Where does the government get its money? Taxes (And other countries... but it is s supposed to run on taxes.) The money you borrowed from the government has already been paid to the universities in order to procure your education. The University relies on that money to keep its doors open. Originally, you signed on for a LOAN. Meaning, you will pay the government back for it subsidizing your education. But in the event that you get your "Loan Forgiven" the government takes a loss at what you were supposed to pay them back. How do they make that money back? (Technically the right answer SHOULD be "Taxes" but an acceptable answer would be "Call CHINA!") In a perfect world with a balanced government budget (a what? Does that even EXIST?!) the money that the government paid for your loans would come out of taxpayers pockets.
I posted my disdain for this "Forgiveness" policy on Facebook recently and received some flack. One of my "friends" shared with me that taxes exist to help people. Taxes, this person claimed, singularly exist to fund our food stamp programs as well as many other forms of assistance. Taxes should help people, who went to college to better themselves, and help them out of debt. This "friend" told me to leave America because government exists to help us redistribute our assets for the betterment of our community, and that we shouldn't be working for individual needs. On a seemingly off topic vocabulary lesson, "communism" is defined as: a system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party. If this "friend" thinks that all our money should be sent to the government via taxes to be redistributed at their discretion, might I recommend a move to China or North Korea? They already have that system in place! You wont have any debt! Quite possibly, you may not have much free will, nor would you have such a freedom of speech that you so eloquently utilized when you called me "privileged," and you might not have had the opportunity for higher education in the first place... but you would surely be debt free!
Here in the Democratic United States of America, when you sign a contract for a LOAN, with definite terms for repayment as a LEGAL ADULT with another LEGAL ADULT as a cosigner, and this loan is for your betterment as an individual, you should be expected to fulfill your obligation and repay the loan itself. That's not to say that some programs for tuition are bad! An incredibly gifted friend of mine received free tuition through the state of Illinois because he majored in Special Education. The terms of that are that he works in Special Education in Illinois after graduating for a set number of years. He is now doing that and fulfilling his contract. Scholarships are great too! You can get them for about anything these days! But all of these things require perseverance and responsibility, something this generation clearly doesn't have or need.
In conclusion, 99% of you do not need Loan Forgiveness. Even if you make the bare minimum payments each month, you should be proud knowing that you are working hard and doing something that most of our generation is not. Debt does not simply "go-away." It may get redistributed, it may show up in your taxes next year, it may reappear in a tax refund that is smaller than what it used to be, or it may gain interest and come back to haunt you... but one thing is for certain this "forgiveness" program may forgive your debt, but as a society, that money will not go forgotten.