I'm a Sap!

So, it looks more and more that college loans for students are going to be "canceled." Color me a sap in many ways. There have been several articles in the newspaper recently about this, "forgiving student debts." I certainly agree that many students have overly onerous loans to pay back. But there is much wrong with canceling student debts. I paid off my college loans, on time, when the default rate was about 60-70%. That is, most people who had student loans didn't pay them back. To put my kid through school, I worked four and five jobs so he wouldn't have a heavy debt post-graduation. (Yes, I really was drawing paychecks from five different employers at one time in the '90s.) I'm raiding my retirement savings (about 15% so far and he's only a sophomore) to pay for my grandson's college; he has a loan now, but it's minimal and I may pay that off at the end of this semester. I'm not at all complaining. No. It was and is my chosen responsibility. To me, it was and is the right thing to do. Again, I'm not complaining about what I did, but about this stupid plan to forgive college loans. So now, according to Biden, Schumer, and other leading Democrats, student loan "forgiveness" is a priority? A few blogs back, I posted about the government's "Three Stooges Approach to Solving Problems," problems they created. Here is another one. College costs are out of control. There are many reasons, from far too many administrators to professors only teaching a course or two. And a large part of the spiraling costs of the past few decades has been federal government involvement in student loans. If you want to see how that resulted in higher college costs, necessitating more loans for students, as Casey Stengel used to say, "You could look it up." Simply put, when colleges saw that they were going to get their money thanks to government guarantees, it was a license to jack up the price of a higher education. What about those loans that won't be repaid, that is, which will be canceled? Somebody is left hanging with the bill. Is it government which paid the college costs, but now won't be reimbursed? So, it is really the taxpayers who are left holding the bag--again. And, of course, there are private lenders, too. What signal is being sent by this? You can borrow money, but don't have to really pay it back? I believe it was President Herbert Hoover (I know, quoting him might be a stretch!), who once responded in opposition to suggestions that First World War European debts to the US be forgiven, "They hired the money, didn't they?" Then pay it back! (Most didn't. Finland and a couple of other nations repaid us, but that was about it.) "Yeah, lend me the money. Sure I'll pay you back." Wink, wink, wink. If college seems out of one's financial possibilities, there are options. Go to the local community college for a year or two. From what I've seen and heard, the education we (Yes, that's me, a community college professor talking.) provide is equal to the one received at the four-year schools. There is also work. Students can work while going to school. They may take longer to finish their degrees, but they won't have the heavy loans to repay. More and most personal to me, those of us who either repaid our loans or saved/sacrificed to avoid loans are saps. Will those who acted responsibly be repaid their tuition, room, board, and other expenses, expenses paid out of their own pockets? Ha Ha Ha. I believe Elizabeth Warren during the Iowa caucuses was asked this by a farmer who had acted responsibly. "What about me? I worked hard and saved to avoid the loans. Will I be reimbursed for doing the right thing?" Or something like that. Warren, in her arrogant elitism dismissed such a notion. "Of course not," Her Arrogance replied. No, Mr. Farmer, you are a sap. In your own words, you get "screwed" for acting responsibly and sacrificing. Once again, government has given people reasons to act irresponsibly. The doo-gooders (and I do mean "doo") encourage bad behavior, once again even punishing good behavior.