UPDATE: I earlier posted this diary over concern that Hillary hadn’t made clear her opposition to the government profiting from student debt since it wasn’t mentioned in the op-ed she published today nor on her web page under student debt. It’s been pointed out to me that she did write about this point in a fact-sheet posted elsewhere on her site. She has come out against government profiting from student debt. I stand corrected.
What appears below is the original diary
Hillary Clinton has an Op-Ed on today’s Huffington-Post covering her plans to deal with the crushing student debt problem. She lists some ideas such as income based repayment plans and lower interest rates but nowhere does she mention the fact that government is profiting from this crisis.
She can’t be ignorant of the problem. Elizabeth Warren has highlighted this as far back as 2014:
This is obscene. The government should not be making $66 billion in profits off the backs of our students. [I]nstead of investing in our children and their futures, the government is squeezing profits out of our young people and adding to the mountain of debt they will spend their lives struggling to repay.
Bernie Sanders stance on this issue is clear from his web page:
- STOP THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FROM MAKING A PROFIT ON STUDENT LOANS.
Over the next decade, it has been estimated that the federal government will make a profit of over $110 billion on student loan programs. This is morally wrong and it is bad economics. As President, Sen. Sanders will prevent the federal government from profiteering on the backs of college students and use this money instead to significantly lower student loan interest rates.
Checking Hillary’s campaign web page also shows no mention of this issue. So as it stand Bernie is the only Democratic candidate who clearly states that the government profiting off student debt is wrong.