Should We Cancel student debt

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Dec 6, 2023

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1 Should college students in the United States receive loan forgiveness? Shanya Hendrickson Wilmington University English 121 Dr.Evelyn Baldwin November 5 th , 2023

2 Should college students in the United States receive loan forgiveness? In the world we live in today going to college almost feels like a necessity if we want a chance of getting a high-paying job. According to the Federal Reserve, in 2020 there were 45 million borrowers of student loans with a combined balance of 1.7 trillion in debt. Many of these borrowers are students fresh out of high school, adults brand new to this world unaware of the impact these loans may have on their lives after they graduate college. Should the United States forgive loans taken out by these students? In my opinion, I believe we should. When someone takes out student loans to further their education, they are usually taking tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars out in debt. Personally, I have many friends who have student debt, and the balance they are paying ranges from $300 to $800 a month to pay off their student debt. Quite a few of these friends have not even been able to find a career with the degree they are paying for. Canceling student debt would put money back into borrowers’ pockets allowing them to spend more and boosting our economy. Canceling student debt would help set borrowers up for success financially. Many college graduates paying student loans would have the money back in their pockets so they could save for retirement easier or save for emergencies by moving millions of people into positive net worth. Another reason for canceling student debt would be to keep the racial wealth gap from growing. Statistics have shown that after 40 years of paying down student debt, 95% of white borrowers have paid off roughly 95% of the balance they owe. The same statistics show that black borrowers have typically paid off around 5% of their debt. According to the U.S Department of Labor black citizens make nearly 35 cents less on the dollar than a white citizen. An article from ACLU in 2023 states that the median income for a black household is around

3 $30,400 while a white household's median income is $54,100. Canceling student debt would help keep this wealth gap from growing. While there are many great reasons for forgiving our students' debt in this country there are also reasons to have borrowers continue to pay their debt. One of many reasons is, forgiving student debt does not address the underlying problem of the cost of furthering one's education. According to an article from Educationdata.org, the average borrower will take out $27,000 a year in student debt. Roughly $110,000 for 4 years of education. Forgiving student debt would not stop future borrowers from sinking themselves into the same hole. While I think we can all agree that college is important for our society to grow, something needs to change. If we continue the path, we are on then the amount of our citizens in debt will continue to grow. Forgiving student debt will not solve all the issues with the education system, however, I believe that it’s a great place to start.

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4 References Duarte, R. M., Katie. (2023, August 10). Visualizing the Racial Wealth Gap | ACLU . American Civil Liberties Union. https://www.aclu.org/news/racial-justice/visualizing-the-racial- wealth-gap Earnings Disparities by Race and Ethnicity | U.S. Department of Labor . (2020). Www.dol.gov. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ofccp/about/data/earnings/race-and-ethnicity Hanson, M. (2022, October 24). Average Cost of College [2022]: Yearly Tuition + Expenses . Education Data Initiative. https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-college#:~:text=The %20average%20cost%20of%20attendance Mulhere, K. (2021, May 21). Should Biden Cancel Student Debt? The Loan Forgiveness Debate, Explained . Money. https://money.com/student-loan-forgiveness-pros-cons/ Roll, S., Jabbari, J., & Grinstein-Weiss, M. (2021, May 18). Student debt forgiveness would impact nearly every aspect of people’s lives . Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/student-debt-forgiveness-would-impact-nearly-every- aspect-of-peoples-lives/

Should We Cancel student debt

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