It’s very hard to determine whom I am supposed to feel “sorry for” in the student loan debt “crisis”.
Having been a student loan holder at one time, I guess I should feel sympathetic for those also in debt. But I did receive services for the money that I was paid–just like they did. Plus, I got on the Dave Ramsey Plan and paid those loans off early–due exclusively to living below my means for awhile and spending every extra penny on debt repayment. I will grant you, this was before the days of unlimited data packages for cellphones, and ten subscription streaming services–each carrying just one show that I would want to watch, and when only pizza places delivered food to your door, and I didn’t drink coffee that can apparently only be made at drive-thru places along frontage roads. But there was no two year “pandemic relief” forbearance period during which time I was still working and making money–but that I had to pay absolutely nothing. And yet, we still managed to send Sallie Mae packing long before she was scheduled to do so.
I really want to feel sorry for college instructors who are being told that what they taught students in the past is now considered to be so invaluable and overpriced that the President himself has to step in and offer financial relief–like the students were the victims of some extensive ponzi scheme or natural disaster. But it is those instructors who chose what to teach in all of those classes. It’s not like K-thru-12 education where the school district or the state Department of Public Instruction decides what is going to be taught, and teachers just follow along with the syllabus. And if that instruction doesn’t fit the needs of modern society, then that is on the instructor. Plus, students get to choose their own majors and degree programs, so if they want to pursue learning that has no career path–that’s on them too.
There’s no way I’m feeling sorry for college administrators. Flush with the easy cash provided to growing student populations for decades, they went hog wild in creating layer upon layer of administration and “support” services on nearly every campus in the country. Not to mention the campus building booms. All of which justified annual tuition and student fee increases–which fed the student loan debt cycle even more. Whatever money was left over went into endowment and reserve funds that range from the hundreds of millions to billions of dollars. And to keep the cash flowing, admission requirements were lowered to ensure that even more people could get loans to come to school–even if they had no chance of being successful there.
I’m not even going to do the political pandering thing and say that I feel sorry for the “American taxpayer”–whom everyone believes is ultimately going to foot the bill for this. That’s because current taxpayers are NOT the ones that will be paying for this. Whatever student loan debt “relief” that is ultimately offered will be just another line item in the next trillion dollars added to the national debt. And the interest on that is going to be paid by the next generation of taxpayers–not me. (Unless you are a Modern Monetary Theorist, who believes that the debt should never be repaid and only continue to pile up because, hey, we can always print more money.)
So instead of feeling sympathy, empathy, or even relief for those with student loan debt, I will be over here feeling only contempt. Contempt that will grow as what should have been compensation for services rendered at college campuses is instead converted to the aforementioned cellular data, streaming services, home food deliveries, and drive-thru coffees. And contempt that will explode when those “given a second chance” now are back with hands extended asking for more in a few years.
And by the way, debt forgiveness is considered income, so you will have to pay taxes on whatever President Biden gives you. You might want to keep that in mind for next April. Remember, there are 87-thousand new IRS agents coming on board that will be looking for that kind of “oversight”.
