Debt Free College: The Game Changing Move America Needs

During the first presidential debate, there was a sense of the surreal. In the following week of bizarre acts in the media, one can be forgiven for having it drowned out. Hillary Clinton in her opening remarks said;

“And I want us to do more to support people who are struggling to balance family and work. I’ve heard from so many of you about the difficult choices you face and the stresses that you’re under. So let’s have paid family leave, earned sick days. Let’s be sure we have affordable child care and debt-free college.”

It could be the game-changer that the economy desperately needs. Why? Everyone is fond of pointing fingers at millennials who are putting off “growing up” – which is to say Millennials are not buying cars, getting married, buying and furnishing houses, having children, and buying a bigger house and second car. It’s not that they’re not mature, it’s that they are so far in debt for college educations – some complete and some not – that they feel they can’t afford to so any of these. The average student loan debt for 2016 is $37,000 – meaning that at the top of end of the spectrum there are students with $74,000 in debts or more.

Mortgaged Futures

All that money is a future that Millennials can’t afford to have with 71 percent of Millennials citing their student loans as their main reason for not buying a home. While some will find employment that allows them to pay it down, many others will be underemployed, at a job with stagnating wages, and simply will not feel secure enough to do the things that keep our economy working. As many as one in five borrowers are paying nearly 15 percent of their income towards that debt. Even for some young lawyers, who can rack up $100,000 or in student loans for law school on top of college, face $1,000 a month or more in payments. Unless you are working at an elite law firm, such as Cravath, Swaine & Moore home of the $180,000 salary for a first year associate, you’re going to be fighting to make ends meet.

Breaking the Debt Shackles

So what’s the solution? Considering current undergrad financial needs – tuition, room and board, books and supplies, transportation, and so on – debt free college would be a game-changer for the post-Millennial generation – call them GenZ. With government support to expand free tuition programs at 2-year colleges, students could go from college into a career in a short time, or transfer to a state college after their 2 years. It could break the stranglehold that for-profits have had on post-secondary education, and rehabilitate the unjust image that community colleges are for losers who couldn’t hack “real college.” It could also reopen doors to those nontraditional students who have been so resoundingly ill-served by the for-profit colleges. But community colleges have to serve the community, and some are better than others in terms of costs, transfers to 4-year schools, and career outcomes.

It also means that college-qualified students would not look at the costs of obtaining a degree and walk away, not leave college before obtaining a degree because they could not afford to continue. People are not comfortable in addressing the racial and class issued behind student borrowing that shackles social mobility and socioeconomic participation, but they must be addressed if we as a country are to move toward actual equality as opposed to an equal in theory country. The debt divide impacts students of color, GI Bill students, older students, and poor students in disproportionate numbers – and these students are the ones who most understand that without that certificate, that two-year, four-year, or graduate degree that they will be locked out of prosperity.

What About Current Borrowers?

Former Secretary Clinton’s platform provides for some solutions to the current borrowers. However, as the for-profits fail (ITT, Corinthian) Senator Warren has harsh words for federal entities still bent on collecting those loans, despite fraud and outright abuse inflicted on their former students. It’s a hard thing to say, but this mess is not going to be cleared up overnight, and the Department of Education must be held as accountable as the colleges that defrauded the students who trusted them with their futures. Students do not have lobbyists, or dark money non-profits, or nice retreats to exclusive resorts in Jackson Hole. It’s time to hold those people accountable as well.

If you have been defrauded, if your loans are out of control, if you feel that you can’t even complete your degree from the middle of the financial train wreck you’re in, you need to call me. A consultation is free. We can do something to help and get you back on top of your own life again. Political solutions can take time, and the wheels of justice could often use a solid coating of axle grease along with a swift kick, but there are things that you can do now. Call us at our Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach office and let’s get to work on them together.