Posted on 12/16/2020 1:59:33 PM PST by grundle
In a Facebook post Monday, TV host and personality Mike Rowe denounced student loan forgiveness and encouraged people to reconsider taking on debt for a four-year degree that may not even land them a job.
“Many it seems, suspect that I’ll be supportive of these efforts since I’ve written at length about the outrageous rise of college tuition and the scandalous ways in which hundreds of thousands of students have been conned into borrowing ridiculous sums of money to purchase degrees that never lead to an actual job,” Rowe wrote.
“Well, for the record, I do not support student loan forgiveness,” he added.
Sharing a National Review article on the issue, Rowe explained that forgiving student loans is not only unfair to those who have already sacrificed to pay off their loans but it “would send a terrible message to the very same universities that already gouge their customers with sky-high tuition.”
“Tuition will never come back to Earth if we bail out those who borrowed more than they could repay,” he wrote.
Rowe also said he pities those who took on “the yoke of a crushing student loan.”
“You were quite possibly sold a bill of goods. You were very likely pressured by your friends, your parents, or your guidance counselor, to attend the ‘right’ school. You were perhaps a victim of this persistent, pernicious, and preposterous push to peddle a four-year degree to every person with a pulse, and for that, you have my sympathy,” Rowe said.
“But that’s not my fault. Nor is it the fault of the American people. The fault belongs to you, and so does the debt,” he added.
Instead of taking on debt for a four-year degree, Rowe encouraged people to explore all of their options including learning tangible skills and trades.
“This is why I’ve spent the last twelve years discouraging people from slipping into hock at the outset of their careers. This is why I push back against the insane notion that a four-year degree is the best path for most people,” he said. “I don’t want to see more people borrow money they can’t afford to pay back. But nor do I wish to pay it back for you. I will, however, encourage you to apply for a work-ethic scholarship, and wish you every success in the future.”
Rowe concluded by plugging his foundation mikeroweWORKS, which awards money to people “looking to master a useful skill.”
“We have no objection to a broad-based, liberal arts education,” Rowe said. “We simply object to the cost, and therefore assisting students who wish to pursue a trade that doesn’t require a four-year degree.”
https://www.facebook.com/TheRealMikeRowe/posts/3880222518654529
Mike Rowe December 14 at 8:10 PM ·
Lots of people on this page have asked me to comment on the various proposals to forgive hundreds of billions of dollars in student debt. Many it seems, suspect that I'll be supportive of these efforts, since I've written at length about the outrageous rise of college tuition, and the scandalous ways in which hundreds of thousands of students have been conned into borrowing ridiculous sums of money to purchase degrees that never lead to an actual job. Well, for the record, I do not support student loan forgiveness.
My reasons for opposing student loan forgiveness are not a secret. I've written at length on this page about the fundamental unfairness of doing such a thing - especially to the millions of Americans who have paid their college debts, and sacrificed much to do so. I've also said that forgiving student debt would send a terrible message to the very same universities that already gouge their customers with sky-high tuition. Tuition will never come back to earth, if we bail out those who borrowed more than they could repay. Kevin Williamson, however, has summed it up better than I have. This paragraph in the attached article jumped out...
"The majority of student debt is held by relatively high-income people, poor people mostly are not college graduates, and those who attended college but did not graduate hold relatively little college-loan debt, etc. As the New York Times puts it, “Debt relief overall would disproportionately benefit middle- to upper-class college graduates.” Which ones? “Especially those who attended elite and expensive institutions, and people with lucrative professional credentials like law and medical degrees.”
I encourage you to read Kevin's article. It's short, but powerful. I also encourage you, if you're so inclined, to make a modest donation to my foundation, which is currently raising money for our next round of work-ethic scholarships. mikeroweworks.org.
At mikeroweWORKS, we have no objection to a broad-based, liberal arts education. We simply object to the cost, and therefore focus our efforts on assisting students who wish to pursue a trade that doesn't require a four-year degree. Like last year, I hope to award another million dollars in 2021 to qualified applicants looking to master a useful skill. Specifically, plumbers, electricians, pipefitters, welders, HVAC, mechanics, and so forth.
