Ending the student-loan scam is crucial to fixing higher education
Fantastic news: The Trump administration has started collecting the defaulted federal student loan debts of millions of borrowers, ending a moratorium initially launched as a COVID-era stimulus effort.
The holders, of course, are at fault: If you take on debt, you're obligated to pay it back. And that goes double when you're in hock to the public.
And endless, ever-forgiven defaults raise the central question here: Who exactly is going to pay for this?
Advertisement
Yes, economic disruption during COVID offered a semi-reasonable justification for pausing payments, but the pandemic is now (at least) three years in the rear-view mirror.
But the left, spearheaded by President Joe Biden, stayed all-in on a 'forgiveness' jubilee.
Their excuse was noise about 'equity,' as if giveaways to college grads weren't the reverse of fairness.
Advertisement
In fact, the collections pause and the massive outright forgiveness were plain ol' cash-for-votes: Student-loan recipients tend to be Dems.
But Education Secretary Linda McMahon hit another crucial point in her remarks: The modern university, in many cases, is little more than a hedge fund with a four-year spa attached, is the real villain in all this
US schools, she noted, are required by law to keep defaults below certain thresholds or risk losing their eligibility for federal student assistance.
Advertisement
McMahon also warned universities that soon their loan non-payment rates will become public knowledge.
That last is key. Disinfect with sunlight!
As McMahon said, 'For too long, insufficient transparency and accountability structures have allowed US universities to saddle students with enormous debt loads without paying enough attention to whether their own graduates are truly prepared to succeed in the labor market.'
Exactly right.
Advertisement
These schools, remember, hijacked an effectively bottomless credit market and raised tuition to the heavens while hard-selling financially illiterate teens on assuming massive debt with the promise of future earnings gains, and offloading the risk onto Joe Public.
Even as the quality of their education went to pot.
It's a neat little system, but it's time all the delinquents here — the loan defaulters and the higher-education business — get held to account.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsweek
15 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Donald Trump Booed at Kennedy Center, Drowned Out By 'USA' Chants
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. President Donald Trump got a mixed reception at the Kennedy Center theater, where he watched the opening night performance of "Les Misérables" on Wednesday evening, but the boos and jeers were soon drowned out by chants of "USA". Trump waved and clapped as he entered the theater to the sound of both cheering and booing, a video posted to social media showed. A woman in another video can be seen shouting "felon" and "rapist" at Trump as another theatergoers urges her to "stop it". The president attended the performance with First Lady Melania Trump. .@realDonaldTrump gets cheered and booed at the Kennedy Center. — Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) June 11, 2025 "I couldn't care less" is what @realDonaldTrump said when asked what his response was to some Les Mis cast and crew potentially boycotting his attendance at the @kencen tonight This was the reaction to him walking in - a mix of cheers and boos More on @wusa9 — 𝙆𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙚 𝙇𝙪𝙨𝙨𝙤 (@KatieLusso) June 12, 2025 This is a developing article. Updates to follow.
Forbes
20 minutes ago
- Forbes
Trump Launches Signup Website For $5M ‘Trump Card' Visas
President Donald Trump on Wednesday night announced the $5 million Gold Card visa is now open for signups, allowing wealthy foreign nationals to register their interest in the program, which intends to offer them a fast track to U.S. citizenship—something the president has suggested may replace the existing investor visa program. US President Donald Trump holds the $5 million dollar Gold Card as he speaks to reporters while in ... More flight on board Air Force One, en route to Miami, Florida in April. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump shared a link to the website—which refers to the visa as 'The Trump Card.' In his post, Trump claimed, 'Thousands have been calling and asking how they can sign up,' for the program and noted, 'THE WAITING LIST IS NOW OPEN.' The website itself is thin on information, with no dates mentioned for when the so-called 'Trump Card' will be available other than a mention that it 'is coming.' The signup form on the website asks people to share their names, the region of the world they are from, if they are a business or an individual, and if they are signing up for themselves or someone else. According to the site, people who sign up will be 'notified the moment access opens' for the visa. The site also includes an image of the 'Trump Card,' featuring a photo and signature of the president—a version of which he showed reporters aboard Air Force One back in April. Trump first announced the gold card in February and he said it would grant recipients the same privileges as green card holders, who have permanent residency in the U.S. Trump argued the card was a way to get 'wealthy people' to invest in the U.S. by 'spending a lot of money, paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people.' Trump has claimed he does not need Congressional approval to launch the program, arguing that its beneficiaries are only offered a quicker path to citizenship rather than outright buying citizenship. At the time of the announcement, the president suggested that the gold card program could be rolled out within two weeks. But since then, details about a timeline have been scant. Last month, billionaire Elon Musk, who at the time was heading the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, tweeted that the government was 'doing a quiet trial' of the program, 'to make sure the system works properly.' Musk added: 'Once it is fully tested, it will be rolled out to the public with an announcement by the President.' But it is unclear what this supposed trial entailed. The Wired also reported last month that some 'U.S. permanent residents and foreign visitors' signing up for the Customs and Border Patrol's 'Global Entry' trusted traveller program were being asked if they had applied for the 'Trump Card Visa.' The new Trump Card website makes no mention of a launch date.
