Student loan debt is one of America’s biggest issues today. It is a problem that many leading political and economic figures are trying to solve, but have not yet succeeded. The nation’s high record of $1.34 trillion in student debt is not only troubling households but it is also disturbing the economic lifecycle. Students are not required to make payments until they graduate. But once they do, entry-level wages and salaries could take up to decades to pay off loans. According to a survey done by LendEdu, borrowers who graduated from 2012 to 2017 earned a monthly average after-tax income of around $2600, and about 15% of that goes toward student loan payments. After factoring in rent, mortgage, and other payments, borrowers are left with about $777 to spend each month on food, clothes and other living expenses. Moreover, with over 44 million Americans giving away …show more content…
Yes, the sound of getting a higher education for free may sound appealing, until you look into all that you could lose, then it doesn't sound so promising anymore. First off, if everyone gets to go to college for free, low and high-income students, the current high taxes will become even higher, since free tuition would be paid for with tax dollars. People from lower tax brackets would potentially be subsidizing the full post-secondary costs of families who could cover all or part of those costs by themselves (Chee, studentloanreport.net). Also, when you make something free, you increase its demand. This would result in the already extremely competitive admission to become far more impossible to get into a college of your choice. Another option that is being discussed is debt settlement. The most obvious pro would be having a much lower monthly payment that you can afford. However, an extremely important con would be that it ruins your credit