Imagine working for almost your entire life,  giving it your all every single day to pay off a loan you took out so you could accomplish your dreams. Eventually, after several years of arduous labor, you get rid of the looming cloud of student debt that hovered over you every day. Feelings of relief and accomplishment flood your body as you transfer the last payment.  Now imagine, after all of this exhausting work, student loan debt is forgiven. All of your unbelievably draining efforts end up being useless. Forty hours of work every week for years on end, all spent to get rid of this debt, was a waste. People who made poor life decisions on whether they could afford a loan and people who didn't work day and night for years to pay off these loans, now get them paid off for free with no worries at all. Unfortunately, this string of events is happening to many people because student loan debt is being excused (ProCon). For this reason and many more, student loan debt should clearly not be forgiven. 

For instance, forgiving student loan debt is incredibly unfair to people who have paid off their debt already or do not meet the criteria for the debt to be paid off (ProCon, Hanson). In fact, according to Helhoski, Lane, and Haverstock, "Forty-five million Americans have student loan debt — that's about one in 7 Americans" (Helhoski, Lane, Haverstock). Out of these forty-five million, the majority don't even meet the criteria to have their debt forgiven (Tretina, Young). This alone is especially unjust, leaving millions of people to watch as others get thousands of dollars worth of debt paid. Additionally, it has been reported that twenty-four percent of adults have already paid off their student loans (Hanson). Therefore, approximately fifty million adults have already paid off their debt. This indicates that at the bare minimum, millions of dollars worth of debt has been paid by responsible Americans. Why is it that people who made mature decisions on whether or not they could afford to pay off an expensive loan get, in a sense, punished? The short answer is they shouldn't be penalized, but due to this imprudent idea, they are. Given this information, eliminating student loan debt is inequitable to the people who worked hard to get rid of it. 

Additionally, student loan forgiveness isn't even guaranteed and a large majority of people don't even meet the criteria (Tretina, Young). For one, from November 2020 to January 2022 only 2.16% of applicants actually met the criteria for their student loans to be forgiven (Hanson). This data reveals that out of the millions of people who are in debt and are being affected by it in their daily lives, only a small percentage get it paid off. Could you imagine that? Believing all the stress built up from the debt you can't stop thinking about will go away, and then they say no. They tell you that your lifestyle and the paths you chose to get you to where you are don't meet their criteria. Now you must continue to live with this debt, anxious and hopeful. Plus, in the months April through June of 2021, 753,822 applications were submitted and only around 3.4% were accepted (Hanson). This information further proves that a significant amount of people won't be getting their loans forgiven. Millions of people who were excited to have the weight lifted off their backs just end up having to keep it, most likely burdening them more than they were before. Basically, out of the millions of people who are in debt only a small portion will end up becoming debt free. 

Moreover, forgiving student loan debt gives colleges no motivation to keep tuition prices low since students would no longer have to worry as much about tuition prices (ProCon). According to ProCon, "Abigail Hall Blanco, Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Tampa, said, 'loan forgiveness would be one giant subsidy, creating perverse incentives for both schools and students. If schools knew the government would forgive the cost of their students’ education, they’d face no incentive to cut costs to keep tuition down.'” In other words, paying off all of the debt that has been piling up for years would actually be a bad thing. Now that all the students don't have to be so wary about the prices of tuition, colleges can increase the cost even more. Although some may say college prices are already rapidly increasing (McGurran, Hahn), in this situation tuition will increase at an astonishingly faster rate (ProCon). After the pandemic hit, many colleges in the US faced a critical financial state (Vedder). Some colleges even had to sell portions of their land to make back a part of the losses (Vedder). Forgiving student loan debt allows these universities to be incredibly greedy and easily make back what they lost. Essentially, forgiving student loan debt makes the problem of college tuition prices worse since colleges would no longer need to keep prices down. 

All in all, student loan debt shouldn't be forgiven and would cause more bad than good. Everyone must work hard for their goals instead of taking the easy way out. Jesse Owens, a famous and very persevering Olympic gold medalist, once said, "We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort,” (Quotespedia). This is extremely powerful, especially since it's coming from someone who was oppressed their entire lives. Living through our prejudiced history, Owens went through many tough times yet he never gave up.  It shows that with enough blood, sweat, and tears anyone can achieve anything even if others try to bring them down. So, when taking out this large sum of money did you anticipate the determination that goes into paying it off, similar to Jesse Owens' fight to achieve his dreams, or expect and hope for someone else to pay it for you? 

Work Cited

Hanson, Melanie. “Student Loan Forgiveness Statistics [2022]: PSLF Data.” Education Data Initiative, 14 Jan. 2022, educationdata.org/student-loan-forgiveness-statistics.

Helhoski, Anna, et al. “Student Loan Debt Statistics: 2022.” NerdWallet, 25 Aug. 2022, nerdwallet.com/article/loans/student-loans/student-loan-debt#:~:text=Forty%2Dfive%20million%20Americans%20have,%24600%20billion%2C%20federal%20data%20show.

McGurran, Brianna. “College Tuition Inflation: Compare the Cost of College over Time.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 31 Aug. 2022, forbes.com/advisor/student-loans/college-tuition-inflation/#:~:text=Between%201980%20and%202020%2C%20the,on%20Education%20and%20the%20Workforce.

Owens, Jesse. “We All Have Dreams. but in Order to Make Dreams Come into Reality...” Quotespedia.org, 8 Apr. 2020, quotespedia.org/authors/j/jesse-owens/we-all-have-dreams-but-in-order-to-make-dreams-come-into-reality-it-takes-an-awful-lot-of-determination-dedication-self-discipline-and-effort-jesse-owens/.

“Student Loan Debt Elimination - Pros & Cons.” ProCon.org, 1 Dec. 2022, procon.org/headlines/should-student-loan-debt-be-easier-to-discharge-in-bankruptcy-top-3-pros-cons/.

Tretina, Kat, and Jamie Young. “5 Potential Disadvantages of Student Loan Forgiveness.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 28 Apr. 2022, forbes.com/advisor/student-loans/disadvantages-of-forgiveness-program/.

Vedder, Richard K. “Colleges Short of Cash: Sell the Campus?” The Independent Institute, 23 Mar. 2021, independent.org/news/article.asp?id=13472.