Many of you have heard me bitch and moan about rich and/or ignorant folks getting bailed out by the government with the proposed stimulus package. Upon chatting with my midwife the other day over the woes of money, daycare, etc, she said that she wished they would consider student loan forgiveness as part of the stimulus package. I exclaimed and enthusiastic, "That's brilliant!"and the idea has lingered with me.
Currently, between my undergrad, Adam's master's degree, and my doctorate degree we pay close to $1000 per month in college loans. That combined with rent, food, bills (life insurance, cell phone, electricity) and daycare leave us barely scraping by each month. It's a sad state to live in, especially when you feel you have done what society tells you to do (go to college, get multiple degrees, establish yourself firmly and successfully in a profession, don't do anything stupid like get a mortgage you can't afford) and you're still financially struggling.
If the government were to grant student loan forgiveness as a part of a stimulus, even if they just gave any/everyone with outstanding student debt 20K that could ONLY be used to repay loans, all that money would go back into banks and/or the government (our loans are currently from the government and a private loaning company in NC). And then, those of us who are financially paralyzed by college debt would have that much extra money per month to put back into our flailing economy. I really see it as win/win situation.
But, of course, I'm not holding my breath on this one. Instead, we'll bail out a bunch of douchebag bankers and financially irresponsible home-buyers so that they can simply go out and repeat their same mistakes. You know they will. Because they'll just wait for a second hand-out, I mean bailout, to fix their problems.
So, again, no bailout for us folks here on 8th Street, Brooklyn, New York, USA.
More info on college loans forgiveness bailout idea.
great description of the forgive student loan movement here
I couldn't agree more! I am a clinical social worker who worked my tail off to get my Master's Degree. Now I'm stuck with HUGE student loans that leave me scraping my each month. Of course, this is despite the hard work I put into working for a non-profit organization where I will never make what I am worth (but as any social worker will tell you, we didn't get into the profession for the money!) Including student loan forgiveness in the stimulus jsut seems to make perfect sense. But like you, I'm not holding my breath- but I can dream :)
ReplyDeleteThen there are those like my wife who went and got her law degree, hated the law and decided she would much rather be working with kids, teaching and tutoring. Imagine 3 years of law school loans ($80k) on a teacher's salary? Not fun...
ReplyDeleteDouchebag bankers...I see you have been listening to your kids a bit much.
i love the word douchebag--it is just so aptly descriptive!
ReplyDeletelaw school loans and teaching...whoa.
that does suck! but we'll all be paid with satisfying careers, right? (even though my poor kids will have no college savings b/c i'm too busy paying off my loans!)