Student Loans

Student loans make sense to me to a degree and that degree really only applies to my parents generation. When you were taking out a loan that you could realistically repay in a summer or two of full time work. I do moderately agree with the idea that you should have some stake in your education but , and this is where I get liberal, as an 18 year old you should not be allowed to make a decision that will essentially having you buy a house without the house. I think there is (was? I’m not sure if it has past now) an issue with parents not transparently conveying to their kids the cost of higher ed. I do know parents who were much more transparent with their children about it but that was not the majority.

I get that as parents you want to give your child the world and we are told growing up to apply to the best school you can but I think this is really misleading and honestly detrimental. I wish that in the US you could go to the best school you were qualified for regardless of cost. To me, that’s kind of what freedom might mean but I also understand wanting students to understand that this is not an excuse to just do nothing in college. Regardless I am a part of a generation who either didn’t understand the true cost that student loans would be or wasn’t really told. This is now a generational issue and is meaning millennials can’t afford to buy houses because financially we’re already on the hook for that amount of debt. I think we as a society are just starting to feel the repercussions of a generation who grew up the Recession and now are making homeowner size payments. I am hopeful that there are people motivated to do something in office but I haven’t really seen that come to fruition. Inroads are being made with free community college and statewide commitments to free college if students make under a certain amount but its somewhat too late. The wheels of change turn slow and hopefully they keep turning.