Obama's Student-Loan Order Saves the Average Grad Less Than $10 a Month
"By calling for these measures, President Obama seeks to respond directly to young Americans stressed about their student loans. Indeed, one of the vague objectives of the Occupy Wall Street movement is for student debt forgiveness. But from a practical standpoint, these executive orders won't have much of an impact. To take on the student debt problem more aggressively, the president would need some actual legislation that would shake the fundamental framework of the student loan system."
And in the USA TODAY: "Currently, borrowers who qualify for the income-based repayment program can have loan payments capped at 15% of their discretionary income. After 25 years of qualifying payments, the balance of the loan will be forgiven. Under the administration's proposal, payments would be capped at 10% of discretionary income and forgiven after 20 years.
However, this expanded relief would only apply to loans issued in 2012 or later, says Michael Ryan, vice president of American Student Assistance, a non-profit that helps borrowers manage their debt. Borrowers with loans issued before 2012 would be subject to the existing income-based repayment standards, he says."
AFTER 2012!!!!!
But of course the big publicity push is on now---for votes.
