We wanted to compile our previous posts on Donald Trump’s student loan positions below. Check back for updates.
Donald Trump on Income-Based Repayment (IBR) and Loan Forgiveness
On Wednesday, October 12, 2016, Donald Trump made his most detailed comments on student loans yet during a speech in Ohio. “Under my student loan program, we would cap repayment for an affordable portion of a borrower’s income at 12.5%…and if borrowers work hard and make their full payments for 15 years, we’ll let them get on with their lives, they just go ahead and get on with their lives, because it’s very very hard for young people.” (begins at 1:30 mark)
This general plan sounds similar to PSLF, where the forgiveness of the remaining balance of student loans comes at the 10 year mark. Donald Trump’s plan appears more generous with the 15 year mark for forgiveness in comparison to the current 20/25 year mark with REPAYE.
Donald Trump on Student Loans: Government Shouldn’t Make Money on Student Loans
Donald Trump Interview with The Hill (http://thehill.com/policy/finance/248913-trump-why-is-federal-government-making-money-on-student-loans) on July 22, 2015:
“One of the biggest questions I get is from people…even a little bit younger than you…they’re in college — they’re doing well, they’ve got student loans up to the neck. They’re swimming in these loans.”
“And one of the only things the government makes money on, and honestly that’s probably the one thing the government shouldn’t make money on.”
“I think it’s terrible that one of the only profit centers we have is student loans.”
“I’ll see so many young people and they work really hard for four years. They borrowed money. Their parents don’t have much. They work all together and they mortgage their future,” the real estate magnate said.
“They get good marks — I’m not even talking about the ones that are at the bottom, I’m talking about the ones at the top. They can’t get jobs and they don’t know what to do.”
“I don’t want to raise the minimum wage. I want to create jobs so people can get much more than that, so they can get five times what the minimum wage is.”
Trump’s position matches that of Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, who frequently criticizes the profits the government makes on federal student loans.
Donald Trump on Related Issue of Bankruptcy
Donald Trump: Bankruptcy: I’ve Used the Laws of the Country to My Advantage
Trump hasn’t rolled out a plan yet, but during the Republican Party Presidential Debates on August 6, 2015 (http://time.com/3988276/republican-debate-primetime-transcript-full-text/), he seemed amenable to a related issue, bankruptcy:
WALLACE: Mr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy. I want to ask you about your business record. Trump corporations — Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century.
In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: “I’ve used the laws of the country to my advantage.” But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars.
Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation’s business?
TRUMP: Because I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera.
I have never gone bankrupt, by the way. I have never.
But out of hundreds of deals…
WALLACE: No, but the concept sir…
TRUMP: Excuse me. Excuse me.
WALLACE: … that’s your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt.
TRUMP: Excuse me, what am I saying? Out of hundreds of deals that I’ve done, hundreds, on four occasions I’ve taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I’m not going to name their names because I’m not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they’ve used the law.
The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, “Trump, Trump, Trump.” The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I’m very proud of the job I did.
Again Chris, hundreds and hundreds of deals. Four times, I’ve taken advantage of the laws. And frankly, so has everybody else in my position.
WALLACE: Well sir, let’s just talk about the latest example…
(APPLAUSE)
… which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off.
TRUMP: Well, I…
WALLACE: Is that the way that you’d run the country?
TRUMP: Let me just tell you about the lenders. First of all, these lenders aren’t babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK?
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
You know, I mean you’re living in a world of the make-believe, Chris, you want to know the truth.
(APPLAUSE)
And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, which by the way, Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt.
(LAUGHTER)
Every company.
And let me just tell you. I had the good sense, and I’ve gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I’m very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it.
WALLACE: So…
TRUMP: And by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess.
[…] do not see President Trump eliminating the PSLF program also because during his campaign, he basically offered a student loan plan that would be almost as generous as the PSLF program, […]