I’m going to make this short and simple. So two new government programs, the Income-Based Repayment program and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program go into place July 1 which promise to forgive student loan debt over various time periods and when certain qualifications are met. They only apply to those with federal student loans.
I’m not going to get into the economics of all this of whether or not it’s a good idea. I’m not going to bother telling you about the programs either. I just want to discuss briefly the ethics and morals of these programs.
First off, I’m fully aware of the financial struggles this country is going through. And I’m fully aware of how expensive higher education is–I’ve been there. But what kind of message is the government sending if they outright forgive student loan debt? Where’s the acceptance of responsibility? We live in a society where we all think we are entitled to something. And everybody whines about this and that and expects Uncle Sam to take care of all of their problems.
Well, it disgusts me. I’m curious to know what you think about these two programs and other related methods (could we say the word bailout? I just did) and about the prospect to forgive student loan debt.