Obama's college loan scam

Conn Carroll:

The Atlantic's Daniel Indiviglio has a good piece on President Obama's new student loan executive order showing that the program will only save the average graduate less than $10 a month. Indiviglio writes:

Of all these parts of Obama's executive order, the loan forgiveness aspect will have the least impact. By moving the timeline from 25 to 20 years, it could be significant in the long run -- but it won't be felt for decades. Remember, 82% of the current student loan debt outstanding was accrued in just the past decade. So it will be at least another 10 years before any of those borrowers have hit the 20-year mark in their student loan payments.

Actually it's a lot weaker even than that. Indiviglio appears to have overlooked the fact former students -- the vast majority of those who have racked up student debt over the last decade -- won't qualify for the program. The College Fix reports:

To qualify for the income-based repayment program, however, a borrower’s loan must have originated during or after 2008, and have at least one loan that originated in 2012 or later. Thus, if you graduated in 2011 or earlier, you don’t qualify.

In other words, this plan is forward looking only. If you have already graduated, can't find a job, and are occupying a tent in a park, you don't qualify....

... 

This looks pretty laughable when you consider the run away cost of higher education that is at the heart of the problem and that is not even addressed.  Obama is not eager to undercut his buddies in the faculty lounge even if the students are getting screwed by paying exorbitant costs for degrees of dubious value and incurring in the process crushing debt that cannot be deduced by bankruptcy.