President Joe Biden really wanted to eradicate student loan debt by allowing students who borrowed money from the federal government for their studies to be entirely forgiven, leaving the burden of their debt on the American taxpayers. He wasn't able to get it through—turns out he didn't have the power to just wipe out some $2 TRILLION in debt for 44 million borrowers.
No worries for the students though, who have decided to clear out that debt themselves, and in their own way. Despite all the income-based repayment programs, many borrowers decided to just quit paying it all by themselves. And The New York Times ran a puff piece about them over the Easter weekend. The Times reported that "a record number of student loan borrowers are in delinquency and default. Some are making the drastic decision to leave the country and abandon their loans."
A 37-year-old who got a masters in historic preservation from the University of Oregon owes $65,000 in federal student loans, but she couldn't find a job in her field, so now she feels "misled," apparently. She blames all those she encountered in her educational career for not educating her in how to be "financially stable," even though she's the one who signed up for historical preservation, not lessons in finance. Also now she's 37—I mean, at a certain point figure out your own stuff, girl.
It was only a year after she finished her masters, paying $60 per month to the feds for the privilege of having them fund her education in the field of her choice, that she decided she never wanted to pay it back. She moved to Prague and defaulted on her loan. That was 7 years ago. She's come and gone from the US but is determined never to pay back the American taxpayers for the education she undertook at their expense.
There's lots of Americans who decide not to go to college or take advanced degrees because they don't want to be in hock. They shouldn't be forced to cover the cost of irresponsible, regretful borrowers.
No one made this woman sign up for a masters in historical preservation, yet she somehow thinks that not only is she entitled to the education and the degree, but that the American taxpayers should be the one to foot the bill while she goes and lives in Europe. It turns out that Amanda Lynn Tully is not the only one who has decided never to pay back the federal government for their education. 7.7 million people now refuse to pay.
The Times highlights another borrower whose parents took out $80,000 in loans. He had the loans transferred into his own name, then defaulted on the debt. He had found a job right out of school, but still, he decided he shouldn't pay for the degree he bought at the taxpayer's expense. "I thought about it one day and was like, ‘Am I really going to be doing this until I’m 50 or 60?'" He told The Times. So he just stopped paying.
The thing is, college wasn't so expensive before the feds got involved shoveling seemingly free money to students so they could hand it over to colleges to get the full college experience. College was a normal price. It was priced at its actual value. Now, the cost of college is totally outsized compared to the value of the degree. People take dumb majors and are then surprised when they can't get jobs. Or they go get the degree and then are shocked when they actually have to make good on all that paper they signed.
Colleges should be responsible for student debt when borrowers default. If they were, they wouldn't keep offering degrees in stupid fields that have no jobs to students who can't afford it on their own. And taxpayers wouldn't be in the hole for $2 trillion. The only reason tuition is as pricey as it has now become is because schools know borrowers will just pay so long as the feds just lend, and the feds don't show any sign of stopping.
This originally appeared in Libby Emmons' daily newsletter. You can subscribe at www.libbysdesk.com.
