Proposal For New Lottery to Pay Off Student Debts

John Burzichelli, the New Jersey Assemblyman, has put forward a proposal for a new kind of lottery where the winner would have their student loans erased.

The idea would be that anyone with a student loan could enter their state’s lottery for the chance to win and pay off their loan. Borrowers would have to register information about their debts in order to play and then purchase tickets online. However, they wouldn’t be allowed to spend more than 15% of the loan balance on lottery tickets and any prizes would be taxed. Furthermore, if the winnings exceeded the size of the debt then any left over money would go to other borrowers.

The bill is likely to linger in the New Jersey Legislature for quite a while and it is likely to meet quite strong opposition as there will be concerns that graduates could create further debt for themselves while trying to win this lottery.