Erin Dunphy, Ithaca College
“I grew up with an insatiable need to explore the world around me. So I knew when I was going to go to college I was going to do two things: One, major in journalism and two, leave my home. It was time for me to blaze my own path.
“I had worked hard throughout high school and did all those things they tell you to do to get as much money out of the process as possible. I was an honors graduate and was involved in almost every kind of extracurricular activity. I did my best to be the girl any college would want—and therefore would hopefully give money that she wouldn’t have to pay back. 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
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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 »