Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

giant2179 t1_japjiu7 wrote

Splitting the upper quintile into two bars is really confusing and misrepresents the data

43

Otherwise_Extent_545 t1_japxjgq wrote

The data are beautiful but to your point this graph is not a helpful representation. See the other Debt post: [OC] The top 10% of borrowers hold almost half of all federal student debt

3

atomwrangler t1_japqlcn wrote

Alternatively: the poorest people carry the least student debt.

25

DCorboy t1_japsmsg wrote

Alternatively alternatively: most of the debt relief will go to the more affluent people.

8

10xwannabe t1_jatg7k4 wrote

I was thinking the same, but then got to thinking. This group is likely to have the highest ratio of debt to income so that would be bad. But then again they are also likely to be the group most likely to default and be in bankruptcy for one of MANY reason so maybe it doesn't even matter that they are carrying student debt? There are so many different ways to look at this data and extrapolate the meaning.

My guess, is this is likely: 1. The group who took on HUGE predatory private loans and 2. dropped out and didn't finish college so was a total waste even taking on that debt in the first place.

1

[deleted] t1_japmrun wrote

Why highlight this group? Seems like the least interesting piece here

9

TargetMost8136 t1_jarloyj wrote

Because higher income individuals have the ability to pay off student debt, so those aren’t as relevant. If you have 50k in debts but only earn 40k a year the debt will be a massive financial strain but if you earn 150k a year you don’t really have to worry about it

2

[deleted] t1_jarm1px wrote

I think the assumption that 20-60 percentile, even up to 80, have that much free income is not as realistic as one might imagine

1

TargetMost8136 t1_jarml9c wrote

I don’t disagree with that but the bottom 20% are probably not gonna have any financial wiggle room at all

1

[deleted] t1_jarr3ph wrote

I guess what matters between our perspective is what message you want this data to inform.

Highlighting low income earners distracts from the message of "what income bands are affected by student loan debt" which is what this is informing in my head canon.

Debt modification/forgiveness is not a "poor Americans" issue.

1

Fromthepast77 t1_jash3t1 wrote

If you earn $40k per year you pay very little under an IDR plan like REPAYE, which is 10% of discretionary income (income above 150% of FPGL).

1

rrocketman88 t1_jardn9k wrote

Yes. Student loan forgiveness is a money grab by the most affluent earners.

3

Unstuckmyselfat29 t1_japld41 wrote

Do they stay there? And they stay there. Up down, up down, up down. Cause all I do is win win win. And if you goin' in put your hands in the air make em stay there.

2

Weatherman_Phil t1_jattlmy wrote

At first I was surprised that lower income means lower student debt.

But it makes total sense.

If you have more student debt, you studied longer and now have a higher paying job. The system is working. If it was inverted, and lower incomes were correlated with more student debt, I'd be worried.

1