The value and importance of formal education is not something that can be easily put into words. Formal education opens many doors, and often with more education comes more opportunity.
But what happens when formal education is at the expense of others, literally?
America is once again facing debate about student loan debt forgiveness.
The idea of having stupendous amounts of money forgiven isn't a bad thing, however, the problem begins to make itself apparent when you take the time to carefully, extensively, and exhaustively consider the implications of such an action over a long period of time.
Considering that as much as 90% of this debt is owed directly to the government, and given the constitutional latitude President Biden currently enjoys, there's much he can do to directly or indirectly alleviate this financial burden.
Working closely with the Education Secretary, Miguel Cardona, President Joe Biden has been exploring the possibility of clearing debts in the range of $10,000 to as high as $50,000. But, there's more than meets the eye about this proposal.
The country already has several debt forgiveness programs in operation, most prominent of which is the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). As part of this program, you opt to enter the employ of the government, you are required to work for 10 years, then the debt is considered paid.
Programs such as this are a bad idea. More students than expected enrolled, so much so that they rendered the system nearly defunct because they were borrowing even more, now that they knew they had a failsafe.
Clearing these debts would simply be rewarding poor decision-making with financial backing. It would set a disastrous precedent for the future, as many would overdraw on the system knowing it will simply be forgiven.
This flies in the face of students who made sound choices to not go into debt, and those in the military who sacrificed so much.
Lastly, the proposal for clearing trillions in student loan debt, isn't actually free. Taxpayers will be the ones to support this. It isn't right that everyone should mandatorily fund a benefit that few will access. There are many more important things in a post-pandemic environment that this administration should be focusing on.
