What about student loans constitutes a "crisis"?

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161. You made a better decision based

upon your circumstance and available funds. I did the same. I went to community college and paid off my loans. I also went to a trade school for legal assistant work soon after that. Later, I took classes, 1 by 1, paying as I went and then got into nursing school. I applied for the Pell Grant and took loans to go through 2 years of nursing school. After that I paid every month for 10 years (I was 34 when I graduated Nursing school). I worked my ass off doing overtime shifts (as did my husband) to put together a down-payment for our house through the summer after I graduated. My base pay as a newly graduate licensed nurse back in 1998 was $8.50/hr. I made enough in differentials (shift, meds, charge) to get it to $12.50/hr when I worked. My benefit time (sick/holiday/vacation) was all figured at the $8.50/hr rate. My nursing school was a private hospital school and was not cheap (not a state school). The smarter thing to do was to go to the community college nursing program but I was not willing to stay on a wait list longer than a year. In the end it was a good decision.

My son-- I had saved enough to pay state school/community college for him. The state tuition had increased significantly since I went to school. After he graduated with his associates, he joined the Navy and served for 4 years. He got a lot out of that experience. He traveled and saw much of the world, he learned leadership skills, he learned team building skills as well and of course, many friendships.

After his contract was completed, he returned home and we are providing him room and board while he completes his undergraduate degree which is underwritten by the GI Bill. Next Fall, he will probably apply for his first student loan for graduate school. He has about 5 years left to get his doctorate and will have to find a financially renumerative position in order to pay those loans. Hopefully he will have opportunities to decrease that in fellowship positions or perhaps a service grant in kind (where a facility offers him an educational grant in exchange for his service after graduation--this occurs often in areas that have a shortage in health practitioners and a high need-- I don't know if mental health is an area they are offered in). However, I am confident that he will find abundant opportunity given the preponderance of anxiety disorders, depression, PTSD, drug and other addiction in this country.

As of now, he has no debt, just savings from his time in the military.

I also have a niece that took student loans even though she had a Hope scholarship and used it for travel. She graduated with a degree in Theater and Broadcasting. Now she complains she has too much debt to support herself and her child and lives with/off her mother. She has student debt, credit card debt and a car note. She also has a brother who does make a decent income, saves but spends on travel and other generous gifts, restaurant meals and now an extravagant wedding while paying on his $30K student debt for his degree in law enforcement. I don't wish my tax dollars to erase either one of those balances. It is my opinion they need to learn some basic rules of life, credit and budgeting. Neither of them are engaged in jobs relevant to their college majors. They have two other cousins (my brother's kids) who did not attend college, do not have student debt but both work extremely long hours to support their families and live independently, often robbing Peter to pay Paul and they should not have to underwrite their cousin's student loans and dumb decisions (nor should my son).

So, I think that the forgiveness of all student debt is a very lazy and expensive strategy. I think there are many options, tools and incentives for repayment as well as expanding the opportunities for future students without mandating "free college." There should be options including inexpensive options and a large part of the issue is the certification creep on the job market. Signing a contract is a meaningful act. Integrity of your word is important. However there needs to be allowances made in regard to predatory loans and the compounding interest rates. So it is a more nuanced issue.