Noël Flynn is spending more than 80 percent of her income to pay back tens of thousands of dollars in debt for her Art Therapy degree. In 2016 alone, the Department of Education loaned $25.9 billion to students who, like Flynn, chose degrees under the umbrella of the liberal arts and humanities , an analysis by The Daily Caller News Foundation found. A significant portion of those students are unlikely to have the means to pay back their debt after graduating. “I find myself struggling financially, and the biggest reason why is student loans,” said Flynn, 23, who says she was told the loans “wouldn’t be overwhelming” once she graduated. Most federal student loan programs do not require a credit check , nor do they require a cosigner. Rather, the loans are backed by nothing more than the borrower’s future earnings with a college degree, but the kind of degree isn’t a consideration in the loan process. “What you make depends on what you take,” Anthony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, wrote in a 2016 report . “A major in social work pays $30,000 a year compared to $120,000 a year for a major in petroleum engineering.” Business, vocational, and STEM majors all have significantly better chances of paying off their loans, TheDCNF’s analysis of federal data shows. In addition to lower pay, many liberal arts and humanities majors enter a job market with less opportunity, leading to high rates of unemployment and underemployment, according to the New York Fed . Are students being set up to fail? The $25.9 billion in arts and humanities represents a massive annual investment in students who are likely to struggle to pay back their loans. Flynn said she was drawn to Art Therapy because it married her passion for art with clinical psychology. The program offered what she believed could feasibly become a viable career. But it wasn’t until her junior year when she started interning ...
Democrats offered 25 billion dollars
Democratic centrists flex power on Biden legislation
Sens. Joe Manchin Joseph (Joe) Manchin Overnight Defense: Capitol Police may ask National Guard to stay | Biden's Pentagon policy nominee faces criticism | Naval Academy midshipmen moved to hotels Progressives won't oppose bill over limits on stimulus checks Senate votes to take up COVID-19 relief bill MORE (D-W.Va.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and other centrist Democrats increasingly are in control of the fate of President Biden Joe Biden Trump State Department appointee arrested in connection with Capitol riot FireEye finds evidence Chinese hackers exploited Microsoft email app flaw since January Biden officials to travel to border amid influx of young migrants MORE ’s COVID-19 relief package — and perhaps broader pieces of his agenda. In a Senate where both parties hold 50 seats, a single defection by a Democrat can sink legislation, giving the centrists significant influence. Just this week, several Democratic moderates worked behind the scenes to limit eligibility requirements for individuals and couples who would receive $1,400 direct stimulus checks, lowering the threshold for the checks from $100,000 in individual income to $80,000. ADVERTISEMENT The House-passed COVID-19 relief bill allowed individuals earning up to $100,000 and couples earning up to $200,000 to receive some money from the stimulus checks. Under the changes demanded by the centrists, the Senate now cuts off payments for individuals earning more than $80,000 and couples earning more than $160,000. Now there’s a push being led by Sen. Tom Carper Thomas (Tom) Richard Carper Biden to meet with bipartisan lawmakers on infrastructure Five takeaways from dramatic Capitol security hearing Democrats worry Senate will be graveyard for Biden agenda MORE (D-Del.) to keep weekly federal unemployment benefits at $300 a week, instead of the $400 a week favored by Biden and most Democrats. “We’re thinking about offering” ...
