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College grads say, "whew!"
By KBell in According to K
October 25, 2011

Whew!

President Obama is expected to announce a new plan to help college students climb out of debt.

Part of the plan includes tweaking the Income-Based Repayment Plan. Grads now on the plan pay 15 percent of their monthly discretionary income, and the loan is forgiven after 25 years. Obama's new plan would reduce the amount paid to 10 percent of a student's monthly discretionary income, and the loan would be forgiven after 20 years.

For a graduate living alone, the payments would be on 15 percent of any dollars made above 150 percent of the poverty line. That would be any earnings more than $16,335, based on the 2011 poverty line, according to CNN.

Unemployed grads, which is at the highest number it's been in history, could pay nothing.

A blog at the Wall Street Journal suggests Obama is unveiling the plan to court young voters in the upcoming election.

The Chicago Sun Times jumps on board with the "Occupy" movement and asks why banks get big bailouts, while college grads don't get relief from student debt that is likely to exceed $1 trillion by next year.

Meanwhile, The New American laments that this initiative is another way Obama is circumventing Congress to push his policies.

As a recent college grad, I have probably a different perspective than a larger portion of America. I know how very long and hard many of my classmates looked for jobs. Several had to end up taking jobs outside of their major, though that's the gamble we took getting into journalism.

So what do you think about Obama's student loan initiative?