President Biden’s forgiveness of student loans — or of at least $10,000 — sure has put a damper on my enthusiasm over his deceptively named Inflation Reduction Act. I was thrilled about a cap on out-of-pocket Medicare prescription expenses and billions being dedicated to fighting global warming and saving our environment. I was also pleased to see it improve, by a point or two, Democrats’ chances in November.
I’ve never blamed Biden for the country’s economic woes. No single person, not even the President, has much control over something as massive and complex as the national economy. I chalk up most of the current chaos to Covid and the resulting social upheavals of job and business losses, kids out of school, supply chain shortages, the war in Ukraine, etc. Call me naive if you must.
Yes, I object to student loan forgiveness — for the reasons expressed quite well in these cartoons. Additionally, I think student loan forgiveness could lose more votes than it gains. I think it cuts into the political gains, if any, of the Inflation Reduction Act. Not to mention the need for young people to learn that when they take out a loan of any kind, they are expected to repay it in full. They, not the taxpayers down the street, are the responsible parties. And won’t students of the future be asking, “Why should I have to pay back everything I borrowed when those before me did not?”
I’m also asking myself why should the current generation of students get $10k or $20k worth of forgiveness when my son, now in his 50s, just finished paying off his student loan a few years ago. Yeah, it’s personal.
Biden is certainly not earning himself any forgiveness with this move. At least not from me.
Our granddaughter is now a sophomore at MSSU and our grandson starts there this year. We have saved and contributed to 529 accounts for them and another granddaughter ever since they were born, and now they all have more than enough to attend any nearby public institution. So, you express my feelings as well. That said, the reality is that Joe was forced by politics to make this election promise in order to get the turnout that put him ahead of Trump in 2020. To paraphrase Churchill, our political system is just awful, but it’s better than all the alternatives. Ugh.
“I’m not a member of any organized political party. I’m a Democrat.” – Will Rogers
Well, I certainly endorse beating Trump. And a promise is a promise, at least where I come from. I just hope our legal system puts Trump where he belongs before the next election. I can’t bear the idea of him running again, much less getting elected. And I’d prefer the Dems nominated someone younger than Biden but I haven’t a clue who that should be.
When I went to college, tuition and housing was much cheaper, even adjusted for inflation. My parents were able to shoulder most of the cost for my two brothers and me, with some $$ input from us (part time jobs), and they were solidly middle class. Although I don’t mind the loan forgiveness (I never have understood “I suffered so you should too” or, worse, “I had help, but I was deserving and you, obviously, are not”), I think the real issue that needs to be addressed going forward is the crazy high cost of a college education.
Oh absolutely. I don’t know how anyone affords college today. Even in-state universities are ridiculous. Maybe community colleges are a little better; I really don’t know. I do think that at the very least when a student starts college, the tuition at that time should be locked in and unchanged for the next four years. A contract. A guarantee. And an incentive to finish in 4 years. I’ve seen annual increases here so large that I don’t know how anyone can keep up with them and stay in school. But forgiving debts already incurred; I just can’t go along with that unless the school failed to provide something they’d promised.
Tuition costs are ridiculous and so are the interest rates for loans students pay. What about those with a single parent, or maybe this can occur to some couples, (they had to cosign private loans), whose temporary income misleadingly prevented them from qualifying for the type loans now being repaid by taxpayers. Instead, they had to take out private loans of high cost interest rate. There’s no subsidy for those student’s loans.
I think it’s generally unfair to single out any particular group for subsidies and loan forgiveness. Tuition is out of control; the colleges need to be reined in some way while the students continue to pay off whatever debts they need to incur.