On June 30, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a ruling that Joe Biden’s plan of canceling up to $10,000 in federal student loans and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant borrowers did not have legal standing when challened by suing states.
The Equinox believes that the ruling of the Supreme Court will only result in disastrous futures for college students. A lot of students deal with so much stress already, it’s such a shame that even more could be added due to this ruling.
College tends to be pushed onto young Americans; if you do not attend college you can be seen as a failure to friends, family, or those otherwise important. On top of the intense pressure, college can be extremely expensive. 18-year-olds, who are not even old enough to be trusted to buy liquor, are seen as perfect candidates to take out loans of thousands of dollars which they will spend a great portion of their life paying off.
The Equinox believes that, while it is true that the responsibility of the loans falls on the students, it could and should be taught better. Going to community college first can significantly cut spending on rates. Taking a gap year or two to take a job and save up money for college also works. The problem is that students are pressured into starting college very early, and while this will cut rates, they can still be quite crippling.
The amount of money that is taken out of loans, on top of incredibly high interest rates, is like taking out a small mortgage. It is so high that many college students will not be able to take out real mortgages or be able to afford having children. According to the Education Data Initiative, the average borrower of federal student loans owes $37,338 and the average private loan borrower owes $54,921. With interest, these costs can more than double for borrowers.
The Equinox thinks that college pressure and loans are so unreasonably high in the United States, especially when compared to other countries. Countries such as Germany have free tuition and have monthly living expenses that range from 700 to 1,100 Euros according to Studyportals.
The Equinox believes that it is wrong how the Supreme Court shut down the Biden Administration’s plan to help Americans, but it was certainly expected. College students that would have been eligible for the plan were led on to believe that college would be somewhat cheaper for them only to have their hopes crushed by bullies in robes upholding a status quo instead of upholding the already plummeting integrity of the United States.
The Equinox hopes that there can be compromise in the future. It would have been better to do so now, but conservatives and the Supreme Court do not want to. While it is very easy to lose hope, to gain a pessimistic and nihilistic worldview, it is much better to maintain hope. Many college students will not know how they will be able to pay off loans, especially with the usury in the large interest rates that will keep some in debt for a very long time. While the future might look bleak, change cannot happen when the people give up. Many do not want the status quo to change regardless of how many people are hurt, but more people will do their best to push for change in order to save those who are already hurt.
