Student Loan Forgiveness

We Have the Answer and It’s Not What You Might Think

Have you ever listened to the “Morning Joe” program? I do every morning and Joe threw something out there that I myself had wondered about. He is a former member of Congress who brought this up this morning, and it made me think. It should make you think also.

Let’s get this out of the way. You may not personally know me, but to get me to think in the morning is itself a feat. So here goes. Following is an opinion piece.

Coffee cup full? Yup.

Is the door open allowing the cool morning breeze inside. Yup.

Slowly the brain fog lifts, not unlike the fog that settles over the valleys here in the Smoky Mountains every morning. It’s a hazy morning, as is most every morning. Mountains are enveloped in fog. First light from the morning sun, peeking over the mountains and through the fog, welcomes the birds in the forest and dogs barking at deer strutting by.

I digress.

As I see it, there are two responses to returning the costs of education to a level that is affordable to ALL Americans. Both ideas would manipulate the use of the federal student loans program.

The first idea is to tie the costs of a specific degree to the income of a position that, with that degree, one may expect once that degree is obtained and one is hired. If the college or university wished to remain in the Federal Loan Program, this would be offered to all students prior to attending.

There would not be a push from the government for schools to partake in the Federal Loan Program. Colleges would have the option. If a college chooses to charge $20,000 a semester or a year they of course may do so. But students looking to attend those schools would have to obtain private funding and loans for them to attend.

My other option is to tell all colleges and universities that wish to remain in the Federal Loan Program they must offer education at an affordable-to-all flat rate. For example, let’s make this flat rate $5000 per year. The same stipulations as above would apply.

While Option/Idea #2 is self-explanatory, Option #1 is a bit more in-depth. But both ideas would eliminate predatory lending while making an education once again affordable for everyone on an income basis.

Option #1…

• What are the expected chances of obtaining a position based on the degree being studied? say, a student attends college for an Architectural Degree.
• What are the chances of graduating and working as an architect?
• What is the expected income from that degree? $75k per year? $125k per year? Allowing for the costs of living then what would be an affordable loan for that education?
• The college or university would have to provide to potential students information that allows the student to factually understand what the costs are versus what the potential paybacks are.

What I am getting at here is this. The costs of college classes should be in line with the return, making a college education affordable and a degree a viable option to finding employment in that field.

Option #2 …

• This doesn’t require an in-depth look as the government would simply establish a base cost for every degree path which colleges would have to abide by to accept a student using a federally guaranteed loan. Students with federal-approved loans would be offered a degree path at a much lower cost.
• Related to this option, schools would be required to accept a set percentage of students using federal-approved loans which would provide more affordable education. The government would have to set a standard percentage of students accepted and attending colleges on federal loans for all colleges and universities.

Or not.

The government could simply say, “lower the costs for an education” or lose access to offering students federally approved loans. Doing this could also quicken a move to the fact that most colleges are simply social hangouts for the children of the wealthy and upper middle class.

What’s the bottom line? Requiring colleges and universities to work within federal guidelines in order to be able to offer and accept students using government-backed loans may be an answer, or one of several, to lowering the costs of education. We can’t simply continue to pay off student debt. It is not sustainable. Just as the cost of education is no longer sustainable.

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