Student debt is a poverty tax on low income families

@SumKindaMunster I hear ya and I respect that you worked hard to pay off loans despite a difficult situation.

But what happened to you isn’t an argument for the system; it’s evidence of how broken it can be. If a school goes bankrupt and students are still left with debt, that’s not a sign of personal failure - that’s predatory policy.

Yes, higher education should be an investment in the future. But the return on that investment isn’t guaranteed, especially for low-income students navigating rising tuition, stagnant wages, and unequal opportunities.

@wishforthenight
A single school? That could be anything, poor fiscal management, bad decisions, lousy location, it doesn't mean the school or the loans were predatory.


What investments in the future offer any guarantee? That's why it's an investment. You believe in the cause and you are willing to sacrifice time and money to get there.

I don't disagree generally with your statements. But I don't think you can just cast aside this ideal because it doesn't appeal to you.

@SumKindaMunster OK but...you say I’m casting aside the ideal, but I’m actually pushing for a system that lives up to it more fairly. If anything, it feels like you're the one defending a broken version of that ideal simply because the concept appeals to you. Perhaps I've misread it.

Wanting education to be a pathway to opportunity is a fantastic goal, but if we refuse to acknowledge when and how the system fails to deliver that, especially for low-income students, we’re just preserving the appearance of fairness not the reality. Which is why I say again: student debt is a poverty trap.

@wishforthenight What would be more fair to you? Nobody is forcing you to take out student loans, it's something you chose to do.

I don't think its "broken". Even with my experience, it gave me the tools and knowledge to get a job in IT and now I have a career that's kept me gainfully employed for over 20 years. That's not just conceptual, that's a real world example of the system working, even though I experienced some setbacks along the way.

It's a risk, not a guarantee. Nobody is forcing anyone to take on student debt. That's entirely at the student's discretion. If a student chooses to pursue an education in an industry that is contracting or is tough to break into, that's on the student choosing to do that, not the industry.

If you don't like the system, you don't have to participate.

@SumKindaMunster
That's exactly my point. Education is rapidly becoming the preserve of the rich because of unaffordable student loan payments. If you "choose" not to participate then kiss goodbye to the chance of any high-paying job.

@wishforthenight That's the way life works. It's tougher to get the high paying jobs because that's what everyone wants. You're expected to do more, have a better education and try harder, because that's how you get those jobs.

If it was easy everyone would do it. The "hard" makes it good when you succeed.

Again, what would be more fair to you? You haven't answered that.

@SumKindaMunster OK so success should require effort and discipline, fiar enough, but that effort should be measured on a level playing field.

What would be more fair? Fair is when two students with equal talent and ambition don’t have drastically different outcomes just because one’s parents could write a tuition check and the other had to take out $80k in loans at 6% interest (for example). At the moment, it's not fair.

It’s not about making success easy. It’s about making the starting line closer to equal. Right now, low-income students often pay more, take more risk, and have fewer safety nets. That’s not meritocracy at all. That’s a system where wealth shields people from risk, and lack of wealth multiplies it.

And nobody is “forced” to go to college, but that’s like saying nobody is forced to swim when the lifeboats are leaving... Higher education is still the clearest path to upward mobility, we know this. Opting out often means you end up with nothing.

You can't paywall opportunity.

@wishforthenight I still don't hear solutions and suggestions for change and reform. Just a lot of complaining about your perception of the system.

So, how do we fix it?

@SumKindaMunster I think that's unfair of you to say I'm complaining. I'm stating facts here.

Still, how do we fix it? Glad you asked :)

I suggest:

Interest-free federal student loans.

Income-based repayment with automatic forgiveness after 15–20 years (like a lot of other countries do)

Hold predatory schools accountable (Like Trump University, for one).

More public funding for public universities.

Vocational and community college investment, because not everyone needs a four-year degree.

@wishforthenight Sounded like complaining to me.

Thanks for these suggestions, my responses below:

💯Totally agree, making it interest based creates an industry that is vested in getting you to continue to make payments as the more you pay, the more money they make.

I'm ok with the repayments being based on proven income, not so on the auto forgiveness...too many people would take out loans, then not repay them, waiting for them to expire.

We do this already.

Ok, that's acceptable.

They exist already.

@SumKindaMunster Then there needs to be improvement across the board.

@SumKindaMunster first get the government out of it,anytime the government promises to pay ,the price skyrockets! And the government screws things up every time second parents and students need to find out if the education will be worth the job they will be getting. If you take courses on subjects that don't pay very well ,it's a ,waste! Go to a trade school. Schools that don't tell kids exactly what they are getting into gets a huge fine! For starters

@wishforthenight @Bonby Interesting comments. Thank you both.