Opinion: Student Loan Debt and Society
Karina: As a society, the United States hasn’t figured out how to reconcile our belief in equal opportunities with our willingness to fund higher education completely so that students don’t have to pay.
Karina: We have a national preoccupation with keeping taxes low and upholding individual choice over government involvement, but in education, this leads to student loan debt.
Karina: So many people are quick to ascribe blame to individuals, like students, for taking on debt,
Karina: but I think it should be the government’s responsibility to fund education so no one has to take on debt.
Karina: Debt like this isn’t just a nuisance. It’s not a little problem. It can be an oppressive sum of money that haunts you for decades, possibly for life.
Karina: If you can’t keep up your payments, you fall into delinquency. You can’t afford to buy a house. You can’t get a loan for anything else. You can’t start a family.
Karina: You might not even be able to afford health care and medicine.
Karina: But you can’t walk away from student loan debt. Even if you’re delinquent, it won’t go away in bankruptcy. You are trapped.
Karina: Now imagine tens of millions of people trapped in debt like this. It holds back your entire economy.
Karina: It’s just a bad situation for our entire society.
Vocabulary:
reconcile our belief – to find a way to make a core value or opinion agree or coexist with a conflicting reality, “It can be incredibly difficult to reconcile our belief in environmental protection with our daily use of plastic products.”
national preoccupation – a topic, worry, or interest that completely dominates the attention of an entire country or society, “In many European countries, football is a national preoccupation that brings millions of people together every weekend.”
ascribe blame to – to say or believe that a specific person, group, or factor is responsible for a bad situation or mistake, “Critics are quick to ascribe blame to the school system when national test scores begin to drop.”
oppressive sum of money – an overwhelmingly large amount of cash or debt that causes severe stress, hardship, or a feeling of being trapped, “Trying to pay off the medical bills became an oppressive sum of money that left them with very little for groceries.”
fall into delinquency – to fail to make required loan, bill, or tax payments by the official due date, “If you miss three consecutive mortgage payments, your account will fall into delinquency and risk foreclosure.”
walk away from – to easily abandon, ignore, or escape from a difficult situation, responsibility, or financial obligation, “When the business began losing thousands of dollars a week, the partners decided to walk away from the venture entirely.”
holds back – to prevent or stop someone or something from making progress, growing, or succeeding, “A lack of access to affordable childcare often holds back parents from pursuing full-time careers.”