As a parent of 2 kids currently in college (both at very expensive private colleges) I'm not a fan.
1. Most "debt forgiveness" plans only apply to kids that went to public colleges, thus hurting those that choose other options.
2. What about the people that were fiscally responsible and didn't rack up a ton of student loan debt?
3. Why should taxpayers bail out people that made bad decisions (again)?
4. Why should people that willingly choose to go to college and knowingly took on a large financial obligation be relieved of having to do what they said they'd do (paying back the money they took)?
5. Why should the people that made better/wiser financial decisions be penalized (not only don't receive money but they have to pay money/taxes to cover the bailout for the idiots)?
IMO the only way student loan debt forgiveness makes any sense is if the following is done:
Every person (within a certain age range) gets the same $ amount, regardless of ANY other factors/criteria.
- Went to a college and racked up a ton of debt = get $30k. Went to a community college = get $30k. Worked 2 jobs while in college to help pay as you go = get $30k. Went to a trade school and then into the workforce = get $30k. Didn't go to college and instead went right into the workforce = get $30k. Etc.
- Each and every person gets the exact same amount, regardless of current debt. Those that were fiscally responsible should not be penalized compared to those that weren't. My 2 kids will end up graduating with (slightly) different debt amounts, even though their colleges both cost about the same ($71k per year versus $73k). So one will end up with about $12k of debt and the other will have about $24k, one shouldn't benefit more/less than the other based on their debt.
Another aspect not often mentioned is the bankruptcy laws regarding student loan debt. While I agree that someone shouldn't be allowed to just rack up debt and then upon graduation file bankruptcy and avoid having to every pay that debt, the current system IS part of the problem. I think that bankruptcy forgiveness of student loan debt should be allowed to some extent, but only as a percentage, and only after some amount of time. If you file bankruptcy say 5 years after graduation then say something like 50% of the student loan debt is wiped away (assuming some criteria is in place so that payments weren't just deferred for years in avoidance of meeting the previously agreed to financial obligations of the loans). If you file bankruptcy immediately after graduating then there much less forgiveness since you've made essentially no attempt to fulfill your agreed to obligations. On the flip side, if 15 years after graduating college you file bankruptcy and you still have student loan debt, then it all goes away (again, assuming some efforts have been made through the previous years to make good faith effort to play the debt).
As for who get student loan forgiveness, that's a tricky question. IMO it needs to be a pretty wide swath of people (i.e. ages). Not just recent graduates but also those that graduated 8 years ago, and those currently of college age (18-22). In addition, if something's going to be done it needs to also encompass those students currently in high school when they get to college (so some sort of long term finance reform and not just a one time bailout). I'd propose a tiered benefit, based on the recipient's current age. Something along the lines of:
35+ = gets $0
30-35 = gets $10k
25-30 = gets $20k
20-25 = gets $30k
15-20 = gets $20k (a lesser amount that's offset by financial reforms)
<15 = gets $0 commitment now, assuming financial reforms eliminates the debt problem in the coming years. However, if reforms don't happen it'd be possible that another round of "relief" could be done.
TL/DR: Every single person (of a certain age), regardless of whether or not they made shit decisions, deserves the same financial windfall. And a change to bankruptcy laws as a last ditch safety net are necessary.
