Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

TargetMost8136 t1_jarloyj wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in [OC] Nearly 15% of U.S. families in the bottom quintile by income have outstanding student loan debt by CheeryOaf

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