Republicans believe they have found their bombshell attack against Democratic elected officials in 2022: The same people advocating for student debt forgiveness actually owe student debt. I want you to sit down, right now, because this is such a shocking revelation that wild conservative sites have devoted time to “expose” how much student debt Democratic elected officials have, and point out that they are among the advocates for student debt forgiveness.
This shocking bombshell led to stories on right-wing sites like Daily Caller (you can Google on your own), and mentions nationally on talk radio. Republicans are so infuriated by the idea that they’ve written editorials in their favorite editorial page, The Wall Street Journal, to call any forgiveness “a political bribe.” This is interesting considering how Republicans have been more than eager to vote for tax plans that benefit their largess and push back on any idea that they should be held accountable for doing such a thing, at all.
Here is the truth about student loan debt:
Among the class of 2020, 55% of bachelor’s degree recipients took out student loans, graduating with an average of $28,400 in federal and private debt. And 14% of parents with students in the class of 2019 — the latest data available — took out an average of $37,200 in federal parent PLUS loans.
But there are more scary student loan debt statistics. Americans owe nearly $1.75 trillion in student loan debt, spread out among about 46 million borrowers. That’s about $440 billion more than the total U.S. auto loan debt.
The concept that Democratic elected officials don’t owe any debt or that doing so should open them up to ridicule for advocating for change is one of the more spurious arguments I have ever heard politically.
Nikema Williams' family owes student loan debt. Does that make them a bad family, or people who tried to improve themselves? Are we punishing people who are trying to do better for their family in the system that has been provided?
We need to start recognizing the facts of the situation. The people who take out student debt are often middle- and lower-income families who need support to get through college. Degrees are expensive. Having them get through a degree so they can participate in the economy and become better earners is a net positive for all of us. If they earn more per year thanks to their degree, they are paying more taxes, buying more goods and services, and improving the cycle for the next generation.
There is one problem that prevents the third step from happening: They are saddled with debt that will stick with them until they die.