America Isn’t Responsible For My Student Loans. I Am

In the latest move of his disastrous presidency, U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Thursday plans to waive a significant portion of federal student loans for borrowers, telling reporters during a White House event that he is “considering dealing with some debt reduction.”

“I am not considering $50,000 debt reduction, but I’m in the process of taking a hard look at whether or not there will be additional debt forgiveness, and I’ll have an answer on that in the next couple of weeks,” he said.

The statement came in response to a question about comments from Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who on Wednesday claimed the president was looking at using executive action to “cancel” up to $50,000 for borrowers.

While many of my fellow Gen Zers may think that “canceling” student debt is the greatest thing since sliced bread, it would behoove them to know that such a policy doesn’t exist. When Democrats like Biden and Schumer say they wish to cancel or forgive federal student loan debt, what they really mean is that they want to transfer the responsibility of paying back such loans from individuals who chose to attend college to those who didn’t or those who responsibly paid off their own expenses.

As of 2020, for instance, roughly 37.5 percent of Americans 25 and older have graduated from university or another institution of higher education. Under Biden’s proposal, this would mean that the roughly two-thirds of the country who individually decided not to go to college and take out student loans would be forced to subsidize those who did. Not only is such a policy completely below the belt, but it also bails out the very people Democrats complain don’t pay their fair share: the rich.

According to a study conducted by the financial lending company Earnest, “[f]uture medical professionals—a category that includes doctors, dentists, and pharmacists—can expect to take on the most debt to finance their degrees—over $190,000 in student loans.” Law school graduates and those obtaining a master’s in business administration placed second and third on the list, with each degree averaging $139,900 and $89,900 in debt respectively.

When breaking down each profession by annual income, the study found that medical professionals made an average of $135,200, while those with Law and Business Administration degrees averaging $140,400 and $127,200 each.

Similar trends were also found in an analysis conducted by the left-wing Brookings Institute, with the think tank noting how the “highest-income 40 percent of households (those with incomes above $74,000) owe almost 60 percent of the outstanding education debt and make almost three-quarters of the payments” and “[t]he lowest-income 40 percent of households hold just under 20 percent of the outstanding debt and make only 10 percent of the payments.”

So, as leftists like American Indian wannabee and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren rail against the rich while championing student loan “forgiveness,” they might want to put down their peace pipes and realize they’re essentially providing a major tax cut to the Americans they claim to want paying more in taxes.

It’s My Loan, It’s My Responsibility

When I agreed to take out student loans for college, I did so with the understanding that they were my responsibility to pay back, and no one else’s. Over the past four years of my academic career, I’ve busted my can working part-time jobs and applying for dozens of scholarships just to pay my way through school, even if it meant missing out on sleep or evenings with friends and family. By no means am I the only one.

Across the country, there are millions of hard-working Americans who have and continue to pour their blood, sweat, and tears into their careers to pay off their student loans. Even if it means working multiple jobs or putting in overtime hours, they persevere because they recognize that such financial obligations don’t belong to anyone but themselves.

If Biden gets his way, however, all that tenacity and dignity of work will have all been for nothing.

Just as White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki couldn’t give a sensical answer on the subject, don’t expect any of the people cheering to cancel student debt to acknowledge, or even care, for the millions of Americans who paid off their loans the right way. Unlike the United States of the past, today’s modern America has sadly produced a lackadaisical culture, in which hard work is dismissed in favor of the easy way out and divisive and wasteful gender studies is seen as a subject worth majoring in.

Shawn Fleetwood is an intern at The Federalist and a senior at the University of Mary Washington. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood

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