No one denies that America is in the middle of a student loan crisis. A staggering $1.6 trillion is owed by 45 million American students.
That puts the average debt at $33,000 and the average monthly payment at nearly $400. You don’t have to be on the right or left to see the crisis. You just have to be breathing. Everyone knows that something must be done. However, where Republicans and Democrats differ is on the best solution to the problem.
For Democrats, the solution of choice is student loan forgiveness. They want to have the federal government step in to pay off the individual loans, thus relieving the burden from the student. Like most liberal giveaways, it sounds great in theory, but has a few big problems that should not be overlooked.
First and most obviously, there is no such thing as the government paying for anything. If they spend money, it is only because they took it from someone else. Under the plans being proposed by leading Democrats, it would be up to poor people who never went to college to foot the bill for wealthy college graduates. Who in their right mind wants someone washing dishes to pay for a doctor’s medical school bills? It doesn’t make any sense.
Another problem with student loan forgiveness is that it rewards bad decisions. The reason college costs as much as it does right now is because government gives massive piles of cash to schools without any oversight. In an effort to attract young 18-year-olds to their campuses, schools deck themselves out with waterslides and free steakhouses for students to enjoy. If the government completely foots the bill for students, lavish expenses and exorbitant prices will only go up from here.
If someone wants to go to a ritzy university for a degree in Medieval poetry, that is fine by me. Just don’t expect your school bill to be paid by honest and hardworking janitors and garbage collectors.
The first lesson any student should learn is that decisions have consequences. Sending government in to save the day sets them up for a lifetime of failure, regret, and dependency.
