Education is one of the surest ways to ensure long-term wealth and to break the chains of poverty by allowing upward economic mobility, and yet, the cost and relative value of higher education are in the spotlight like never before.\u00a0 The cost of an education has skyrocketed over the past couple of decades, while the ability of most to finance that education without the use of student-loans has become increasingly unlikely.\u00a0 As such, the pursuit of higher education in America often requires those with the least resources, and who would also benefit the most from it, to choose to go into debt in the name of that pursuit, using loans which utilize compounding interest, and which are managed by private companies who are contracted by the US government.\u00a0 Recently damning investigations have also shown that these same companies have often lied, misdirected, and mismanaged student-loans to allow interest to capitalize, causing the original loan amount to balloon far beyond the original loan amount, and keep those students in perpetual debt to them to continue collecting payments from them for years to come.\u00a0 Currently, the total student-loan debt bubble in the US is held by about 34 million people and stands at more than $1.5 trillion, which is more than the amount which caused the real-estate economic meltdown in 2008, and more than all current mortgages and personal debt (credit cards) in the US, and many fear that this bubble will pop eventually and create economic chaos.<\/p>\n
Many politicians have long championed the idea of some sort of student-loan forgiveness, but the idea has gained more traction due to several reasons.\u00a0 First, Pres. Biden campaigned on loan forgiveness of at least $10,000, which other candidates and politicians have pushed for $50,000 per borrower, or even full forgiveness.\u00a0 Now, as Pres. Biden approaches the mid-term elections, he has yet to fulfill his promise to those who voted for him based upon it, though a decision is expected soon.\u00a0 Second, the COVID pandemic resulted in the world\u2019s economy grinding to a halt, with many people finding themselves out of jobs as a result.\u00a0 One of the ways then Pres. Trump aided during this time was to institute a full pause on student-loan payments and setting the interest rates to zero.\u00a0 This pause was extended by Trump and has been further extended several more times by Biden.\u00a0 This pause has allowed millions to shake the burden of loan payments and pay down other debts, increase savings, buy homes, get married and have children, etc., many of which people with student-loan debt often delay or put off normally.\u00a0 Third, in light of the social justice movement in the wake of the death of George Floyd and others, loan forgiveness has been touted as a way of decreasing to wealth gap between White and Black Americans, as Black Americans and other minorities often have more student debt than their White counterparts, and often earn less as well.\u00a0 In effect, loan forgiveness can act as a de facto form of reparations without calling them reparations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now with inflation at historic levels, the debate over forgiveness and the payment pause has grown more intense, particularly between the two major parties.\u00a0 Democrats argue that forgiveness is essential to the overall economic health of the nation in the long-term and will benefit minorities without increasing inflation significantly in the near-term.\u00a0 They also argue that the pause must remain in place during historic inflation as people struggle just to afford gas and groceries, and that restarting payments would be cruel and economically crushing to those benefiting from it.\u00a0 Republicans argue that both loan forgiveness and the payment pause amounts to nothing more than a political bride to convince loan holders to vote Democrat in elections.\u00a0 They also argue that while inflation is high, employment is bountiful right now, and that forgiveness will increase inflation even more, and that forgiveness now would not be fair to those who already paid their loans off, those who are pursuing educations now or in the future, or those who have never gone to college (the vast majority of Americans fall into this last category), and that asking taxpayers to foot the bill for student-loan holders is not fair.\u00a0 It\u2019s worth noting that the idea of fairness applies to almost every taxpayer funded program\/policy, as there are always those who benefit from them, and those who gain no benefit personally but who nevertheless are still required to pay into the system via taxes.<\/p>\n
As students yourselves, I want you to think about all the above and analyze the issue.\u00a0 What do you think about the idea of loan forgiveness and the payment pause?\u00a0 Do you think they are necessary to preventing a bubble of epic proportions from popping and unleashing havoc on the economy, or do you believe that these students represent a minority of the population, knowingly went into debt to pursue an education in the hopes of making more money, and that they should be responsible for their debts?\u00a0 What about the loan system itself, which has shown to be predatory and systemically broken?\u00a0 How can that be repaired, if at all, and should people be asked to continue paying their loans to companies who have been shown to purposely mismanage people\u2019s loans, without these systemic issues being properly addressed first?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Putting student loan forgiveness in perspective: How costly is it and who benefits?Adam Looney discusses how to better target student loan relief on those in greater need, advance economic opportunity, and reduce social inequities.Adam LooneyBrookings<\/p>\n
Student Loan Forgiveness Is Bad Policy And Bad PoliticsLast week, President Joe Biden offered comments that triggered speculation about whether he\u2019s planning to unilaterally forgive hundreds of billions or more in federal student loans, a move that would have taxpayers pick up the tab.Frederick HessForbes<\/p>\n
Opinion | The selfish and extreme reactions in response to Biden’s student debt reliefThe student loan debate is merely another manifestation of our country\u2019s fetish for individualism.NBC News<\/p>\n
Who Really Benefits From Student-Loan Forgiveness?The proposal\u2019s prominence has less to do with its merits than with college graduates\u2019 agenda-setting power.Jerusalem DemsasThe Atlantic<\/p>\n
Why there’s a unified movement to cancel student loans but not credit card debt or mortgagesThere are some meaningful reasons that explain why there’s been such a strong, unified and widening movement to get education debt, in particular, wiped out.Annie NovaCNBC<\/p>\n
Americans support student loan forgiveness, but would rather rein in college costsA new NPR\/Ipsos poll finds majority support for forgiving $10,000 in federal student loan debt, but even broader support for making college affordable for future students.NPR.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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