Finally, it should go without saying that I pity every young man and woman who is struggling today under the yoke of a crushing student loan. I sincerely do. You were quite possibly sold a bill of goods. You were very likely pressured by your friends, your parents, or your guidance counselor, to attend the "right" school. You were perhaps a victim of this persistent, pernicious, and preposterous push to peddle a four-year degree to every person with a pulse, and for that, you have my sympathy. But that's not my fault. Nor is it the fault of the American people. The fault belongs to you, and so does the debt.
This is why I've spent the last twelve years discouraging people from slipping into hock at the outset of their careers. This is why I push back against the insane notion that a four-year degree is the best path for the most people. I don't want to see more people borrow money they can't afford to pay back. But nor do I wish to pay it back for you. I will however, encourage you to apply for a work-ethic scholarship, and wish you every success in the future.
Bachelor of Music. BM. Which is about what it’s worth.
count me in for not putting out for that.
I’m with Mike!
We have a neighbor kid who is 25. He is not college material. He is a sweet kid and he works his ass off at his minim wage job.
My daughter was talking about having them forgive her loans (which she can easily pay). I asked her “What is Max going to get? You get a $300/mo raise. What does Max get? He gets to pay his taxes. How can you look Max in the eye and not consider him a lesser citizen?”
I think she finally “got it.”
So is Dr. ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson. He has an honorary PhD from a college in OH.
His presumably didn’t cost as much though.
My son was all in for Bernie’s “free” college while he was in school. He was paying his own way. I explained to him that he would get to pay for other kid’s college after he goes to work.
Screeching halt to that.
I do feel like the feds have some responsibility here, since they created the problem with the federal guarantees, but having them fix it, number one, never fixes anything only makes it worse, and two, since they create nothing of value, have no money that actually belongs to ‘the government’, it’s really our money. So we can’t bail everyone out with an actual infusion of taxpayer money, we have to come up with something else.
The only thing I can think of is to take all money from the individual legislators that voted for this and contribute that. Now, a huge load of responsibility still falls with the greedy/disingenuous/predatory colleges, the stupid students and parents who signed up for $200K in loans for a degree in Womyn’s Studies and Interpretive Underwater Basket Weaving, and the idiot lenders that made the loans, so they can be the rest of the solution. The colleges don’t actually hold the paper for the loans, but we could confiscate an amount equal to 50% of the original loan amount and give it to the financial institutions, so they get half their money back, and we can let the banks fight it out with the students and parents to get the rest. No dog in that fight, at least for me.
Looking forward, legislatively get rid of the federal guarantee, which will dry up the supply of free money. When banks and colleges have some skin in the game, then they’ll have some motivation to make only loans that make financial sense, which will also exert restraint on tuition.
Give the useless little morons a latin lesson:
“Caveat emptor”
I absolutely approve of his audacious alliteration agenda.
You could probably take a p and no one would even notice.
He failed to mention that it was a predatory process.
Mario Cuomo has an Emmy. Barack 0 has a Nobel Peace Prize.
l8r
Rowe is right! They spent it, they pay for it. If what they bought is worthless, that is their problem not mine! It is on them to payback what they borrowed and to be more careful with money in the future!
University indoctrination has steered the country leftward for 3 generations since WW2. That is another reason to not promote student loan forgiveness in the quest for a useless sheepskin.
Pernicious as well: heck, I was just asked as part of an auto insurance quotation whether my wife and I had college degrees. Our society is warped into this elitist thing where you’re a safer risk for jobs/insurance/culture if you have that degree.
I agree with Rowe. Having worked in a college town it is hard to sympathize with some kid spending 5-6 years getting a degree in gender studies or some other “studies” degree with no possibility of getting a meaningful job unless one mandated by government (only a limited number of those available). Once you see the 5-6 year fully loan financed partying and multiple yearly vacations sympathy declines quickly. Most with the loans greater than most peoples’ mortgages don’t even lift a finger to save or earn any of the cost. Worse is their attitude that they deserve it and that they are better than you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.