The long-winded fight for student loan forgiveness is a necessary one for low-income borrowers. The heavy cost of student loans has led to 20 percent of student loan borrowers having to choose between feeding themselves or paying back student loans when repayment resumes this October. This is an indigestible burden placed on low-income homes and young graduates.
Student loan debt crushes students who are just trying to get an education and burdens them for decades after. Whether it is by Congress or by executive order, the government has a moral responsibility to forgive all student loan debt.
At Iowa universities, 57 percent of 2022 graduates had student loan debt at an average of $25,800 when they graduated. According to Axios, there are around 441,000 current federal student loan borrowers with a total of $14 billion in debt. When student loan payments are due in October, one could expect to pay $270 a month along with $7,000 in interest over the span of 10 years at a 4.99 percent interest rate. This is no doubt a heavy load for many post-grads who are struggling to make ends meet.
As a full-time University of Iowa student who works multiple jobs, it’s hard for me and many other college students to hear that the Supreme Court denied President Biden’s plan to forgive federal student loans. This plan would have given millions of our country’s borrowers relief of up to $20,000.
So how has the debt crisis gotten to this point? College is highly encouraged for its potential job benefits and is required for a large portion of the job market but is also made more unaffordable each year because of rising costs of living, lackluster increases in wages, and economic challenges.
Some may say that student loan forgiveness is unnecessary because people made the choice to go to college and take out loans. However, there are far too many jobs that require a degree for people to just stop going to college en masse.
According to Vox, out of the 11.6 million jobs that were created from 2010 to 2016, three-quarters demanded a bachelor’s degree at a minimum. In Iowa, 68 percent of all jobs will require education or training beyond high school by 2025.
Some people may argue that forgiving student loan debt is unfair to those who paid off their loans. According to Vox, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell expressed his disgust toward Biden’s plan, saying that it is “a slap in the face to every family who sacrificed to save for college, every graduate who paid their debt.”
Don’t blame students crushed by debt who are trying to get out of it. Blame the people whose greed made it necessary for you to take out loans and spend years paying it back.
It is beyond necessary that the government forgives student loan debt. The childish arguments over fairness to those who have paid their debts are overshadowed by the plain and simple truth. Debt is caused by rising costs and falling wages, and it is time to set things right and cancel all student loan debt.