I benefited from your student loan and I am happy to help you pay part of it down
I was lucky to never have been forced to take out a loan to pay for my education. My parents were able to pay for the relatively low cost of a community college and small state college education during my undergraduate years. They also helped out with two years of graduate school. Later the private school where I worked paid for a second graduate degree in history.
This past week I read story after story from friends on social media who have struggled over the years (some for decades) to pay off student loans as they work to make ends meet and raise families. As you might imagine, my social media circle is filled overwhelmingly with friends and acquaintances who work in the field of education and history.
My thoughts have nothing to do with the economics or politics surrounding student debt forgiveness. My support of President Biden’s policy is the recognition that I have benefited from the student loans that many of my friends were forced to take on just to get an education in this country.
The shelves that surround me as I write this post are filled with books authored by people who took out student loans to pay for their education. Many of my friends on social media work at historic sites that I have visited. They care for and interpret these places for all of us.
I suspect that the largest contingent of my social media community teach in some capacity. Their student loans helped to make possible a rewarding career, but one that will likely never result in the joy of being student-debt free.
This speaks volumes about what and who we value in this country.
All of these people have enriched my life in countless ways through their education and their commitment to finding ways to share it with others.
As far as I am concerned, this is not charity or a handout. This is about me acknowledging my debt to you.
This is me saying…
THANK YOU.
Thank you for this perspective! I can think of lots of reasons to support the initiative, but valuing the contributions from the beneficiaries of those loans was not something that occurred to me (although it should have!) I was fortunate to have parents that were in the position to pay for my first two years, and then I finished my education in night school while on active duty. I was part of the VEAP contingent (Veterans Educational Assistance Program), the group that fell between the two GI bills during the cold war years. Uncle Sam would give us $2 for every $1 we contributed for education, but your donation was capped at $2700. After that you were on your own, but in the 80's tuition was much more affordable. Now with grown children of my own, I can see the effect on this current generation of astronomical tuition increases, predatory loan policies and interest rates, and a system that funnels kids into degrees that are unlikely to yield future earning commensurate to debt. Coupled with a nearly universal mindset that all kids need an academic degree (vs trade school/apprenticeship), today's situation was a given. For example, I can remember in the early 90's trying to bring in guys I served with for technical jobs in my field. They were the ones that mentored me, and had far more knowledge and actual experience in the field for the positions my company was seeking to fill. Didn't matter, company policy required a four year degree (in any field, even unrelated) to even get an interview. We (previous generations) created this mess, I do not begrudge any assistance we can provide. More remedial actions are needed, though, to stem the debt load on current and future students.
Thank you! I wasn't able to go to school and have no school debt ... among much else that I don't have. But I have been cheering for friends and total strangers who are breathing a little easier this week. You have given me even more reasons to be grateful.