I consider myself fairly progressive. Although I eschew labels as artificially confining I admittedly tend to lean on the liberal side of the political spectrum.
That being said, I know my feelings on student loan forgiveness might be unpopular with my leftist friends.
It will take a lot of convincing arguments for you to convince me to support student loan forgiveness. Seriously, I like to think of myself as a rational person and I am open to rational argument.
I do believe in student loan reform. I know first hand the problems and issues with predatory student loan programs. I can back reform. I'm not so sure I can back wholesale loan forgiveness.
Because to me, loan forgiveness reeks of entitlement. People want the cake and they want to eat it too.
I know there are individual cases where a tragedy has occurred in someone's life that cause hardship in repayment. Death of a partner, chronic illness, catastrophic accidents, cancer, divorce etc can all be circumstances where I think processes for easing student loan debt can be considered.
But in the majority of loan cases I sense from the people I have spoken with...they simply don't want to pay them off. They want the big house and the new car and the exotic vacations now. I know so many people who complain of student loan burdens yet jet off on European vacations every year. I have also known people personally who are not of that group, people who are working hard and living frugally and the loan is a real struggle. But the majority seem to be of the entitled group.
There are plenty of loan forgiveness programs in existence. Teach at a Title One School. Work as a doctor in an under-served rural community. Work for a legal aid office in a low income neighborhood. There are dozens of opportunities to make a difference for the poor and under-served and at the same time getting your loan forgiven.
Yeah, you might not be able to be a hedge fund manager and get your loan forgiven. You might need to help people first. You might not be able to open a concierge medical office until you pay off your loans.
One of my problems with student loan forgiveness is that no one forced you to take that loan. No one forced you to go to an expensive school. If you are lower income, grants and scholarships are widely available. Many top schools are now paying for a low income student's entire tuition. No one is forcing you to go to an Ivy League school.
There are many great options. State schools, community colleges and affordable private schools are everywhere.
If you don't like the fact that some can afford those elite schools and other can't, then your problem is with capitalism and that is where our reform should be focused.
I went to a small private liberal arts college. I was lower income so I qualified for a lot of grants. But the school I freely chose was expensive. I took summer classes and night classes during high school through local junior colleges to get a lot of the basics out of the way. Dual Credit classes were not available.I took those JUCO courses to save money.
I still came out of college with around $27,000 in student loans. That would be around $51,000 today. I know that doesn't seem much compared to the triple digit loans I'm hearing about today. It just boggles my mind that people can get themselves in a situation where they are in triple digit debt!
I paid my student loans off in ten years. It wasn't fun. It was sometimes stressful. Granted I didn't have kids for most of that period. And I was lucky not to have a catastrophic illness or suffer through a divorce, etc.
But we lived in a modestly sized home. After three years we moved into another modestly sized home and have lived in that house for over 20 years. We didn't live extravagantly. We were teachers after all. But we still traveled. But we were careful with our budgets. We still enjoyed life. We even had a couple of new cars over the years.
When I decided to get a masters at an expensive school, I paid cash. I did odd jobs around the school to pay for it, like working the soccer game scoreboard or proctoring SAT exams. I graded AP exams in the summer. Nothing from my regular salary went to paying for my master's degree. I had promised my wife no loans. I had a kid at that point as well. And I was still a teacher. So I know it can be done.
It's hard for me to feel sympathy for most of those seeking loan forgiveness. There are specific cases that I can get on board with. But I sense from my personal encounters that most just want an easy way out. They just don't want to be burdened with the responsibility.
So yeah, convince me. I'm going to need some convincing. Because I work at a Title One School and have for over twenty years...and the irony is that my school's administration was so inept during my early career they never filled out the proper paperwork to be considered Title One by the Federal Government. By the time they got their act together, my loans had long been paid off.
Let's not expect a free ride. To me it reeks of buying votes.
