I must admit that my first reaction to the President’s student loan forgiveness program was, “I paid off my student loans, why can’t they? Why should I have to pay for someone else’s unwise choices?” We all know that choices have consequences. Yet, when I took a deeper dive into this issue, my initial reaction to this event didn’t make much sense.
My conversation on this matter did not have to go any further than a cursory conversation with my five children and my two grandchildren who are in college and of college age. Even though my wife and I, by God’s grace, were able to pay for our children’s college tuitions (e.g., Virginia Tech, University of Delaware, Georgia Tech, Amherst, and Dartmouth College) my children shared with me the stories of their less fortunate friends and classmates. They shared how many of them are weighed down with six-figure school loans with outrageous interest rates and how this debt serves as a weight around their necks, preventing them from starting businesses, buying a home, and building their young lives.
My grandchildren reminded me that since 1980, the total cost of both four-year public and four-year private college has almost tripled in cost, even after factoring in inflation, but federal support has not kept pace. So, the burden that they (i.e., Gen Z) will face is even more daunting.
It did not take long for my children to convince me of the benefits of this school loan forgiveness program. Besides, economically, I thought about what would happen to our economy if we were, through this program, able to inject close to $500 Billion into our consumer outlets. Oh, the cars, automobiles, clothes, computers, and food that money would buy!
Finally, I had to reflect upon the fact that this was not the first time that our government has bailed out troubled industries. For example, industries and companies that benefited from government largesse include the American Automobile Industry ($85 billion), Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac ($200 billion), AIG ($180 billion), The Airline Industry ($17 billion), and the Chrysler Bailout of 1980 ($2 billion), just to name a few.
What’s my point? If it is important for our government to bailout certain companies and industries, then it is more important to throw a lifeline to our children so that they can stand on their feet and be well prepared to lead us into the future.