the system is breaking down.

          Going skip your oil changes for a couple of years and let me know how well your car runs. That's you but for the entire global economy.
          • by mrex ( 25183 )

            I pick trolls bigger than you out of my teeth.

            Trolling is, apparently, when I ask hard questions you can't answer. Or, I guess more accurately, easy questions that are hard for you to answer.

            Trolling is definitely not when you completely ignore the point the other person was making, and go on a content-free rant about muh capitalism unfair. I guess.

            You don't have anything of value to teach anyone, when you're sitting around in a Slashdot thread claiming that massive new deficit spending doesn't create infla

    • Re:This is wrong (Score:4, Interesting)

      by giampy ( 592646 ) on Thursday September 15, 2022 @02:40PM (#62885143) Homepage

      >> Sometimes people do things where there might be some question about whether it's right or wrong. This is not one of those times.

      Agreed. Because this is flat out right and it was about time.

      Education is a collective good and the most powerful source of progress. We as a society should invest in education, before we spend our taxes in other ways.

      >> It sends all the wrong messages about how one needs to manage debt.

      If you contributed to electing president somebody that filed for bankruptcy SIX (!) times, then I respectfully think you should stop lecturing people on the morality of debt repayment.

  • Makes sense (Score:5, Insightful)

    by registrations_suck ( 1075251 ) on Thursday September 15, 2022 @06:00AM (#62883683)

    Refund money people have already used to pay down their debt.... because they don't have money to pay down their debt.

    It makes sense because next we're going to "forgive" that debt, and make everyone else pay it off....you know...that debt the actually debtor already paid...with the money we're refunding.

    Honestly.....if you wanted to destroy the country, you would be doing exactly what politicians are doing today.

    • those college kids are growing the economy through increased Per Worker Productivity. It's not my fault you're not savvy enough to take advantage of that. Go start a business or something and stop complaining. You just got 45 million new customers. Go get 'em tiger!
  • by argStyopa ( 232550 ) on Thursday September 15, 2022 @06:42AM (#62883745) Journal

    ...trying to find every possible way to buy younger voters.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by quall ( 1441799 )

      With the current administration's approval rating, what else can they do? They clearly lack the ability to actually lead this country. All they've done is spend other peoples cash in the form of debt, including money that your children's children haven't even made yet.

      The families of those politicians are all that matters. They'll live rich lives at the general public's expense.

      • The life style of a hermit pays. Many people, the newly cast WFH generation, had cash on hand during the covid ecademic that they never had before. Simply the bars were closed and a good 10% of peoples income remained in the their walets. Alot of city apartments were given up and traded for mom and dads basement or second home. Add on reduced costs of communting, cloaths, car wear and tear, lack of travel destinations and low energy costs for the first year. I know I had 20% more money left for
    • These millionaires are younger voters? https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fb... [twimg.com]

    • if you're over 40 the gov't paid for 4/5ths of your college through indirect subsidies that were cut for people under 40. They did that to cut taxes on the rich (you don't think they cut your taxes did you, hahahahaa.... ) and to make a divide between old and young so you'd show up to the polls and vote for more tax breaks for the rich.

      Congrats, you just got played. Took 20 years to do it and they're laughing at you behind your back. If that makes you angry (it should) wake up and realize you're being m
      • Just a load of bullshit.
        Please, illustrate those indirect subsidies that paid for 80% of my college.

        Looking forward to it. I'm fairly well-versed in college costs in as controlled a comparison as we're likely to find:
        To wit: my dad went to U of MN in 1954. $350/year.
        I went to the U of MN in 1986: iirc about $3500/ year.
        My son went to the U of MN in 2016, $35000/year.

  • Please (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Thursday September 15, 2022 @07:34AM (#62883827)

    Republicans outraged over $10k for a student loan? How fast we forget about the banks.

    https://money.cnn.com/news/spe... [cnn.com]

    Where was the outrage then?

  • How to know you're middle class:

    1) The Republicans are taking your children's money.
    2) The Democrats are taking your children's money.
  • ...to take money away from uneducated people in lower economic classes who didn't take out student loans.

    The winners here are all the school administrators who have no incentive to lower their prices, or increase their efficiency.

  • I would be all for student loan forgiveness if we were simultaneously fixing the problems that lead to the current situation. But nothing is being done in that regard.

    Borrowers are still taking out loans they can't afford to get degrees that won't lead to making enough money to repay the loans.

    Educational institutions of varying qualities are still getting paid large sums of money to hand out those degrees. That includes for-profit institutions that don't even care that their degrees are worthless.

    N

  • I'm constantly amazed how many former students can't (or refuse to) grasp the reality that they got ripped off by colleges or universities who overpriced and oversold their education. There's all this "woe is me!" going around, about how tough it is to pay off student loan debt. But whether your loan gets "forgiven" or not? It means the school got away with it and fully profited from it.

    If government is seriously going to attempt to address this problem? They should start by clawing back the money from the

  • I see a few issues, #1 of which is that the people in power today benefitted from far lower tuition fees relative to salary when they were at college. I presume that the increases since then have a variety of causes, but if the nation wants educated people to spur the economy then it must not price young people out of an education.

    At the very least it could make it more tax efficient to send kids to school

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