Student Loan Forgiveness

[Effete Snob]

So Speaker Pelosi today went into the "government can't do things for people because it makes other people upset" argument about student loans.

A few years ago, one of my children, who had had a couple of unsuccessful starts in a local university and then a community college, was nonetheless accepted into a program at a college I had never heard of.

I don't really keep track of the whole "which college is better at what" thing, and while I have an extensive academic background I'm not all that familiar with small colleges that have big reputations in niche areas.

He asked if I'd help him with it, and I was a little surprised by the question. I do relatively well and paying ordinary state university or community college tuition is... interesting, but not really challenging. "Well of course I will."

I got help from my parents and got through school debt free and my general assumption is that if you can afford to provide that for your children, it's one of the things parents do. I'm sure there are others who are horrified by that, but I have seen people having their options hobbled by student loan debt and didn't want any of my children to have to deal with that.

What I didn't know is that this school is $40,000 a year.

Okay, well, gosh. That was a little tricky. I did find out it is a very exclusive school and its students tend to do well in the things in which the school specializes, but that really was a shocker.

I bit down hard, took on extra work, made some uncomfortable adjustments and choices, and paid it. Every dime. For three years (he had finished some core work elsewhere).

$120,000 cash. Right out of my pocket.

You could say, "Oh, here's some guy complaining about being able to afford that", so go ahead. It was not a matter of being able to afford it up front. It blew. It was a sacrifice. It was not easy.

He graduated in 2019, and not long after was hired by a leader in the field in which he was interested, and is doing okay. He's doing a lot better than others in his cohort who did not have the advantage he did, and who are saddled with student debt.

So, explain this to me like I'm five years old. WHY IN HELL should I care if some other kids get a break on their student loans?

I did what I did because it was simply what I chose to do. That money is spent. It's not coming back, and continuing to have the system shit on other young people because we can't figure out how to educate our population in this country is not going to make me a dollar richer.

But I want to hear from someone who spent the last couple of years up to 2020 figuring out where to find an extra 40 grand laying around every year what it does for me to make those other kids pay back their loans?

[zuul]

1. K&R