This is what briebrie wants us to believe:

[George II]

Seniors graduated from college 40+ years ago, back when tuition was $1-2K per year (less than $10K total) And after 40 years they STILL haven't paid that off? WTF did they do with their lives and their degrees? If they still owe on their tuition loans the sure don't deserve to have that debt forgiven.

More lies and/or exaggerations coming from that corner.

Link to tweet

[Qutzupalotl]

1. Some returned to college late in life

and some cosigned loans for their kids. It wasn’t all 40+ years ago.

Edited to add: Many with advanced degrees paid a lot more and still couldn’t find decent paying work in academia.

[George II]

11. If they got advanced degrees and couldn't find decent paying work.....

....they didn't do their "due diligence".

My dream career was to be an architect. But at the time I was applying to colleges we evaluated the prospect of getting a job after graduation - at the time there was a glut of architects, so I shifted to engineering.

[Qutzupalotl]

14. Not true. Universities began using teacher's assistants

instead of hiring faculty.

There. Was. No. Work.

[msongs]

2. glad to hear she is gonna pay off debts for people. oh wait, she's not? nt

[mcar]

3. I'd like to see some facts about that claim

I'm 61, graduated from college 40 years ago. I was fortunate in that, between us, my parents and I covered my costs, but still my tuition at a private school was very affordable.

I suppose if I had gone back for advanced degrees in later years I may have accrued debt.

Oh wait, I just read this in the tweet:

In some cases, it was cosigning for their kids, but in many cases, like mine, it was a decision to return to college late in life.

We have carried debt for our kids' college. Oldest kid took it on himself once he got established; the younger is handling his own loans.

People over 65 have kids in their 30s and 40s. Are they really still carrying those kids' student loans?

[George II]

8. Carrying student loans for one's children isn't truly their "student debt" as is implied...

...and you're correct that their children would be in their 30s and 40s. Anyone who still owes on tuition loans at that point in their lives is doing something wrong. Lucky you had responsible children.

Back in the '60s when I applied to colleges, I was accepted by some of the best schools in the city, if not the state at that time:

NYU Engineering School, tuition was $1500/year (total $6000)
Pratt Institute School of Architecture, tuition was $1200/year (total $4800)
CUNY Engineering School, tuition was $0
Cooper Union School of Engineering, a highly rated private college with a 100% academic scholarship

No question about which I attended.

At any rate, tuition back then wasn't what it is today. If someone with a college degree is still paying off a student loan 40 years later something is drastically wrong. My first job out of college paid $10,000 - had I gone to NYU there was no excuse for still having debt at 65!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. It is true that some parents co-signed for their kids' student loans.

It's very doubtful that very many still owe on their own college loans after 40 years (although it took me 20 years to pay off the last of them). This statement isn't false, although I trust very little that comes from the tweet of BJG.

[Shrike47]

5. These are people who went back to school later in life, to be re-trained or whatever.

I remember a lot of that in the Bush Recession.

[George II]

17. My father went back to high school in 1957 when he was 38 years old....

...he had to quit high school in the 1930s to go to work and support the family.

He did quite well for himself.

[The Magistrate]

6. Slight Of Number Going On Here, Sir

'Fastest growing' reads as something large and ballooning. But a population of ten increased by two to twelve is growing faster than a population of one hundred increased by nineteen, if one takes the percentage value of the increase.

People go back to school, for a variety of reasons, at some advanced age. This segment may be increasing more rapidly in percentage terms than the number of younger students. Indeed it can do this while being a quite small proportion of new students.

[George II]

9. Pish posh, you're being WAY to logical and sensible!

[The Magistrate]

10. Simple Arithmetic Is The Beginning Of Wisdom, Sir

"If a man will continue to insist two and two do not make four, I know of nothing in the power of argument to stop up his mouth."

[George II]

12. Love it!

[catbyte]

7. Actually, I know a few folks over 60 who have student debt from having to get

retraining after their jobs were eliminated. Go Joe!

[Demsrule86]

13. She is talking about parent loans I think.

[More_Cowbell]

15. Onerous fees, penalties, and interest

My own numbers: I graduated from school in 1991 with $39k of undergrad and post-grad loans.

I paid them off mostly on time for 28 years, except during job loss and illness.

From 2015-2019 alone I paid around $24k on them. (I couldn't get the records for the other years from the government)

Amount owing in May 2019: $33k.

They were written off as "returned to the government," and I was paying $100 a month in "collection costs" even though no collection actions were ever instigated (no garnishments or anything) because I kept paying on my own. They couldn't be refinanced. My payments during those years, never less than $500 a month, weren't even making a dent.

Last year I borrowed the $33k from a relative and now I'm paying that person back. In 3 more years they'll be paid off, something that never would have happened with the same amount of money going to the government, as the interest, penalties, and fees kept accruing.

[scarletwoman]

16. Man, don't I know it! I only just paid off the student loan I took on for my son, in late 2018.

And I'm 70 years old now.