[grecy]

> Once you default on a student loan, you'll be hounded for life: student loan debt is the absolute worst kind of debt you can have, as it is not absolvable by bankruptcy.

I've always wondered two things about this.

1. How is that even legal? I thought the whole point of bankruptcy was to raise a big flag that says "I can no longer pay my debts", and they go away. Why is student loan debt different?

2. Why do American students tolerate it? Look what happened in Quebec when they tried to raise tuition even a little.

[GFKjunior]

1) Congress passed a law after a lot of lobbying. The reasoning was that when a student graduates they have substantial debt and no assets, so every student would just declare bankruptcy the day after graduating and wouldn't have to pay back the providers.

[grecy]

So the lenders wanted protection.

They are now 100% guaranteed to make money by lending it to uninformed children.

Crazy.

[eli_gottlieb]

2. Why do American students tolerate it? Look what happened in Quebec when they tried to raise tuition even a little.

Just look at this thread: Americans are so incredibly enamored to market fundamentalism that they often can't see public policy when it's punching them in the nose.