The system should support students, not be used to make money
While student loans are meant to aid students the math behind it is much different. The equation is specific to finding out not how much aid a student needs but how much they can afford to give and that number is almost always too high to afford.
<
(1 of 2)
Next argument >
The Argument
The main goal of a loan is to allow for the borrowing party to have enough money to acquire what they want immediately while taking more time to repay the lender. For the student loan system it's doing exactly as it's supposed to.
Loans often, if not always, benefit the lender in monetary ways while the borrower is benefited in material ways. Give and receive where the lender is supposed to receive more than what they have given. This has to do with the risk involved with lending money so interest is tacked onto the amount the borrower received.
The problem students have is that the amount they owe is usually a rather large amount that continually compounds interest making it hard to get the number to drop.[1] Revisions to the interest and how to repay the debts could make a huge difference. While it wouldn't be paid off in an instant it would make the repayment struggle much more bearable.
The main problem that student loan debt has is that schooling is shifting to online teaching.[2] While this benefits those who require remote learning it takes students away from schools with campuses, which also takes away funding. This leads to schools needing more money and more aid to continue running.[3] The main problem is that the system needs to change because the world around it is changing. If it doesn't change then there's no way it will survive.
Counter arguments
While changing the system might seem simple it's actually a time consuming process that could take years upon years to tweak into something new and workable. The current system, while not very appreciated, does work and aid students as it's supposed to.[4]
It gives them an opportunity to learn at a place they might not've been able to afford without help. The school a student attends is their choice and maybe it's unfair that they are young. That they're still trying to learn responsibility, understand the importance of applying for scholarships and grants, realize that debts hard to pay off. However, it's still no ones fault but their own if they are unprepared.
The current system does take a bit of patience to understand without big words or equations getting in the way but it boils down into something functional. Something that can be used by both parties. Maybe not an equivalent exchange but certainly nothing drastic that has loan sharks coming after you. It's a system that's workable and bearable if a person is smart about it.[5]
As of now, changing the systems in place are projects that lack funding, time, and would be experimental in nature. What we have works and could we afford to have something that doesn't?
Proponents
Premises
Rejecting the premises
References
- https://www.brookings.edu/policy2020/votervital/who-owes-all-that-student-debt-and-whod-benefit-if-it-were-forgiven/
- https://www.thoughtco.com/online-college-classes-pricing-1098367
- https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/13/cost-of-college-increased-by-more-than-25percent-in-the-last-10-years.html
- https://www.npr.org/2019/07/10/738506646/student-debt-forgiveness-sounds-good-what-might-happen-if-the-government-did-it
- https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/growing-global-student-debt-fuels-search-for-solutions/5157022.html