Look for her to start pitching the macroeconomic argument.
“Freeing them from this debt will allow them to get married, buy homes, cars, other items, stimulating economic growth that will benefit us all. Blah blah blah blah blah…”
“As you hear from these stories, free education is a liberation. This is what our founders had in mind--ever expanding opportunity for people. You want to be a photographer or a writer or a musician, whatever -- an artist, you want to be self-employed, if you want to start a business, you want to change jobs, you no longer are prohibited from doing that because you have to pay back your student loan, especially because you do not want to put your family at risk by paying back your loan” Warren said
There is a moral component that the father was inelegantly driving at, which she sidestepped.
The question is why is the cost of going to college so high and what degrees issued actually produce a benefit to the economy.
There in is the crux of the issue. Your degree in “near eastern studies” is not a value added proposition... it’s a hobby.
No, her argument would be: "Freeing them from this debt will allow them to pay more taxes so that we can hire more federal bureaucrats with fat pensions and pay for "free" dick/vagina swap surgery for illegal aliens."
Agreed.
If I understand correctly, government (taxpayer) guaranteed loans are enabling schools to charge more given the likelihood of approved loans.
I’d like to see the following:
1. Gov’t Loans amount indexed to career realities. 5 elements: what you plan to study, what you plan to do as a career, job market demand, geographic demand for the job (if applicable), and what your target job would pay. It would be career reality test on the loans. To the point, you’re not getting a $100K loan to study gender studies with a minor in Latvian poetry only to find that there’s little call for that expertise in BFE Nebraska.
2. Gov’t Loans given a preference and/or discounted rate by tuition cost. Create an incentive for schools to drive down tuition rates. Example: University A will cost $75K vs. University B at $50K. It could reduce the level of risk, and could enable smaller schools to grow.
3. Provide an incentive for early repayment of a Gov’t loan. A TBD discount for eliminating the debt early.
4. Gov’t Loans can be eliminated in bankruptcy, or negotiated in settlement. I know of persons that have suffered through financial and medical disasters and decades later still have a interest accruing loan that does not go away.