<story><title>No Tuition, but You Pay a Percentage of Your Income if You Find a Job</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/08/business/dealbook/education-student-loans-lambda-schools.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nthot</author><text>Is it stepped at all? Do you owe nothing before 50k and then once you cross that threshold you now owe money? That would seem to incentivise staying below that threshold for a percentage of borrowers.&lt;p&gt;I also have difficulty seeing the first benefit you list as being a benefit. I don&amp;#x27;t have a problem with people pursuing degrees in fields that aren&amp;#x27;t big money makers, but I also don&amp;#x27;t know that the government should be in the business of incentivising people to study in these fields.&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, there is societal benefit to these fields being pursued in general. And the market economy may not adequately pay for the benefits it receives. As a society we wouldn&amp;#x27;t want everyone to major in poetry, though.</text></item><item><author>atiredturte</author><text>Australia has a system that, while different, has similar perks to this. We have a government loan system called HELP (formerly HECS).&lt;p&gt;Basically students can get a zero interest government loan (rises with inflation), and only need to pay it off once they make above a certain threshold ($51,957 according to the official website[1]). The payments are deducted as a percentage of your income, with the payments increasing with your wage.&lt;p&gt;This has a number of benefits:&lt;p&gt;1. Students whose degrees don&amp;#x27;t work out for them (i.e. can&amp;#x27;t find meaningful employment) aren&amp;#x27;t stuck with rising interest on their debts.&lt;p&gt;2. Allows poorer students to go to uni without parental support (I am currently a student and support myself entirely)&lt;p&gt;3. Reduces pressure on graduates to find a job just to pay off their debts. They can take their time to find a good job in their industry, rather than working lower-paying, unrelated work to pay off their loans.&lt;p&gt;My degree at UNSW in Australia will cost about $27k AUD (~$19k USD) and I&amp;#x27;m unsure about the costs of others in my country. Under the HELP system, Australians are allowed a fair go at an education, and can take their future into their own hands (rather than relying on their parents).&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.studyassist.gov.au&amp;#x2F;paying-back-your-loan&amp;#x2F;loan-repayment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.studyassist.gov.au&amp;#x2F;paying-back-your-loan&amp;#x2F;loan-re...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>grecy</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;I also have difficulty seeing the first benefit you list as being a benefit. I don&amp;#x27;t have a problem with people pursuing degrees in fields that aren&amp;#x27;t big money makers, but I also don&amp;#x27;t know that the government should be in the business of incentivising people to study in these fields.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s actually one of the best things about the system. Maybe you want to be a social worker who will never earn much but will make a meaningful difference in peoples lives, or a lawyer that only works for non-profits, or a doctor that only works for doctors without borders, or any one of ten thousand other examples where a person can make an extremely valuable contribution to society, but doesn&amp;#x27;t earn a ton of money.&lt;p&gt;You made the mistake of assuming that only people earning a ton of money make valuable contributions to a society.</text></comment>
<story><title>No Tuition, but You Pay a Percentage of Your Income if You Find a Job</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/08/business/dealbook/education-student-loans-lambda-schools.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nthot</author><text>Is it stepped at all? Do you owe nothing before 50k and then once you cross that threshold you now owe money? That would seem to incentivise staying below that threshold for a percentage of borrowers.&lt;p&gt;I also have difficulty seeing the first benefit you list as being a benefit. I don&amp;#x27;t have a problem with people pursuing degrees in fields that aren&amp;#x27;t big money makers, but I also don&amp;#x27;t know that the government should be in the business of incentivising people to study in these fields.&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, there is societal benefit to these fields being pursued in general. And the market economy may not adequately pay for the benefits it receives. As a society we wouldn&amp;#x27;t want everyone to major in poetry, though.</text></item><item><author>atiredturte</author><text>Australia has a system that, while different, has similar perks to this. We have a government loan system called HELP (formerly HECS).&lt;p&gt;Basically students can get a zero interest government loan (rises with inflation), and only need to pay it off once they make above a certain threshold ($51,957 according to the official website[1]). The payments are deducted as a percentage of your income, with the payments increasing with your wage.&lt;p&gt;This has a number of benefits:&lt;p&gt;1. Students whose degrees don&amp;#x27;t work out for them (i.e. can&amp;#x27;t find meaningful employment) aren&amp;#x27;t stuck with rising interest on their debts.&lt;p&gt;2. Allows poorer students to go to uni without parental support (I am currently a student and support myself entirely)&lt;p&gt;3. Reduces pressure on graduates to find a job just to pay off their debts. They can take their time to find a good job in their industry, rather than working lower-paying, unrelated work to pay off their loans.&lt;p&gt;My degree at UNSW in Australia will cost about $27k AUD (~$19k USD) and I&amp;#x27;m unsure about the costs of others in my country. Under the HELP system, Australians are allowed a fair go at an education, and can take their future into their own hands (rather than relying on their parents).&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.studyassist.gov.au&amp;#x2F;paying-back-your-loan&amp;#x2F;loan-repayment&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.studyassist.gov.au&amp;#x2F;paying-back-your-loan&amp;#x2F;loan-re...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>drieddust</author><text>&amp;gt; I also don&amp;#x27;t know that the government should be in the business of incentivising people to study in these fields&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s interesting. So do you want government to only fund the vocational courses and allow the rich class to be the torch bearer in research, art, and culture because only they can afford it?</text></comment>