I graduated with my Bachelor of Engineering degree from Vanderbilt in 1970 after paying tuition in full each semester. Fairness dictates that if student loans are to be forgiven, then those of us who paid up front should receive tuition rebates with interest. At the current legal interest rate in Tennessee (Vanderbilt is in Nashville) I would be due a bit more that $90,000.
I’d be willing to take the rebate in the form of a tax credit that I could spread over several years.
I agree with you
In today’s top story, Chuck Schumer reports that the Biden administration will “cancel” $50,000 per person in student debt by Executive Order.
Also today, in a completely unexpected development, the average annual college tuition has increased by $12,500.
In other news, trade school apprenticeship applications soar. Analysts are flummoxed.
Maybe if we use the word “Reparations” they will take us seriously.
“I’d be willing to take the rebate in the form of a tax credit that I could spread over several years.”
That’s not that sound financially. You could invest that and get a far better rate of return.
On second thought, if Biden is going to be inaugurated, taxes for pretty much everyone are going up and the investment market will probably crash, so you might be on to something…
I worked through college at fast food restaurants up to 30 hours a week. I also graduated with no debt. My last two or three quarters I did get a Pell Grant that covered the cost of my tuition though. In all fairness, in-state tuition at Auburn was $240 per quarter. But my first school was much more expensive and I paid for that.
I did not qualify for student loans in my last year because my estranged parents, who never helped financially or otherwise during my college career, were above a certain income level.
College, like everything else, has been utterly ruined by government.
Starr’s Law
I dropped out just short of a BS after getting a “physically unable to perform duties” discharge due to a service connected injury. I worked 40 hours a week plus some side stuff. I went back years later to complete the BS while working multiple part-time jobs. I went to grad school and got a low paid assistantship that allowed me to get by, by taking a couple of part-time jobs. I got married and took out my only student loan of $4K basically to pay for a honeymoon. My wife had an assistantship as she went to grad school. In none of the years we were in grad school did we earn above the poverty line. I continued working part-time until I got a PhD. I left with that 4K debt. I landed a full-time job, as did my wife, and we paid it off in 2 years. We managed with no student loans for her.
We lived “poor” for nearly 10 years while I was in grad school. Neither of us regrets a minute of it. It’s hard but doable. But i didn’t get a crap degree in some Angry Studies Program or some soft cr*p area of study, either.
When I was an undergraduate, many moons ago but fewer than for our Gentle Host, I was given some words of advice:
If you need to pay to go to grad school, you don’t belong there.
I graduated with no debt. Had my book and tuition all paid for thanks to the GI Bill. Maybe if more kids were allowed to hear about the vocational opportunities of the armed services and the college fund they would go that route instead of taking on massive debt. Then again, schools make sure kids think the military service is evil now.