Mike Newman, Ohio State University
“I graduated from the Ohio State University with a fine arts degree in 2004. This is what I settled on after changing my major four times in my first three years at school. Clearly college wasn’t for me, but I finished it because I wanted to make my parents proud and thought it would improve my life. Neither of my parents went to college, but they managed a pretty good life for themselves. Like all loving parents they wanted me to have a better life than them and were duped into believing that college was the answer. From the first day in elementary school to my last day in high school, we believed the myth that college was the only real path to success. Read more…“
I agree, students, especially in time of crisis, needs a break (not only students, but students are the future of your nation) and the ‘forgive’ is afterall not a bad idea. But im also for paying the debt. A alternative, I dont know if feasible or not, could that be to relax the payment rules and perhaps cutting to half the interest rates, but at the same time, adding few extra years? The state/organizations get their money, but they have just to wait a little longer, and the youngsters have more room, to pay and start a life?
Thank you for the good writeup. It in truth was
once a enjoyment account it. Glance complicated to more brought agreeable from you!
However, how can we communicate?
I like the concept, but I’m not sure if I agree completely with the details. If the economy picks up or if fewer students attend college as seems to be the trend, wouldn’t the degrees increase in value in the future? Why not waive interest for students who meet this criteria and cap repayment of principal at 2% of discretionary income. You may even include a pro bono clause especially when it comes to law students where a portion of student loan would be forgiven in return for service. Couldn’t we tap into a bunch of public defenders? Criminal defense… Read more »
The way public defenders at paid for varies widely making some of what you describe impractical. For example, in San Francisco, the entry-level salary for public defenders is 90k/yr, which then goes up to 6 figures your second year. This is probably enough to pay down your student loans without assistance (assuming you have ~180k in debt, which is about right for someone graduating law school this year). However, on the other side of the bridge, in Alameda County, the entry level salary is only 67k/yr meaning that you’re going to need help with loan debt. There is a similar… Read more »
The problem is, student debt is no small part of the reason why the economy doesn’t improve. So your hypothetical situation is mostly just irrelevant. You may as well ask ‘well, what happens if Aliens invade tomorrow?’. New business can’t be started by people with too much debt. The kind of people with too much debt (do to education) are the same people who start new business. Old, established business generally shed more jobs than they create, and even when they don’t, they don’t create anything like the number of jobs created by new firms. Construction won’t start again for… Read more »