Posted on 07/04/2019 4:17:05 AM PDT by Kaslin
Bernie Sanders has announced a plan to cancel all $1.6 trillion of U.S. student loan debt. The plan has no eligibility criteria and would be available to the nation's approximately 45 million student loan borrowers -- both federal and private alike.
Most detractors are asking, “how are you going to pay for that?”
It’s a good question, but it’s not the only one to consider.
Everyone can acknowledge that college tuition rates have skyrocketed, making college attendance expensive and in some cases unattainable. But perhaps we should be asking why Sanders and other socialist-styled candidates want to focus their bail out on those who still have remaining debt?
Why not extend the bailout to everyone who’s suffered under the financial burden of higher ed?
After all, this is a generational problem, and each member of the millennial generation has suffered under this ballooning industry differently.
Some students have been priced out of the higher education market altogether, forcing them to forgo the college experience. These individuals forged other paths, whether it be technical training or directly entering the workforce. They did not take on debt and that was their wise choice.
Others chose to work their way through college, balancing work with study. While it’s not easy, conscientious young adults do this to avoid or mitigate debt while pursuing a degree. They graduate with no debt or manageable debt -- another wise choice.
Then there are the students who take on large amounts of debt to attend their dream school. They’re promised that their degree will help them get a good enough job that they can pay it back one day. Some pinch pennies after graduating and pay off that debt, but it takes discipline and requires making hard choices. In some cases, millennials have had to forgo buying a house, getting married, or even having kids in order to save enough money to pay off student loan debt. Nonetheless, this is the responsible thing to do.
For some reason, presidential contenders like Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have not offered a plan that benefits the portions of the population who avoided sky-high tuition or paid it off in a timely manner. Instead, they like to focus on borrowers who took on student loan debt and have yet to pay it back.
While 45 million borrowers is a significant amount of people, it’s only a portion of the population that’s been negatively impacted by the higher ed bubble. It’s obvious this debt is holding younger generations back, but Sanders’ plan to cancel student debt doesn’t reward the students who made smart, responsible choices. In fact, it does the opposite -- it punishes them.
Solutions to the cost of college tuition should be forward thinking, with plans to bring the cost down for future students. However if candidates insist on a reparations-style fix to this generational plight, it shouldn’t just be about canceling existing student loan debt.
It would be more reasonable to calculate the average student loan debt and qualify all college graduates a tax credit for that amount. This would ensure that responsible borrowers are also compensated for the insane tuition costs they had to take on in order to obtain a degree.
Of course, this plan of action doesn’t take into account those who avoided college altogether due to cost, (but many would argue this segment is doing better off financially anyway.) This point, however, shows how great of a slippery slope any type of retroactive financial policy can and will become.
Sanders, Warren, and the like don’t have the means to pay for their suggestions, but furthermore, fail to apply their programs fairly. For every person who wants their loan forgiven, there are those who already paid theirs off and will be damned if they have to help pay off someone else’s.
If you want to get serious about the burdens impacting younger generations, that’s fine. But forgiving current student loan debt ignores the root of the problem and punishes those who avoided debt or paid it off responsibly.
If the socialists cancel $1.6 trillion in student loan debts are they also going to cancel the pension and retirement funds that invested in them?
All the banks should be happy with that bail out.
Instead of actually being able to pay it off, you and me end up paying for it from now till eternity.
Wait till the lil snowflakes find out THEY are responsible for paying off all the other new flakes debts till they die.
Hey I have an idea: How about having colleges account for price gouging the hell out of tuition?
I think the crappy Democrat economy is the main reason that people are angry about student debt. There were a ton of people during the Obama years that graduated and had a heck of a time finding ANY job afterward. If you are flipping burgers your options are going to remain limited, regardless of how well educated you are unless you can build a better mousetrap (that is an app). If people can find jobs and advance, then having 35k of debt becomes an acceptable tradeoff because it enables you to make more money. There is a bunch of lefties that are embittered, and you will never reach them, but for most folks student debt vs improved earning ability is a straightforward calculation.
Oh it’s not really “cancelled”, it’s put on a permanent payment program.
Instead of actually being able to pay it off, you and me end up paying for it from now till eternity.
Wait till the lil snowflakes find out THEY are responsible for paying off all the other new flakes debts till they die.
________________________
Nonsense.
Force the evildoers to pay off the loans.
You know: the colleges and university that sold pigs in poke, overcharged and made bank on the nation’s future.
They have plenty of endowments and real property that can be taken to pay off the loan
and let the taxpayers off the hook.
Reparations for anyone that has ever been to college?
As a college graduate with 2 degrees, that could be lucrative for me, but then I'm left wondering (only for a second or two) who'll have to pay for it?
Then it hits me - no one. Socialism will collapse the monetary system long before the note comes due. No worries.
That would put the onus where it belongs.
Bad choices should be painful.
How about the non-Millennials it also screws over?
The entire point is to turn responsible Americans into chumps.
Teaching discipline and how do make hard choices is NOT what these students learn in college. They learn that they are victims (even of their own actions) and deserve to be taken care of.
My daughter and husband paid off $60,000 in student loans in three years by making hard decisions. But the did it. They will be pissed of everyone else gets off, just because.
Yup, those honest hard working folks who paid off their debt are really going to want to vote for the talking ani that just saddled them with more taxes to pay for SJW majors.
Much like every other rescue package. Did you buy a house way too big for your salary and stuff it with big TVs and furniture and game systems, and have two new cars in the garage, but for some reason are upside down on the mortgage? That’s fine, we’ll just raise taxes on the guy who bought a more reasonable house and is driving a used car so you don’t have to have any consequences for living it up.
Still angry about that.
College costs “skyrocketed” because the government got involved in the first place. It turned into a racket in many cases. It’s like somebody breaks your kneecap, hands you a crutch, and says “Aren’t you glad I came along?”
Does this mean that all of the millions and millions that paid off their student loans in good faith would be eligible for reparations??
Exactly! This Baby Boomer paid off a student loan for myself as well as for my son. Millennials have to be the most pampered generation evah! I couldn't wait to retire from a company that constantly wrung their hands trying to please easily-offended and clueless millenials.
make college debts dischargeable in BK court, and many of the problems surrounding student debt and the greedy liberal university “community” will solve themselves.
If you paid your debts, then you get the satisfaction of having paid your debts. Move on and prosper.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.