Hello future President,

Recently the citizens of the United States are recognizing the extreme horror and extent of student loan debt. It's at an all time high, and the crisis climbs higher and scarier from generation to generation. Tuition has risen 40% in the last decade(Kamenetz). As a senior in High school with plans to attend college, I especially find this worrisome and unfair. Several things can be done to minimize the financial damage of student loans.

The statistics should be of no surprise to you, the “current outstanding student loans amount to 1.3 trillion dollars, roughly 10% of all household debt”(Botstein). Education should further a career, not force someone to pay off the career they worked for in school. 10% of all household debt is insane, and the payoff seems far over the horizon. The initial setup of student loans lacks fairness while “the federal government has set interest rates on student loans at twice the current market rate of other types of loans.” If someone can take a loan out to purchase a house at a 4% interest rate, why should the cost of education for a young person cost more?

The idea of a completely free college tuition is far fetched, but some of the proposals leave something to consider. Eliminating college tuition essentially means giving free money to the families that are able to pay. The federal government currently spends around 31 billion dollars on grants and work-study to institutions including four-year public schools(Kamenetz). So the cost of eliminating tuition would be nearly double this.

“A new loan program should be tied to incentives for college graduates to choose careers in public service and which indexes repayment to income”(Botstein). After getting on the right career track for the education you received, it should not take a decade or two to pay off student loans. “By forgiving student loan debt - which is largely held by the government - a tremendous economic stimulus would be generated, whose beneficiaries are people, not banks”(Botstein). A cut to tuition prices will motivate “more working-class students” to want college and make it through.

Thank you for your time,

Paige

http://time.com/money/4449990/next-president-should-forgive-all-student-loans/ 

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/07/28/487794394/hillary-s-free-tuition-promise-what-would-it-cost-how-would-it-work