a friend of mine recently posted this photo on her fb:
first off, i want to make a few points clear.
1) i believe kids these days are graduating with insane amounts of debt.
2) this debt does reduce their ability to live a pampered/fun/spoiled life.
3) i believe that something needs to be done.
4) i vote democrat 95% of the time that i vote.
with that said i can't stand liberal bullshit like this. look bridget (sorry to pick on you, you just happened to be the photo 2 fb friends shared). i finished undergrad with 100k in debt. i then went on to earn my doctorate and by the time i was finished i was over 130k in debt. i've been in the work force for 5 years and i am on track to be student debt free in 2-3 years. why is it that you deserve to have your student loan forgiven? why is it that you can't go to law school with 35k in debt but i was able to go to graduate school with 100k of debt? hell, i made over 50k in college working part time at starbucks and shoveling driveways during the winter which went towards my student loans. bridget happens to have 2 tattoos (from a few fb pics i saw), you know what bridget? i want a tattoo as well, you know why i don't have it? because instead of getting the 1500 dollar tattoo i want i have to pay 1200 a month in student loans, maybe you would have less debt if you allocated your money more wisely. something doesn't add up. perhaps you don't deserve to go to law school because you don't understand the simple concept of hard work? i don't know you, but i can't help but feel this way. this is a privileged first world liberal problem and you and folks who believe this need a wake up call.
you know what my sign would be?
my name is John. I owe 100k in student debt. if i were debt-free i could buy myself a house, travel the world, drive a brand new car and blow money on shit i don't really need but would love to have because it's better than paying student debt that was lent to me to further my education so i could improve my future earning potential and improve my future livelihood. see what i did there?
the reality is that education is not free. if you want education to be free fight for a socialist society (i'm not against a socialist society btw), fight for free education for all, don't fight for loan forgiveness. loan forgiveness is bad for many reasons. for starters people in our society love to take advantage of the system. what incentive do you have to work hard in school and succeed if you know that your loans can be forgiven afterwards? better yet, why should everyone else pay for your education? i guess the true question to be asked is WHY you are getting an education. i know why i got my education. i knew that it would provide me the best opportunity to live the life i want to live. i knew it was not going to be an easy road, i knew it was expensive and i applied for loans in order to do so. i go to private institutions and asked them for money so that i could BUY something (education). now that i/you have bought the item and used it we want the bank/etc to not ask us for the money we owe them. SAY WHAT?!?!?! why not food forgiveness then? stop and shop and whole foods should just give away free food. cus you know, if i didn't have to pay 125 for groceries every week i would be able to afford a BMW.
i went through the facebook page and looked at some people's loans and what they wanted and it made me puke a little on the inside. people wishing they had less student loans so they could buy something for themselves. do people not realize that things in life are earned, not given? do people not realize that YOU SIGNED UP for the student loans and no one forced them on you (ok ok, maybe you had a tiger mom too)?
want to know how to graduate and be able to pay off your student loans? don't get a degree in poop scooping. ya'll know what i'm talking about. we've all had that friend during college that was racking up 20-40k a year in student debt studying something that had the earning potential of a grocery store cashier. you remember asking them what they are going to do after college and they always say "i have no idea, but i like doing this now". why should others be responsible for your student loans? maybe if you went to college for something that had the ability to earn you what you needed to live the life you wanted you wouldn't be stuck in this position. amazonian history isn't working out for you so well anymore is it? i could have told you that when i was 15 years old. way to spend 4 years racking up student debt doing something that didn't improve your ability to earn a living, ding dong. maybe you shouldn't have gone to private school, maybe you should have gone to community college.
don't get me wrong, if anyone should want student loan forgiveness it's me. i would love to have the last 40k of debt just wiped out clean. but it's just not me. i'm proud of everything i have EARNED in my life. that house is going to be that much cozier, that car is going to ride that much nicer, hell even that bag of ramen is going to taste that much better because i paid for it on my own using the education that i worked and paid for.
lets work on educating our youth to better plan their future. lets work on helping them setup a successful financial plan to get through college so they are not strapped with debt. that i will support whole heartily all day everyday. telling our kids to go to college, do whatever the hell they want there and then say no matter what, don't worry about the debt is not the way to go. it just reinforces the notion that you don't have to work for anything, something that is already troubling enough in today's youth given all that they already have.
