Comment: Prof, if college was such a great investment, they wouldn’t need to freeze payments or forgive debt [in America]. It just signifies that university tuition is ridiculously overpriced. A degree should help one find a job and should be cheap and easy to pay off [edited for clarity].
My Response: The problem is that people have made university education or going to school to be about money. Initially, it was about the liberation of the mind. The argument that university education is overpriced [no debate there] misses the point. Obama was carrying student loans into White House because he preferred to serve his community as a community organizer instead of picking a big job as a Harvard Law graduate.
He could have earned $400k per year and paid off the loan. But he chose not, living on nothing for years. What Biden is saying is this: there are many people that are helping to build America in Goodwill, Teach for America, non-profits, etc using their education, but do not earn much to pay down student loans. Obama’s Harvard education was useful even though he did not use it to pile $$$. Forgiving loans for people like Obamas who chose to serve over $$ does not hurt the nation.
While we hope the cost of education goes down, we must not be tripped that education is designed just to pile cash and make money. If you have finished paying yours, congrats. But that does not mean some do not need help because some among them preferred to serve in areas that would not have put them in ways to pay their debts.
When you see those Harvard grads joining Teach for America for $45k, you show them respect because they’re leaving behind potential $150k to help kids in rural America to learn. If the government wants to assist them, that is noble.
My Comment 1: What of those who do not go for university education. Why should the tax payer subsidize those who get university education at the expense of those who do not?
My Response 1: That reasoning in my opinion assumes public policy does not have an offset. If everyone does not go to college, we will not have doctors, engineers, etc who make the society function. While everyone will have zero debts, we will also not have hospitals. The guy who did not attend college benefits because data shows that most of them are those who receive food stamps (poverty), use emergency healthcare (they have no insurance), rehab (drunks and drugs), etc.
In other words, the government spends 7x whatever the college guy could have received from loan support/forgiveness through many free services designed to support them. This does not mean that everyone who skipped college turned out to need support but many in this freebies are non-college educated in America.
So, those arguments are weak, statistically, for public policy. Go to any city, check those lining up for free government grocery, most are non-college educated. That is the “student loan debts” forgiveness for them. That government is waiving $10k for a doctor with a $300k loan must not be muddled. That doctor took personal economic risk to help many who will turn out in emergency wards for freebies (sure, they have $0 debt)!
NB: people, this is an academic debate, I am not attacking anyone who did not go to university.
Comment 1-2: This assumes I support those freebies.
Response 1-2: “This assumes I support those freebies.” -You do. Everyone is covered by emergency services like fire service, ambulatory in case of accident, no-deposit emergency services, etc. When an ambulance picks someone on a highway after an accident, and saves that person, without that accidented person first negotiating contracts and fees, that is freebie. The value of saving a life cannot be compared to any money that person has in the bank. Everyone benefits from society.
The difference is that they come in many forms. President Trump made that case against Bezos of Amazon. He noted that Amazon was declaring $billions while the post office shipping its items was losing $billions. But US was fine, offering ecommerce firms freebies to keep rural and urban America growing. Bezos has made it clear: without the freebies from USPS, Amazon would not have succeeded.
Freebies in America come in many ways. If you become a black farmer in America today, you get $millions because Biden wants to diversify it. But a white farmer may complain. That is fine. The white farmer possibly gets freebies in another way. The problem is thinking the freebies must have the same form.
Comment 2: Prof, don’t you think the American capitalist system may collapse if they short-circuit the system?
That is, who then maintains the schools and other institutions? I believe the taxpayers will have to cushion that effect. If so, won’t individual taxes run high?
Again, is this student loan relief not about the November mid term elections. Remember, Osibanjo also shared TRADER MONEY just before the 2019 election. Is this any different considering that Joe Bidens rating is very low?
My Response 2: Take time on American democracy. Michigan received a bailout from George Bush who saved their jobs. But many were not happy that the government had to bail them out. In the end, they voted against the same government which bailed out their big companies and kept their jobs. Biden will lose many votes for doing this, by the same people who benefited in many areas!
This student bailout is nothing – poor people receive freebies (free healthcare, free grocery, free housing, etc). If you think giving those will give you votes, you are dreaming. Have you noticed that the more Biden stimulates and spends, the more unpopular he becomes? That differs from the Nigerian version where you can buy people with freebies!
Comment 3: I don’t blame the person that commented. Many of us have been misled about the purpose of education because universities are being advertised as a get rich scheme. That’s why some people are now saying that school is a scam because they were misled during enrollment. This is also the reason why people are no longer enrolling in trade schools where practical information for problem solving are being taught.
As educators, we might need to start teaching people about the purpose of education before getting into the real subject. As one of my professors said, “education is not a guarantee that you will be rich, it only increases your odds.” When we see education as a meal ticket, we lose its purpose. Education is for the liberation of the mind, enlightenment, and learning to gain access to information. The information you gain from school will not make you rich, it’s the application of information that can make you rich.
BIW – Biden is Working As He Writes off Student Loans
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