We Should Be Asking Questions, Not Just Forgiving Student Loans

I realize full well that the student loan forgiveness controversy is a bit old news. Of course I disagree with it as well as find it unlawful. But it does make me wonder about another side to the whole thing that perhaps requires further examination, despite the whole idea of it being entirely ridiculous anyway.

Why does anyone feel forgiving student loans is necessary and just?

Of course, the argument is that students who have gone well beyond their college days are suffering massive financial setbacks trying to pay them back, with many graduates requiring decades to do it, and enduring massive interest payments to boot.

First of all, cry me a river. College, for anyone who may have wondered about it, is optional. No one is required to go through continued education.

This is where someone will come in and say to me, "But in order to get into a high paying and meaningful career, and succeed in life, one is almost required to have a degree."

The argument is always, unless you want to be stuck flipping burgers or cleaning toilets and live in abject poverty, you must go to school so you can get something better. Granted, those are generally someone else's words. Not mine. I know full well that's far from the case in the real world.

Many people do jobs that don't require a college degree that also happen to pay extremely well, and many people make a very good living doing things that they didn't have to "suffer" through student loans to do it.

At the same time, I also fully recognize that certain professions do require a college degree, and if someone has interest in those professions, then by all means. Go to college and pursue that. 

The thing that grabs my attention, and that I think should grab anyone's attention is, yeah. But wait a minute. Isn't that the whole selling point of the college degree? That you will get this nice degree to put on display and get this great job and achieve a financial life better than anyone who didn't go to college?

I mean, that is the selling point, right? So, how come it isn't true? 

What if we tackled the issue with another question rather than just decide we should forgive loans and deem them to be unfair? What if we asked, "Are colleges falsely advertising and duping their consumers?" 

Moreover, maybe we should examine, when it comes to compensation, do salaries match the value of the goods and services offered to obtain them? Should the value be commensurate and demonstrable? If you are going to sell me something and sell me on the value, shouldn't your product have to at least support the value it supposedly offers?

I think what we need to do is go back to the colleges and dig a bit deeper into them about what their business practices are. Because clearly the people they've sold these degrees to aren't getting the promise they paid for, right?

They're not getting ahead like the colleges told them they would. Instead, they are suffering, saddled with debt they cannot repay stuck in jobs that don't support the degree they paid for.

Now, I am no legal expert. But that sounds like false advertising to me. 

I also think some of the way these loans are structured need to also be examined. Too many of them allow students to add things in like housing and living expenses. Should that be something allowed to be added in? More college students should be encouraged to work while they attend school in order to not only pay for their education but pay for living while they are doing it.

Just like the rest of us, by the way. If we want things, well...we have to work for them, right? A place to live, a car to drive, food to eat. Instilling a J. Wellington Wimpy mentality onto our kids, "I will kindly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today," is no way to foster future financial literacy.

All in all, I just think we're looking at this the wrong way. Sure, college is expensive. But why is it so expensive? And why is it that the cost doesn't live up to the promises sold? And why is no one pointing some of these questions at the colleges themselves? 

The colleges are essentially selling bills of goods like no other business would ever legally get away with, and instead of holding the colleges to account to answer for it, we're simply allowing them to continue doing it, and holding the taxpayers responsible to cover the bill.

If you are wanting me to flip the bill for your product, you better tell me first why the people who received the goods can't afford to pay for what they got.

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