“I personally think that for there to be any significant and fair improvements, there has to be a complete reform of the College                              system.”

    During President Joe Biden’s Presidential Campaign, one of the many promises he made was to forgive student loans to a certain degree. Today, we are starting to see it roll out and many students are receiving the grants to forgive up to $20,000 in debt. 

    Any student who, or dependent of someone who, makes less than $125,000 per year, is eligible to receive $10,000 in loan forgiveness, while certain students may apply for the Pell Grant which covers $20,000. 

    Unfortunately, anyone who has already paid off their student loans is out of luck, the grant doesn’t refund already paid debt. This fact has many people unhappy with the decision. 

    David Thornton, my father and average conservative taxpayer, had this to say about the whole situation. “I think it’s absolutely unfair to anybody who went to college and has student loans and paid it back. It also doesn’t apply to everyone who has taken out a student loan because of the dependent clause. It isn’t free either because as a taxpayer I have to pay for those grants. If your degree doesn’t allow you to pay back your student loans then it is of no value to our economy.” 

    I also interviewed Ethan Davis, a close friend of mine in his junior year at UWF. He explained how he hasn’t gotten his grant yet, but is anxiously waiting for it. “I think the $10000 are long overdue since President Biden promised student loan forgiveness in his campaign. I think the people complaining about the 10000 dollar grant don’t realize how much the tuition cost has increased from when they went to college. The cost of living has also substantially increased over the years.”  

    Senator Mitch McConnell, who graduated from the university of Kentucky in 1967, says that the student loan forgiveness program is “a slap in the face to working Americans”. When McConnell Graduated, the average price per year for a private college with tuition and all fees, was $1,350. Today the average cost per year for a private college is $38,070, according to data from CollegeBoard. The $10,000 grant would cover less than 1/16th of the 4 year tuition. 

    Ethan Davis also says “I don’t necessarily think it is fair for the American taxpayer to have to cover student loans, however the US government has made much more frivolous decisions with tax money in the past”.  

    I personally think that for there to be any significant and fair improvements, there has to be a complete reform of the College system. At the very least, a government operated 0% interest student loan program that loans out a certain amount of money based off of the degree you choose, to be paid off through your career, but no more than the original loan. 

    I think that while the tax-funded forgiveness program isn’t fair for everyone, it is at least a net positive for all students that it applies to. I think that those that complain about fairness need to look at the bigger picture and appreciate that they didn’t have to pay the exorbitant amount of money that current students have to pay.