The latest advice and protest is to allow all graduates have their student loans forgiven. This means that they don’t have to pay back the thousands of dollars of loans which they have incurred while attending highly-rated universities. The reason given by this group of people represented by www.forgivestudentloandebt.com, who are in favour of this motion is to stimulate the economy and take the stress off the backs of the students so they will remain in school.
I don’t happen to agree with this proposition. Students have always had to pay their fair share of debt, no matter what the economy was like nor the lack of funding to the universities. It is a lesson in life to learn to pay or work for what you receive. People who work to repay their debt appreciate the education they received and they strive to get a job in order to repay the loans.
If the proposition was to lower the interest rates to 1% or thereabouts, then I would certainly agree and that would be fair to all. There would still be the sense of ownership in paying for your own education, albeit at a lower rate and at more reasonable payments. It would also be much fairer to the graduate students who in the past 30 years have struggled to pay off their loans with no favors shown. To find out that the next few years’ graduates do not have to pay back their loans would be a slap in the face.
To pay back the money would be the stimulus needed and would collect a cash flow which is sorely lacking. And to forgive some graduates of lower paying jobs and make the higher paid students pay back their loans is another bone of contention. I would have my application in at McDonalds so fast if it meant I did not have to pay for my education!