Should Doctors Have Their Student Loans Cleared?

[Pink Partridge]

I think someone was proposing that physicians and nurses and other Covid-19 Frontline Workers have all student debt forgiven.

Do you think this will ever happen?

What do you think of this proposal?

 

[rwdavis2]

Probably not. How do you decide who should get loan forgiveness? It just sounds like an opportunity for lawyers to make money suing.

 

[piccolopat]

I think this is largely a feel good proposal. I would rather see a "hazard pay bonus" paid to health care workers who directly cared for COVID19 patients. This could be a flat amount per worker so lower paid workers get proportionally more than higher paid and people that already paid off their loans aren't left out. It can be done the same as the recent $1200 pp government check but it would require some sort of certification of eligibility.

 

[tzolkin]

No. Not every healthcare worker had an active role in caring for COVID-19 patients, so I don't see why this pandemic would be a reason to get extra money. Most have had no contact and many have been off work, furloughed, etc. They're not "putting their life on the line" any more than anyone else who is working and going out in public, so they're not more "deserving" than anyone else.

There's also not any fairness to it. Doctors/nurses who have been working overtime and budgeting to pay off their loans early or while in school so they took out less in loans would receive nothing. And others who have been less financially responsible would receive tens of thousands of dollars. In addition to this, many hospitals offer tuition reimbursement if you go to school while working. And many positions also offer sign-on bonuses to new graduates (which are intended to be used to pay down your student loans). I don't often see that in other professions.

*** My opinion is coming from someone who works in a healthcare field and whose husband and daughter also work in healthcare at the largest hospital system in our region. They are annoyed with the emphasis being put on nurses/healthcare workers over the last few months.

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

I think there may be better ways than paying off student debt to help essential workers.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I think someone was proposing that physicians and nurses and other Covid-19 Frontline Workers have all student debt forgiven.

Do you think this will ever happen?

The Department of Education can't even correctly forgive debt to the teachers it already told it would forgive debt to. I don't see how they would be any more competent with other people.

https://www.npr.org/2019/07/11/7398...e-u-s-over-student-loans-that-werent-forgiven

 

[QueenIsabella]

I don't like any government program that forgives student loans. You took out the loan, you pay back the loan. Time to be an adult about your choices.

I have no problem with COVID-19 workers getting overtime pay, hazard pay, whatever. They can spend (or even save) that as they wish.

 

[momz]

Absolutely NO! Those of us who worked our butts off to get through on minimal loans and then lived frugally to pay it off would get nothing. Meanwhile, others who borrowed up to their eyeballs, and haven’t lived within their means will be rewarded.

no way, not fair to the responsible ones.

i also agree that the attention on healthcare workers is not good. There are those that are proclaiming healthcare workers to be hero’s. And there are those that are blaming healthcare for their problems. I have an aunt who is beyond angry that offices are closed and us going on rants claiming that more people are going to die from lack of healthcare visits than die from COVID due to neglect. Ridiculous. I also have a sister in law who claims it is healthcares fault that the economy is on the toilet, because it’s the epidemiologists who said we had to shut down.
So much attention on healthcare workers and none of it is warranted.

 

[morgan98]

Many of the healthcare workers directly impacted are receiving hazard pay, bonuses and OT - all of which is warranted in my opinion. Compensate them for the work they did that way, the money gets into the hands (hopefully) of those that did the work.

I mean how would you even determine whose loans to forgive and I would think it would need to be an equitable amount. And a worker that doesn't have loans does not deserve less compensation than ones who do.

I am also sure that this is not going to come across correctly, but doctors and nurses take care of sick people. Was this an extreme situation - most definitely. However, hopefully they are getting the hazard pay, bonuses and OT mentioned above.

 

[mnrose]

I've long thought that people who go into public service type positions should get loans forgiven....that might mean teachers, lawyers who become public defenders, doctors who work in underserved communities. I would not give a pass to people who join the high buck end of a profession, such as lawyers in private practice, doctors who practice in wealthy communities for big bucks, etc. I think we need to do everything we can to encourage people to serve the underserved. It's very difficult to enter one of these professions which require advanced degrees (and make no mistake, most teachers now must have a masters level degree pretty quickly) and often crippling student loans, and then expect them to work in the areas with the most pressing need (which can often afford to pay the least).

 

[Searc]

Most states already have a nurse student loan forgiveness program.

 

[Moliphino]

Just forgive all student loans. And I say that as someone who has already paid off all of my $70k-ish in student loans.

 

[Dole_whip_doll]

I had to take out one small loan one semester because the organization I had a scholarship from hired someone new who was late sending stuff to schools. I want to say it was like $3000.

I couldn’t pay off the loan until after I graduated. So after grad I did 3 months of payments and then they told me because of my good payments, the rest was forgiven.

That is the only college loan I’ve ever had, so is that not a usual thing?

 

[mjkacmom]

I had to take out one small loan one semester because the organization I had a scholarship from hired someone new who was late sending stuff to schools. I want to say it was like $3000.

I couldn’t pay off the loan until after I graduated. So after grad I did 3 months of payments and then they told me because of my good payments, the rest was forgiven.

That is the only college loan I’ve ever had, so is that not a usual thing?

My daughter has been paying her loans for almost a year ($1000 a month), I don’t see any forgiveness in her future.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

They are the ones that can actually afford their loans.

 

[teller80]

I don't like any government program that forgives student loans. You took out the loan, you pay back the loan. Time to be an adult about your choices.

I have no problem with COVID-19 workers getting overtime pay, hazard pay, whatever. They can spend (or even save) that as they wish.

I agree. We scrimped and saved like crazy to put our two kids thru college with no loans, it's a slap in the face at this point to us to forgive everyone's loans. How about if you repay me the money we spent?

 

[emmybee]

My loans have been paid off. I do not care one whit if someone else in the HC field gets his/her loan paid off as a thanks for their work in this pandemic. I don't need anything in return but clean PPE and the support by administration to use it. I have no desire to feel superior by casting myself as more responsible than the next guy who is still shouldering a financial burden. There is no place in this fight for "What about me."

 

[FlightlessDuck]

So after grad I did 3 months of payments and then they told me because of my good payments, the rest was forgiven.

????? What in the what? Maybe because of the screw up in your scholarship?

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Maybe minimum wage should be raised so that students can work part-time to pay for college like they could 40 years ago. Or maybe college education is more expensive than it needs to be.

 

[C&Jx2]

As someone who JUST FINISHED my RN degree (this very morning!!!!), I say no. I think if there is any loan forgiveness program it shouldn’t be associated with COVID. There are important medical staff in all different areas of medicine just as deserving, and were before all of this began.