Dear President Obama and every Congressperson, Senator, and presidential candidate,
As I was indulging in my morning ritual of sipping a cup of coffee and reading the news, I came across an article that hit me with a wave of nausea faster than some of you swing a nine iron on the golf course. New research was released saying that the top 1 percent of student loan borrowers have loans of more than $150,000. Rep. Paul Ryan also launched a plan that will hit poor students the hardest by wanting to cut Pell Grants.
My relaxing coffee break quickly came to a halt, but I've had a lasting pit in my stomach ever since reading that article.
Immediately, I launched into panic mode. I racked my brain for options. Drop out of graduate school? Respond to the typo-ridden post looking for journalists in Latvia? Create a time machine to erase my decision to go to an out-of-state school and instead enroll in a community college (also known as 'the government's only plan of success')?
Obviously, I hold full responsibility for my loan debt. It was my decision to go to an out-of-state university, choose a notoriously low-paying job field, and enroll in the money pit known as grad school in one of the most expensive cities in the U.S. However, my ultimate goal was never to rack up debt as the years went by. My goal has always been to peruse something that I'm passionate about and set out to change the world. After all, isn't that what all of you preach as the American dream?
Statistically, one would think that I'd be in a better debt solution than my current state. I graduated both high school and college with honors, I come from a low-income single parent household, and I'm the first person in my family to go to college. Even with scholarships, my student loan debt has increased steadily. Instead of being a poster child for the American dream, I'm the face of someone who will be using my bingo winnings to make a student loan payment when I'm living in a senior citizen home.
The biggest crisis in America right now is the student loan debacle. Something needs to be done to help in alleviate the issue. It's crippling our citizens before they even get a chance to get out of the gate, limiting the possibilities and opportunities of this great country.
Or we can just follow Mitt Romney's plan, as he stated:
It would be popular for me to stand up and say I'm going to give you government money to pay for your college, but I'm not going to promise that ... Don't just go to one that has the highest price. Go to one that has a little lower price where you can get a good education. And hopefully you'll find that. And don't expect the government to forgive the debt that you take on.
Let's see where big plans like that take the country, Mr. Romney. And while you're at it, would you mind tacking my debt onto your tab? After all, being a multi-millionaire descending from a long line of millionaires, you won't notice another $100,000 onto your bill. That's just about the same price as one of Ann's Cadillacs.
Sincerely, your debt ridden friend,
Amy Hansen
Follow Amy Hansen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/_AmyHansen
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If I'm a psych major who just graduated and I went to Harvard, I'd have $160,000 grand in debt. I get a job at Starbucks for 30 grand a year because i have no skills. I pay back 10% per year for 10 years, $30,000, and the remaining $130,000 is "forgiven".... so who is going to pay the remaining $130,000?...
Well, all the other taxpayers would have to pay for it... many of whom never went to college or decided not to... so in a sense many people who never went to college have to pay the bill for those who did go to college
Doesn't seem "fair" to me...."
Samwide Gamgee
You can do anything you want, but you probably can't do everything you want. Sometimes you have to defer your dreams.
Here's my story.
30 years ago, I really, really wanted to major in Geology. I didn't have the money to attend the school of my dreams, so I did a 6 year stint in the military, and used the GI bill to attend college. My GI Bill funds were limited, so I attended a Junior College in my home state, and worked part-time and summer jobs.
Along the way, I changed my major to Engineering in order to receive a small scholarship that enabled me to attend USC and graduate without debt. Engineering wasn't my dream major, but it paid the bills, and allowed me support a wife and two daughters. I saved money, purchased a modest house, paid off the mortgage, and now, at the ripe-old age of 50 years, have returned to school to complete a Ph.D. in Geophysics...I'm paying for this out of my own pocket.
Finally, after 30+ years, I'm pursuing my dream. I suspect that the unsympathetic readers on this post have similar stories.
They did not choose to go to a less expensive local or community college.
They knowingly took on that debt and now they whine.
Sorry, nobody fooled you into debt.
You knowingly assumed that debt.
Now do the right thing and pay it back and stop demanding that somebody pay it for you.
I assume that being smart enough TO GO TO COLLEGE implies you did.
Stop with the class warfare already.. Unless of course, you think that we should take students who work hard and get A's and give half their grades to others that don't work at hard and get F's so EVERYONE get's a C.
I mean, you wouldn't mind giving up your hard earned grades would you?
Also, without resorting to references to non-hard dollar ephemeral benefits or other psycho babble, what is the total cost in dollars to taxpayers of this program? In other words what is the maximum aggregate amount of debt forgiveness including interest? Or don't you know!
While this particular article is a bit of a self-serving whine and does NOT clearly address the issue of current legislation regarding the student loan catastrophe, it IS still an important issue... The 1965 Higher Education Act was an extension, basically, of the the GI Bill. Almost immediately, the SL LOBBY began their melodrama about 'student loan bankruptcies' - which was patently a LIE - in order to get bankruptcy protections REMOVED from student loans.Subsequent melodramatics by the SL LOBBY also allowed SL LENDERS to rig the game against students AND taxpayers so that students AND taxpayers are now on the hook for ENORMOUSLY PREDATORILY INFLATED balances that essentially amount to life-long debt slavery. Student loans are singularly subject to a bastardized amalgamation of predatory commercial practices and 'social investment' good intentions to create a system from which there is literally no escape but death.
Student loan PAYMENTS are merely 'paying the vig' - they rarely hit the principle, thus the balance never goes down, and capitalized interest increases the principle, thus the vicious circle continues and the 'principle' balance grows ever larger. The system is RIGGED to EXTRACT PROFIT from students AND taxpayers - and because CONGRESS IS A WHOLELY OWNED subsidiary of the biggest banks and donors, they have, over 30 years, RETROACTIVELY changed the terms of the contracts and hooked MILLIONS of former and current students into a CASH COW for lenders.
I suspect that there would be fewer journalism majors with no job prospects.
I would not pay any of her expenses and I would not co-sign for a student loan.
We have a perfectly good community college and four year university in town. Two years at the former while living at home is affordable by almost any family. Two years at the latter while living at home, almost ditto. We paid for our child's higher education out of pocket.
She graduated cum laude with a degree in something she loved but would never make much money--hence why her father and I put our feet down as to where she went. She now has a job she loves using what she learned in school and can afford to live relatively well because she has no student debt.
Life demands trade offs. If my daughter had wanted to be a neurosurgeon instead of a double drama and history major, I could have justified Duke University. It is difficult to live a happy life when you are crushed by debt.
My son is doing something similar.
Currently, we as taxpayers are paying for 12.8 million people to be unemployed. Why does it make sense to pay for people to NOT work, when we could be putting that money towards helping people who WANT to work get the education they need to do so.
I went to a great university and had a full tuition scholarship. I will be paying taxes/university fees/room and board alone for the next 7 years. I graduated and now have a great job and salary. It doesn't matter where you choose to go; college is not affordable for the average middle class American.