Vangie Williams wants to help our country and its economy by making education affordable again
We have a serious problem in our country. More than 44 million Americans owe nearly $1.4 trillion in student loan debt. The cost of education has skyrocketed over the past few decades and has become completely unaffordable for a large population of Americans. Additionally, many graduates are learning a bachelor’s degree (or beyond), is not as lucrative as they were led to believe it would be.
The enormous debt load prevents too many people from buying a home, starting a business or even saving for retirement. I’ve met countless residents in the 1st District who are recent college graduates and those well into retirement age who are still paying down their student loan debt.
Simply put, we need to make education affordable again. But how do we do that?
- Protect student borrowers instead of the corporate lenders servicing their loans. We must hold for-profit educational institutions accountable for preying on students – especially active duty military members and veterans – and help students who were cheated by these schools instead of protecting them like the current Secretary of Education has been doing.
- Keep student loan interest rates low and allow borrowers to refinance their loans with affordable monthly payments. Congress sets federal student loan interest rates and could allow students to borrow at lower rates, similar to what the government charges big banks.
- Enact policy changes in order to address the potential recession and the effect that the student loan bubble is having on our economy. When student debt has reached approximately $1.4 trillion and more than 1 in every 10 borrowers is 90 days or more delinquent, it’s a problem that needs to be addressed – especially when recent college graduates owe almost $40,000 on average and that amount keeps rising.
- Protect the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. There’s no reason that almost 99 percent of those who applied for loan forgiveness as part of PSLF should have been denied. We need to make sure that individuals who are working for the public good are getting the proper information from their lenders so that when they’ve put in the required amount of work, they are eligible to reap the benefits of the PSLF program.
We need to understand the harms that the student load debt crisis is causing. Those harms, which affect all of us, not just borrowers, include:
- declines in overall economic activity,
- lower levels of home ownership,
- fewer automobile purchases,
- increases in household financial distress,
- lower participation in public service careers,
- poorer psychological functioning, and
- delayed marriage.
While this is by no means an exhaustive list, it makes clear why things like the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program are important. If people can’t afford to make their student loan payments and live above the poverty level, they are less likely to choose a career in public service – as these careers are generally less financially lucrative than those in the private sector. That hurts all of us. When only the wealthy can afford to work in certain career fields, that’s a problem.
If the federal government is going to get in the loan business, then the federal government needs to make sure it’s not hanging student borrowers out to dry.
Let’s make education affordable again.
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Vangie Williams is a public servant and strategic planner who solves problems for our federal government. A real-world professional with 30 years of experience, Vangie is not a career politician who will put corporate interests above people. She is committed to an economy for everyone, healthy families and investing in our communities. Learn more about her vision to put people first at www.vangieforcongress.com.
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