Gaussling’s (n+1)th Epistle to the Bohemians: Student Loan Assistance

Wow. There is a whole lot of pissin’ and moanin’ out there about Biden’s student loan payment program. A lot of it is bubbling to the surface like rotten egg gas in a mud pot on facebook and Twitter. That wriggling libertarian tapeworm is deeply and firmly attached to the innards of a great many people.

I’m not going to waste heart beats trying to explain why a civilization should aid and encourage higher education. It should be obvious.

In an earlier chapter of American history, I graduated with my BA in chemistry owing $265 back in 1984. The whole time I had at least 2 jobs simultaneously and in two cities for part of that time. It is what I had to do to graduate without accumulating a lot of student loan debt. Later, in grad school, I received tuition remission and a stipend to study for the PhD. This was/is common for chemistry grad students. The only cost for the ordeal was time, a divorce and my sanity.

Since that time tuition, student housing/rent, fees and other expenses have grown astronomically while wages and grants have not. State funding to colleges and universities has shifted from grants in favor of guaranteed student loans. The trolls in government have also passed laws that make escape from student loan payments through bankruptcy impossible.

As it has turned out, my generation of the Baby Boomers has benefitted immensely from lower tuition in our time. Today, the picture for students is quite different. Student loan debts are drowning a great many people. We lived in a time that funded student aid with grants and scholarships that are either not available now or they didn’t grow with tuition increases. Today’s students are unable to save for house down payments or otherwise spend on other goods and services. It might even affect who you marry. Why marry into enormous long term debt?

The chorus of indignant voices hiss that “I paid my debts- why shouldn’t you? Why should I pay for your debt?” I can’t argue with that except to say that canceling some fraction of student loan debt is reimbursement of what should have been tuition assistance in the first place. The situation shouldn’t have arisen to trigger people in the first place. The sum of $10,000 amounts to $2500 per year for 4 years. This is a reimbursement for a modest yearly tuition grant.