Mass student debt cancellation policies could frustrate the scads of former students and their families who have already sacrificed, scrimped, saved and worked diligently to fund higher education costs.
Fiscally responsible families and students who worked to pay for their financial obligations would not receive a refund from the government, but others would enjoy the benefit of debt cancellation policies. And that seems to be exactly the point conveyed by a father who spoke to Sen. Elizabeth Warren about her debt cancellation plan. The exchange occurred Monday in Grimes, Iowa, according to the Washington Examiner.
When he asked Senator Warren if he would receive his money back, she told him he would not.
“So you’re gonna pay for people who didn’t save any money, and those of us that did the right thing get screwed?” he said.
When Sen. Warren disagreed and began speaking, the man continued, “Of course we did. My buddy had fun, bought a car, went on vacations, I saved my money.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has addressed the argument that student loan forgiveness is unfair because some people have chosen to attend less expensive schools and some have already paid off their debt. She shoots down this argument as a type of “hazing mentality.”
“I think it’s kind of this hazing mentality, like, because I was hazed now everyone else needs to be hazed in the future,” Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez told Nicholas Ballasy when he asked her about this issue last September. “As someone who’s paid off thousands of dollars for student loans, I don’t think that repeating the same mistake and perpetuating it for the next generation is fair,” she explained.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez has endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for president and backs the free college tuition and mass debt cancellation plan proposed by Sen. Sanders, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA). The plan would wipe out all $1.6 trillion of student debt.
Sen. Warren’s proposal would cancel up to $50,000 of debt for those with a household income of less than $100,000—the cancellation amount decreases with higher household incomes, and incomes over a quarter million dollars would not benefit from any debt cancellation.
Warren says as president she would immediately begin working to implement her plans, even before any Congressional action.