To write off or not to write off: Two sides of student loan repayment battle

[webfact]

 

The Student Loan Fund (SLF) is dismissing calls for it to write off 337 billion baht of loans taken by students to fund their education.

 

Over the past few weeks, thousands of people have been pushing for their student debt to be forgiven. The campaign, run under the hashtag #SLFdebtforgiveness, claims that canceling their debt would combat social inequality and support people’s efforts to improve their lives.

 

However, not everyone is convinced by this argument.

 

“Forgiving loans will not improve people’s access to education,” SLF manager Chainarong Katchapanan said. “On the contrary, it will deprive the younger generation of opportunities that SLF can provide.”

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/to-write-off-or-not-to-write-off-two-sides-of-student-loan-repayment-battle/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2022-08-23

 

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[connda]

So why not write-off peoples cars and trucks.  They are an economic burden.  'Eh? 

Taking out debt for education is a choice.  Responsible debtors pay-off their loans. 

[sammieuk1]

Yes better off hounding people to death and when you pay it off like my Mrs they can find no record of payment but unlucky for them she still had a receipt 8 years later ???? 

[Cake Monster]

28 minutes ago, connda said:

So why not write-off peoples cars and trucks.  They are an economic burden.  'Eh? 

Taking out debt for education is a choice.  Responsible debtors pay-off their loans. 

And there you have the Major issue over Student Loans.

Mom and Pop still want the little Darling to go to Uni, but are not prepared, or smart enough to Budget for this period in their lives.

However, Mom and Pop still want a new Car, latest Smart Phone and every other expensive device they can think of for Face.

 

[scorecard]

31 minutes ago, connda said:

So why not write-off peoples cars and trucks.  They are an economic burden.  'Eh? 

Taking out debt for education is a choice.  Responsible debtors pay-off their loans. 

There's also, in some countries, an attitude that good education is the foundation for the growth of the nation, so education is highly supported financially.

 

But of course there neds o be some logical rules and boundaries.

 

I got my Thai MBA students to do a project on this a few years ago, but with a twist:

 

- They had to create 10 ways in which a student, who had received a student loan could receive a % reduction in their loan balance (receive the reduction whilst still studying or after graduation) by creating something which was highly valuable, on-going, for society.

 

The sudents had to define a number of scenarios which could overall encompass all work and society situations, therefore every student could engage in the scheme. 

 

They also had to define what would bring a 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% reduction in the loan balance.

 

They worked in teams of 3 students. Some teams submitted some good ideas, others failed. (One team failed because their submission was based on how to conduct a nice party after the graduation ceremony and therefor get a reduction on their loan balance - not connected to the purpose of the case study,  but the MBA students involved couldn't see the point and, specific to this team, they submitted their idea 30 minutes after the case study started and didn't come to class for the next 4 lessons - the class room time given to all the students to work on/submit their proposals.). 

[Longwood50]

The loans while well intentioned give the colleges the knowledge that they don't have to be competitive with their tuition.  Also students can make really lousy choices obtaining degrees in disciplines that don't lead to a career. 

If the degree is really an "investment" that investment should produce a return with a higher paying occupation allowing the student to repay the loan.  If the investment does not lead to a higher paying occupation it is then a lousy investment and you should not be subsidizing things that are not worthwhile. 

If you have a person who instead of going to college opens up a small business and borrows money to get it started, do you then pay off their business loan as well.  How about the taxi driver who instead of college purchases a car so they can transport people or the person who buys a boat so they can engage in commercial fishing. 

Having people be responsible for the consequences of their decisions is the best way to be guaranteed that they will make those decisions wisely. 

[rbkk]

So, only being a student of the infamous 'Thai Logic' it would seem to me to be prudent and wise to get a Student Loan as large and quickly as possible because the odds of it being written off in the future are 50/50 which if a far better bet than the National Lottery and all with no capital outlay. Wise. You read it here first ...

Edited August 23, 2022 by rbkk

[seajae]

my wife came from a very poor family so she had to work to support her university studies, why cant other thais do the same, problem is too many are either lazy or think they are above having to work to support themselves in anything but the postion they want to be in

[OneMoreFarang]

It's (almost) never a good idea to provide anything for free.

When people have to pay at least a part then they think twice of what they use, and they are a lot more motivated to study if they have to pay for it.

I think there are already opportunities in place i.e. for doctors who get their education paid and then they have to work x years in government hospitals. I think that is fair and something similar can probably be offered in many different ways.

[mommysboy]

There's no doubt in my mind that large swathes of the population are now finding it impossible to make ends meet, let alone pay money back.  I wouldn't regard taking out a student loan in order to finance university education as being financially reckless at all.  The fact is the creditors are on a loser and they have to shoulder the hit-no choice really unless we want debtor prisons again (probably some boomers do).  The plain, simple, stark fact is that modern economies are just not working anymore for even hard working people. It's happened before, and the only answer turned out to be writing off debt.

[BKKTRAVELER]

2 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

And there you have the Major issue over Student Loans.

Mom and Pop still want the little Darling to go to Uni, but are not prepared, or smart enough to Budget for this period in their lives.

However, Mom and Pop still want a new Car, latest Smart Phone and every other expensive device they can think of for Face.

 

There is some truth to your post. Many times people spend too much or get heavily indebted with unnecessary flashy things. They should save instead if they have kids to be better prepared as you pointed out.

 

However, there are some cases where parents are poor but their kids are doing well in school and have the opportunity to get in decent universities. Parents know it's almost the only option for their kids to get a better life and break the poverty pattern. In these cases, I don't blame them for doing anything they can to make it happen, especially if they are not granted scholarships. And if they can't get student loans, they'll usually sell whatever they have or get mortgages if they have any assets (small land, house..).