CBS News
24 minutes ago
- CBS News
Marine Corps battalion finish L.A. protests training, ready for deployment by Friday
The Marine Corps battalion dispatched to Southern California has finished its training for the Los Angeles protests and could be deployed by Friday, according to the Department of Defense. The 700 Marines based out of Twentynine Palms, which is about 140 miles away from L.A., will join the roughly 4,100 California National Guard soldiers protecting federal buildings and personnel during the anti-ICE protests that started on June 6, the U.S. Northern Command wrote in a statement Wednesday night. "They can and have accompanied ICE on missions, but they are not a part of the operations. Title 10 forces do not do law enforcement functions. They protect; they don't participate," U.S. Northern Command wrote. Title 10 of the United States Code allows the president to federalize the National Guard. However, the Posse Comitatus Act, a 19th-century law, bars the military from participating in civil law enforcement, unless the president invokes the Insurrection Act. As a result, the National Guard soldiers and Marines will temporarily detain an individual until transferring custody to civilian law enforcement personnel, according to U.S. Northern Command. When asked if he would invoke the Insurrection Act on Tuesday Mr. Trump said: ""If there's an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We'll see." In an interview with CBS News, L.A. Police Chief Jim McDonnell stated the city did not need the National Guard's help. "We don't need the National Guard, and they are not here to help us right now," McDonnell said Wednesday on "CBS Mornings." They are here to facilitate what the federal agencies are doing on the immigration front." President Trump mobilized the approximately 5,800 troops, dubbed Task Force 51, a day after the protests began. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Monday that the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, is "being deployed to Los Angeles to restore order." A top Pentagon official testified to Congress that the estimated cost of deploying the National Guard and the Marines is roughly $134 million. Mr. Trump said while walking on the red carpet of a Les Misérables on Wednesday night that the task force prevented L.A. from burning to the ground. "If we weren't there and didn't bring in the National Guard and the Marines, you have a city that is burning to the ground," the president said. Gov. Gavin Newsom and other local officials strongly opposed the move to federalize the California National Guard and deploy Marines to L.A. County. In a 28-page federal court filing, California Attorney General Rob Bonta asked a judge for a temporary restraining order by 1 p.m. local time Tuesday to "prevent the use of federalized National Guard and active duty Marines for law enforcement purposes on the streets of a civilian city." Following the filing and after Mayor Karen Bass implemented a curfew for downtown L.A., Newsom delivered a statewide address to denounce the Trump administration, calling the deployment of troops a "brazen abuse of power" that escalated the protests. "By night, several dozen lawbreakers became violent and destructive, they vandalized property, they tried to assault police officers," Newsom said. "This situation was winding down and was concentrated in just a few square blocks downtown. But that, that's not what Donald Trump wanted." In a post on his Truth Social platform, Mr. Trump said Wednesday morning that, "The INCOMPETENT Governor of California was unable to provide protection in a timely manner when our Ice Officers, GREAT Patriots they are, were attacked by an out of control mob of agitators, troublemakers, and/or insurrectionists. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
