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Although Joe Biden recently attempted to forgive another $5.8 billion in students loans, should these loans really be forgiven? Student loan forgiveness is a colossally bad idea. For starters, it isn't Biden's debt to forgive. And last I checked he did not sign off on the other $1.8 trillion dollars in national school debt or those who have already made good on their debts. Student loans should not be canceled. Voluntary financial agreements into which people willingly enter should be honored. Promissory notes were signed and agreements were made. What makes people think they deserve loan cancellation? In my opinion (as a veteran teacher and financial coach), many students do not know what they want to do when they grow up. They may have an unrealistic guidance counselor or overbearing parents who insist the only way to win the career game is to incur massive debt by going to college. Tens of thousands of dollars in debt is not the answer for most adolescents. They're too fickle. And if they drop out, the loans are accelerated and due immediately. Sorry, no 6-month deferral for drop-outs. Many will get lucky and strike a chord with the field of study which they have selected. Others will simply "tough out" the mistake that robs them of four years of their lives. Then they eventually learn that majoring in German folk dance was not such an in demand field. The result? They shlep coffee at Starbucks complaining about their low wages and their inability to make student loan payments. Don't roll the dice by going to college without a plan for collecting hard-to-acquire, in-demand skills. Unless you have a true calling from a very young age, save your money. Borrowers do not deserve to have their loans canceled, because you can't find a job making mad scrilla scrolling TikTok as a coffee barista with your degree in European studies. What about those who have already honored their obligations? Although AOC has brushed off those who have already paid off their student loans, those who have honored their promises are right to be upset. Student loans should not be canceled. Many students have already paid their debts. Maybe they realized that they made a mistake, paid the piper, and learned an expensive lesson in personal finance. Maybe they knew they had to honor the promises they made. Or maybe they hit a homerun by choosing something they were good at that was both hard to acquire and needed in the workforce. This reason hits home for my oldest daughter. She was Dave Ramsey "gazelle intense." She eliminated about $90,000 in student loan debt in just 18 months. She worked 12 hours a day 7 days a week at two jobs. Although she tried it for one school year, she doesn't even work in the field (education) for which she earned her degree! But she still followed the rules. She stayed ahead on the promises that she agreed to before college even started. What about my passion? Sorry if you majored in Elizabethan poetry, but you still have to pay your student loan debt back. That passion probably could have been followed without a college education. One might even argue that you could have learned this topic best at the feet of the masters during a 6-month period of travel abroad, perhaps living in youth hostels throughout England. This fun trip would have cost far less than a four-year college degree. If money is no object, then by all means, feel free to tackle the questionable challenges of studies in left-handed puppetry or underwater basket-weaving. It's just not fair to expect the taxpayers to foot the bill. What about the colleges? For sure, collegiate policymakers bear some responsibility for such alarming tuition rates. But why wouldn't they turn up the dial on tuition? Students matriculate with "free" money from the government. Once the universities collect their tuition payment, they're scott-free. The students are on the hook, even if they earned a bullshit degree. And as non-profits, college pay no income tax at all for any income. This includes sports ticket sales, concert ticket sales, and so forth. According to an article on Nerd Wallet, student loan debt was at $1.75 trillion as of April 2022 just over a year ago. Meanwhile, they continue to collect money from wanna-be scholars many of whom are not gathering marketable skills. So... If you're going to college, choose to learn hard-to-acquire, in-demand skills. And don't expect taxpayers to take on your burden if you don't. That's unfair. Taxpayers are not supposed to be subsiding students' self-discoveries. But we'll see what the Supreme Court decides in the coming days...

Mark Noldy - Planet Numeracy

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