Biden has increased the hold on student loan payments until August. This is great, in theory. But, it doesn’t really address the overall problem that is student loans. Kids are told to take out huge loans to pay for college, because we have it drilled into us from a young age that we need to go to college to get a good job. And then in college, you’re told to work hard to get a job to pay off those loans you took out to get there. It’s circular. Go to college to get a job, take out loans to pay for college, get a job to pay loans.
Who decided that while 18 year old’s can’t drink, they can take out massive loans that will affect them for the rest of their lives? People who think most of us can just pay off our loans in a couple years and move on clearly haven’t experienced the real pain.
The average person with student loan debt has $37,172 with a monthly payment of $393. The average term for loan payment is ten years, and with $393 monthly payment, a person will pay $44,592. And that’s with an interest rate of 3.73%. However, most people don’t pay off their loans in the standard ten years, and on average, it takes 19.7 years for someone to pay off all their student loans.
1 in 4 Americans has student loans, which equates to about 1.75 trillion dollars of debt. The average cost of a year of college ranges from $9,970 (in-state) to $25,620 (out of state). Compared to the cost in 2000 which was around $7,040 (average). When adjusted for inflation, this was around $10,697. The price of tuition between 1990 and 2000 increased by 66.3% for public universities, and 74.1% for private universities. All these numbers basically mean is college is much more expensive today than it was when our parents and grandparents attended. Just to give an overall example of this: a year of college in 1990 was $1,780. Today, this would be $3,935. Can you imagine paying less than four thousand dollars for a year of college? That’s insane to me. The price of university and further education is outrageous, and the loans we have to take out to pay for it simply is a crime.
I want to give another example. The average teacher with student loans has $58,700. The average salary of a teacher is $62,870. For a 10-year loan term and paying $600 a month, they will pay over $71,000.
The average doctor has $203,062 in student loans and makes an average salary of $294,000. For the same loan term as a teacher, they will pay $2,075 a month, and pay over $249,000 overall.
Both of these examples are just that. Examples based on averages. And they ignore all other bills, taxes, and costs that a person will have. These salaries also depend largely on the location of the person.
All of this ignores the fact that life happens and when a person is held back by loans for years and worry more about paying those off than anything else, it can lead to a rise in mental health issues. Imagine the amount of people who would buy houses, have families, and generally improve their lives and the economy if they had less student debt to worry about. There would be a massive boost in so many areas, but instead, students suffer under a massive weight and often live with worry in the back of their minds about how to pay it off every day.
For people who did pay off their loans or managed to work through school/not require any loans, I applaud them and envy them. And when asked about why people with loans should have some of the loans forgiven now, I say we can make it even by giving people with college degrees and no debt a tax credit. That way, they also get the benefit. Forgiving some of my loans would be great, but what would be greater is to see policy changes that limit tuition hikes and the interest rates on loans. I’m sure more can be done than what I’ve listed and politicians need to look at this. Because, in reality, many of the up and coming politicians will also be carrying student debt, and why would they be opposed to discussing changes that could help millions of Americans? On that matter, why would any politician be against changes that would benefit millions of Americans?
To check out some of these numbers for yourself, check out the links below.
Everything with Em 
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