Top Florida Democrat calls on FBI to investigate DeSantis over vaccine distribution
Florida’s highest-ranking elected Democrat is calling on the FBI to investigate allegations that Gov. Ron DeSantis Ron DeSantis Top Florida Democrat calls on FBI to investigate DeSantis over vaccine distribution Rick Scott caught in middle of opposing GOP factions Florida Keys enclave, home to political donors, received COVID-19 vaccine as rest of state struggled MORE (R) has used the state’s coronavirus vaccination initiative to direct vaccines to select communities in exchange for political contributions. State Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried accused DeSantis in a press conference on Thursday of engaging in vaccine favoritism, in which the state steered vaccine pop-up sites to communities associated with wealthy political donors, while other residents have struggled to receive their shots. “The fact pattern is simply just too clear to avoid,” said Fried, who is seen as a prospective candidate for governor in 2022. “Give campaign contribution big dollars, get special access to vaccines. Ahead of seniors, ahead of our teachers, ahead of our farmworkers, and so many of our residents here in the state of Florida who are scared and wanting these vaccines. If this isn’t public corruption, I don’t know what is.” ADVERTISEMENT “I know that we will get to the bottom of this,” she continued. “So I am asking the FBI public corruption unit to be investigating this.” Fried’s remarks came after The Miami Herald published a story revealing that nearly all residents 65 and older in a wealthy enclave of Key Largo had been vaccinated for COVID-19 in January, even as many of Florida’s most vulnerable residents scrambled to find available vaccines. All of the Key Largo residents who have donated to DeSantis’s political committee live in that specific enclave, called Ocean Reef Club, and all contributed $5,000 to the committee through December 2020, the Herald reported. About a month after the vaccinations in Ocean Reef Club, one of ...
Senate includes nearly $2 billion in cyber, tech funds to COVID-19 bill
The Senate included close to $2 billion for federal cybersecurity and technology modernization programs in its version of President Biden ’s proposed COVID-19 relief package. The funds fall short of the more than $10 billion originally proposed by Biden in his American Rescue Plan, but far more than the House included in the version it approved along party lines earlier this week. The House stripped out Biden’s proposed funds for these areas. The Senate included $1 billion for the General Service Administration’s Technology Modernization Fund, a fraction of Biden’s originally proposed $9 billion for the fund, which is intended to help the federal government launch new cyber and information technology programs. ADVERTISEMENT The Senate also included $650 million to help the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) increase its risk mitigation services. While this was less than the $690 million Biden has proposed for CISA, the Senate did include the $200 million Biden proposed for the U.S. Digital Service. A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer Chuck Schumer Ron Johnson forces reading of 628-page Senate coronavirus relief bill on floor Senate panel splits along party lines on Becerra House Democrats' ambitious agenda set to run into Senate blockade MORE (D-N.Y.), who unveiled the proposed legislation on Thursday, did not respond to The Hill’s request for comment on further details on the cyber and technology funding. Biden included the funds in his proposal following the discovery late last year of what has become known as the SolarWinds hack. U.S. intelligence officials have concluded the cyber espionage incident, one of the largest in U.S. history, was “likely” carried out by Russian hackers, and a White House official said last month that at least nine federal agencies and 100 private sector companies were compromised as a result. The breach was cited in the Biden ...
Exclusive–Ted Cruz Amendment Would Block Stimulus Checks for Illegal Aliens in Coronavirus Package
An amendment by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) to the proposed coronavirus relief package passed out of the House last week would ensure that stimulus checks are not awarded to illegal aliens living in the United States, Breitbart News has exclusively learned. Senate Democrats opened debate on the $1.9 trillion relief package without any GOP support, and it will need to go back to the House for approval if the Senate passes the legislation. Included in the package are $1,400 stimulus checks that currently could go to illegal aliens if not explicitly blocked. Cruz, in an amendment announced on Friday, is seeking to prevent illegal aliens from getting stimulus checks, which his office said would save American taxpayers nearly $8 billion. “Not only does this COVID bill fail to address the real needs of the American people who are suffering, but it hands out billions in taxpayer dollars to illegal immigrants,” Cruz said in an exclusive statement to Breitbart News. “Congress should come together to pass my amendment to stop this,” Cruz said. “We need to stand for the American people, get our kids back to school, and reopen our small businesses.” In the package’s current form, illegal aliens could secure subsidies for COBRA healthcare premiums. Last month, Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Todd Young (R-IN) helped pass a budget amendment — with support from eight swing state Democrats — to make it more difficult for stimulus checks for illegal aliens to be included in the relief package. John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter here . ...
