A recurring nightmare I have–exacerbated by eating close to bedtime–is me plummeting to my death. I never know what I’m falling from and I never actually hit the ground, but the feeling is just as scary as if it were to happen in reality. I always wake up in a sweat.
Another recurring nightmare I have is the beginning of each semester when my family and I have to figure out how we’re going to manage getting financially cleared again–except this nightmare is REAL.
If you’re anything like the average American, you probably don’t find the financial clearance process to be one that brings you utmost joy or satisfaction. Instead, you probably view it as an extremely stressful process. Why is that?
Based on the many discussions I’ve had with friends, we can agree that financial offices across the country don’t necessarily make the process as smooth as they could be. However, I would say that even if we had the perfect advisors all the time, we would still be left feeling frustrated.
The core of our frustration stems from the fact that, at the end of the day, we are left with a number that is not representative of our needs. If your family is financially blessed (and I’m honestly happy for you), this process is just the last step before you can move into the dorm. For the rest of us, we are left wondering things like:
Who determines the amount of loans I can receive?
Do they not realize my family has other financial responsibilities?
Do I need to consider a private loan?
Why did I not receive a Pell Grant?
It sort of feels like you’re going around in circles. On one hand, you need extra help from the government at the moment, but you know that you’ll have to pay for it down the road–so what is the right thing to do? In most cases, people don’t even have the luxury of making a choice–they just need to get more loans.
When President Joe Biden finally unveiled his student loan forgiveness program, America collectively breathed a sigh of relief. Of course there were some who wondered why people couldn’t just pay off their debts, just as they had. To those who ask that question–it’s fair. To put you in their shoes, imagine yourself as a ten-year-old who has a sibling one year younger than you. Your parents tell you they will pay you each $50 if both the front yard and back yard are mowed and both of your rooms get cleaned. You diligently mow the front yard and clean your room while your sibling just cleans their room, and your parents, upon looking at the work you’ve each completed, award both of you $50.
Similarly, it must be frustrating for people who diligently paid off their loans with no help–whether it was easy for them or not–to now watch others receive help.
That being said, the simple fact is that it’s just not as easy to pay off your debts in 2022 as it was 20 years ago. Statistics show that even when adjusted for inflation, tuition is two times the amount it was 20 years ago. You may say, “Well, work a job and save money to go to school.” Happy you brought that up. Let’s say you work at a job that pays you $15/hour. You work full time and take only two weeks of vacation.
=$15/hr X 40hrs/week X 50 weeks= $30,000 BUT you faithfully tithe and need to pay taxes
=$30,000 - $3,000(10% tithe) - $6,288 (taxes according to smartasset)= $20,712.
So if you want to attend Andrews University but don’t want to take out any loans, never buy new clothes, never go out to eat, never have to pay any other bills (ha!), you’ll only have to wait about 8.5 years!
The reality is, most jobs that will allow you to make enough money to move out and be independent require a formal education. Some of these jobs, in turn, don’t pay workers enough to even make a dent in their loans.
Because of this, it is my opinion that it is both necessary and beneficial for the entire country for people to receive loan forgiveness. Truly the only cons of forgiving loans are that not everyone who has ever taken out a loan can benefit from this program, and that some states will tax the money you get to pay off the loan. The pros are endless, though. Unlike independent student loan forgiveness programs, this doesn’t keep you from earning higher wages and your debt will actually decrease.
Furthermore, as President Biden stated when he announced the program: “I ran for office to grow the economy from the bottom up and the middle out because when we do that, everyone does better, everybody does well. The wealthy do very well, the poor have a way up, and the middle class can have breathing room. And that’s going to help America win the economic competition of the 21st century…. That’s what today’s announcement is about. It’s about opportunity. It’s about giving people a fair shot. It’s about the one word America can be defined by: possibilities. It’s all about providing possibilities.”
When I think about the possibilities that have opened up,, I see my parents having $10,000 worth of stress lifted off of their shoulders, possibly to go into the house renovations they’ve been needing for a while. I see $10,000 being put towards a college fund for my cousin's children who are still young but will go to college in the future. I see $10,000 going into a downpayment for a home or simply into my savings to spend later on in life. For the average American, $10,000-20,000 goes a very long way and is a tangible reminder that our government truly cares about our present just as much as our future.
What will you do with your money?
Sources not used but interesting to look into:
https://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2044/Higher-Education-in-United-States.html
https://www.prb.org/usdata/indicator/marriage-age-women/chart
https://money.com/first-time-home-buyer-2021/
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.