Forgiving Student Debt

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With the rise of higher-education costs in the United States, student debt has grown to astounding levels. In her article, “Is Forgiving Student Debt a Good Idea” Kayla Webley explains the downfall along with some benefits of the government allowing students a one-time bailout. This idea was originally propositioned by Robert Applebaum in form of an online petition. It has made a few circuits around Facebook and other social media sites where it has gathered over half a million signatures in show of their support. It first made its appearance in 2009, and is still gaining momentum as of today. The petition proposed that if the government pardoned every students’ debt in America (which comes out to about one trillion dollars!), then these students …show more content…

government to have to pay back the choices of Americans. To help offset the amount of student debt, state governments should help encourage public universities to keep their tuition reasonable and offer funds to those universities to help prospective students in need. I heard from advisors that universities in Washington state are now trying to lower their tuition rates and specifically for University of Washington, are offering full tuition for students that qualify for FAFSA and show good academia. In Webley’s article, she suggests that the government should use the Income Based Repayment program to help loaners repay their debt based on their income. This is a fair way to allow lower income students to keep up with monthly payments, but this solution helps these students far too late. Students shouldn’t have to suffer from such high tuition rates that are out of their control, it is almost like students are being set up to be largely in …show more content…

Contrary, if the government does forgive debtors for one time, then the next and later generations will keep pulling out loans as their first choice in hopes of also getting a bailout like their previous generation did (Webley 131). Another problem with an all-out payout of student debt is the fairness of it. How would the government choose who gets forgiven? How far out in a generation(s) will the government be forgiving? None of these aspects would equally help each and every student, who all have many backgrounds and situations. Webley pointed out that paying off someone’s debt who has timely paid their monthly bill for ten years compared to someone who is often late with the same amount of debt, is not fair to those debt payers who’ve already dutifully paid so much towards their debt. So, it brings into question the fairness of those who are undeserving are able to get their debt all paid out too? Applebaum’s petition stated that if students were cleared of all debt, they would be able to return money into the economy much quicker, instead of having to put money directly into their debt payments. Although that sounds like a great idea, Webley pulls in a quote from an article written by Justin Wolfers blog Freakonomics explaining how uneven that idea would really be like. I think Ms. Wolfer’s example is very important and well

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