Free Republic

Changing the financial rules about college moving forward is a separate debate. Changing the rules retroactively, however, is dishonorable and unjust.Two massive potential federal programs to ease the financial burden of college are being debated. One involves some type of free college program, and the other some type of student loan bailout. There is, however, a fundamental ethical difference between the two. The first affects the decisions of students moving forward, while the second rewards only select people based on past actions.Even at a very young age, children know it’s blatantly unfair to change the rules of a game while...

Here’s what we do know about student loan debt: it’s roughly $1 trillion in size, greater than either auto or credit-card debt and second only to mortgage debt in the U.S Borrowers in their 30s today owe $28,500, on average. The debt burden has soared just as — and partly because — the recession hit, so younger graduates carrying the highest balances are hit with the double whammy of a weak job market (that still isn’t showing any sign of rapid improvement).