Rising inflation is adding to pressures on recent graduates who may have taken out tens of thousands of pounds in student loans during their time at university
Rising inflation is adding to pressures on recent graduates who may have taken out tens of thousands of pounds in student loans during their time at university AFP / OLI SCARFF

I’ve never been one to kick someone off of a lifeboat or shut emergency doors once I get through them. Maybe that’s why I don’t see any problem with forgiving student loans.

Is it good for the economy that a brilliant, third-year chemistry student is making $10 an hour because they don’t qualify for financial aid anymore? Can we do without the family they would create if they had financial security? Likewise, what is the benefit to society when parents who take on PLUS loans get their wages garnished because of factors they can’t control?

Students and parents taking out loans do have a choice — but it’s an immoral choice. The American Dream of wealth through education happens to be located just beyond a dangerous money pit. According to a financial aid counselor I once heard talking to a student, “You have to beg, borrow, and steal to pay for college, that’s just the way it is.”

This attitude of, “Everyone went through it, so now you have to,” is seen a lot in medicine. Doctors work unthinkably long shifts compared to the rest of us. Whenever there is an effort to have the shifts conform to more normal-length durations, salty doctors come out of the woodwork and say, “I had to go through it, and now everyone after me should, too.” Meanwhile, overworked physicians make more mistakes.

It’s important to note that, even though proposals have been floated, no student loan forgiveness has been extended to the general public yet. Right now, only students from several for-profit colleges — or students who have become “totally” and “permanently” disabled — have received forgiveness.

Most recently Corinthian College, but also ITT Tech, DeVry University, and others, were found to have defrauded their students. Fortunately, the Department of Education has forgiven the student loans taken out by students at these schools.

What’s often left unsaid in the student loan debate is that graduating, in no way, guarantees wealth. There are people with advanced degrees making $15 an hour — and are expected to take on a $500 monthly payment a mere six months after graduating. It’s so unrealistic, I almost worry about the people who can do it.

“I came from a working-class family. My parents took out Plus Loans & desperate to make something of myself I took out tens of thousands in student loans," Nikole Hannah-Jones said. "After repaying many multiples of my original debt, at 45 I finally paid them off. I’d wish that on no one coming behind me.”

Most people who have been through higher education have noted how unfair and socioeconomically stratified it is. Well, student loan forgiveness is the undoing of that morally questionable setup. Sure, a sweeping bill from Congress that reimagines everything from the ground up would be nice, but we may have to wait until the end times before that happens. That’s just the way it is.

Judy Heft is the CEO/founder of Judith Heft & Associates, a Financial and Lifestyle concierge celebrating 26 years in business helping people stay financially organized. She is a Certified Money Coach and the author of “How to Be Smart, Successful and Organized with Your Money” and the co-author of “Mastering Your Financial LifeCycles”. She is the host of the podcast “Mastering your Financial Life.” For more information visit www.judithheft.com.