Remember when people of stature used to tell little kids to stay in school because education is the key to economic empowerment or that knowledge is power? Step into 2022, and more and more students who have gravitated towards higher education for a better chance at feasible employment and social status — and some for intellectual growth — quickly come to find that education is the key to a lifetime of debt, nowadays.
Someone with some sense in politics, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Wisdom Cole, who is the national director of the NAACP Youth & College Division, have been advocates for students, demanding that at least $50,000 of student loan debt be forgiven for each loan borrower. The request is reasonable.
As it stands, the United States of America has more than $1.7 trillion in higher learning debt, one of the highest consumer debts in the land. Nearly 43 million Americans are dealing with the heavy burden of insatiable student loan debt, while 10 million of those people are in default.
President Joe Biden, a politician that utilized the appeal of being a man for the people during his campaign for presidency, is not receptive to the request of a $50,000 student loan forgiveness plan per borrower.
“I’m not considering $50,000 in debt reduction,” Biden said during a White House speech. “But I am in the process of taking a hard look at whether or not there will be additional debt forgiveness.”
Instead, Biden is more affirmative about a $10,000 per borrower forgiveness plan. This plan would eliminate student loan debt for 30% of borrowers and also keep the capitalization of education in motion. The problem is that most of the borrowers that will have a clean slate from the plan fit a certain profile, leaving out students from single-parent households, the systemically disadvantaged, and lower-income individuals.
In the meantime, Biden is requesting that Congress approve a $33 billion distribution in support of Ukraine reportedly for supplies and U.S. military deployment. This, even at the caution of Russian president Vladimir Putin, who has threatened to use “all the instruments” to combat anyone who interferes with the war.
That same $33 billion could alleviate 660,000 Americans from the burden of student loans. Who could qualify for that break? Students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds that have been historically oppressed by a system not created for their success. Also, the Americans who have been unable to secure jobs or promotions that equate to the level of the degree earned or debt accumulated at no direct fault of their own.
Life is ironic, isn’t it?
As small children, we were told that if you put in the hard work, you would be rewarded. If you followed the rules of the game and stayed out of trouble, the possibilities were limitless. But, really, the ones who broke the rules, cheated the game, left mediocrity on everything that they touched are the ones who are laughing all the way to the crooked banks.
Nearly three decades after a famous artist rapped the lyrics, they still ring true. There’s money for wars, but we can’t feed the poor.
