Forgive Student Debt? Restructure It.

The current argument over student debt: should the government forgive the first $10,000 in debt or the first $50,000 in debt, is a classic case of a political issue being whittled down to two choices, neither of which is very good, neither of which address root cause. Although I am inclined to think that forgiving $50,000 in debt is five times worse than forgiving $10,000.

I do not pine for the United States circa 1950’s that MAGA folks seek. I am, however, quick to admit that our nation was doing very well by one particular group of people — straight white males — during that period. And the likeliest route to becoming an equitable society in the 2020’s might very well be to offer the kind of programs that led to living wages, increased home ownership, and access to higher education for white men in the 1950’s and 60’s to: everyone!

Between the GI Bill and the 1970’s, colleges and universities offered higher education to more people than ever before. The United States became the world’s education leader by investing in two important ways. First, the government funded public universities, which helped keep tuition reasonable. Second, the government established loan programs to provide deferred-interest loans to individual students at low rates.

I was a direct beneficiary of the second approach. The ‘financial-aid package’ for a kid from a low-quartile income family included scholarship, required work-study, and loans. After four years of college I owned a whopping $11,000 (real money in 1977)…