Edited August 23, 2022 by BKKTRAVELER

[StevieAus]

2 hours ago, seajae said:

my wife came from a very poor family so she had to work to support her university studies, why cant other thais do the same, problem is too many are either lazy or think they are above having to work to support themselves in anything but the postion they want to be in

Rather than being lazy some students are fortunate that they don’t have to work to pay for their University education and not only in this country.

I worked full time and obtained a Law Degree in Australia studying part time and paying full university fees.

My Thai wife also from a ‘poor’ single parent family borrowed the money to study at university and I paid off the loan,

My daughter fortunately will not have to do that, lazy, no just lucky,

[Boomer6969]

IMHO writing the students' loans gives them a bad start in life. How will they learn to meet their commitments?

[scorecard]

47 minutes ago, Boomer6969 said:

IMHO writing the students' loans gives them a bad start in life. How will they learn to meet their commitments?

Good point but what about cut 50% off the balnce if/when they graduate and with a GPA of 3.3/4 or higher? (or something similar?)

[Cake Monster]

2 hours ago, BKKTRAVELER said:

There is some truth to your post. Many times people spend too much or get heavily indebted with unnecessary flashy things. They should save instead if they have kids to be better prepared as you pointed out.

 

However, there are some cases where parents are poor but their kids are doing well in school and have the opportunity to get in decent universities. Parents know it's almost the only option for their kids to get a better life and break the poverty pattern. In these cases, I don't blame them for doing anything they can to make it happen, especially if they are not granted scholarships. And if they can't get student loans, they'll usually sell whatever they have or get mortgages if they have any assets (small land, house..).

You are correct in pointing out this band of people that are genuinely poor.

And yes ! The way out from under all the poverty is Education.

It is my belief however that this is only a relatively small proportion of those who claim Student Loans, and more often than not, these are just the people that deserve all the help they can get through the Loan System, but they are still not catered for correctly, and have to resort to selling the Family Buffalo Etc to make the Education payments.

[Iamfalang]

In America, the "For Profit" scam colleges were busted.  Students were forgiven.  

 

If you get scammed, you don't have to pay it off just because you are told you must pay all your bills.   If a school fails a student by lying or not giving them what they promised, you should have rights. 

 

If I say I'll make you a doctor and send you a YouTube link and a bill for 500 million, will you pay because your parents said you must pay all your commitments?  of course not.

 

it's time to question everything................

 

then class action lawsuit, get 100 billion each.  get that money!!! 

[scorecard]

3 hours ago, mommysboy said:

There's no doubt in my mind that large swathes of the population are now finding it impossible to make ends meet, let alone pay money back.  I wouldn't regard taking out a student loan in order to finance university education as being financially reckless at all.  The fact is the creditors are on a loser and they have to shoulder the hit-no choice really unless we want debtor prisons again (probably some boomers do).  The plain, simple, stark fact is that modern economies are just not working anymore for even hard working people. It's happened before, and the only answer turned out to be writing off debt.

"...large swathes..."

 

True, my Thai adult son often tells me he sees situations where parent(s) previously had good/OK jobs, they were able buy small house (on mortgage) to get a roof over their head (not necessarily for prestige) and could ensure their kids ate well 3 meals a day etc. 

 

But now struggling with everything; paying 100 or 200Baht a month off their mortgage, scouring markets for cheap food, car gone now using cheap old mo-cy can only afford 10baht each top up for gasoline.

 

One old buddy got retrenched from good job as an engineer, now works 2 or 3 days a week stacking shelves in Makro for a pitance, well the national laws re daily minimum rate. 

 

And very little sign of any improvements.

Edited August 23, 2022 by scorecard

[Boomer6969]

5 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Good point but what about cut 50% off the balance if/when they graduate and with a GPA of 3.3/4 or higher? (or something similar?)

I think that the re-payment schedules should be readjusted as they move up [or down] in their careers. On the other hand there should be special study schedules for kids on full time or part jobs. Universities should assist somehow in the summer job market. Employers should also understand that applicant with [hard] work experience will be better than softies with a couple of internships. I could go on..

[scorecard]

2 minutes ago, Cake Monster said:

You are correct in pointing out this band of people that are genuinely poor.

And yes ! The way out from under all the poverty is Education.

It is my belief however that this is only a relatively small proportion of those who claim Student Loans, and more often than not, these are just the people that deserve all the help they can get through the Loan System, but they are still not catered for correctly, and have to resort to selling the Family Buffalo Etc to make the Education payments.

Nice points. Seems to me this discussion needs to be split into two discussions:

 

- Help/partial write off/full write off of old student loan debts, and

 

- New thinking / a new approach / new policies for the future supporting further education all aimed at rising the overall education level / capability levels of the whole country.  

[Sydebolle]

Payment for education with loans is creating new-slaves who, in many cases, never leave the debt trap. Education should be free for all, accessible for all provided they bring the necessary abilities along. 
A smart fellow from a poor Northeastern family has hardly any choice while some average if not under average student might crawl his/her way through university; in many cases depending on their parents "donations" to the "school fund". 

[DJ54]

Living on the dole…..

[hotchilli]

20 hours ago, webfact said:

“Forgiving loans will not improve people’s access to education,” SLF manager Chainarong Katchapanan said. “On the contrary, it will deprive the younger generation of opportunities that SLF can provide.”

Good argument..

A good education for students means learning that a loan is a loan not a gift.

[jacko45k]

1 minute ago, hotchilli said:

Good argument..

A good education for students means learning that a loan is a loan not a gift.

And 'brothers in law'?