Cancel Student Loans

 I'm a bit of an untraditional case when it comes to student loans.

My wife and I met in graduate school where we were both working towards MAs in English. In 2007 she graduated, and I left the program without a degree. We moved to Chicago where we both got jobs. I was teaching and she was working with a website. In 2008 I lost my job and was unemployed until 2011. Thankfully, we didn't have much debt from the first round of school and managed to pay it off (about 15K total). There's a weird generational thing where when we first went to school it was like you can major in anything and get a job, but then we left graduate school right as the worst recession in our lifetimes to that point was starting. What the crash and the recession afterward really cemented was that in this modern economy you need to keep refreshing your skills (though I worry at some point I'll end up overqualified). So, once I got a job after being unemployed, I realized I needed to learn more stuff within the framework of that job and that agency. The problem is education is expensive. I started taking classes at a community college and in 2014 I started an MBA which I graduated from and then did an MA in Economics where I graduated last year.  My wife did a post-graduate certificate program for her work and is looking to extend that for her second Masters. We've been employed and taking out loans  and then paying them as we go but still owe close to 30K. 

Here's the weird thing that doesn't make me a sympathetic character - over the last year when they announced the moratorium I just opened a savings account and plowed money into that, We both kept our jobs and I got a raise and there was no commuting or leisure costs so we were able to put enough money away last year to be able to pay off our entire balance. It would be cool if they cancelled the debt because it means we can replace our windows or go on a real vacation.

Because what debt does is constrain. We have been married since 2008 and have never gone on a real vacation. When we have time off, we visit family and that's about it. When you have the monthly payments, it hangs over you and limits what you can do. Part of why we've never really entertained having children is the cost of childcare when you have other costs already. There's this paradox that you need to keep learning things to survive but that costs money, so you need to keep upping those skills. 

I support a cancellation of student debt but should just be a part of a much broader structural change because a lot of people have stories worse than mine and greater constraints, but we have generations behind us who will have the same needs. A cheap master's degree with face-to-face learning is between 30-40 K. There are programs with online delivery with lower price points, but there aren't many. And the other costs like housing and childcare and health care are only going up with our real wages mostly stagnate. Just a huge broken system. 

But - if cancellation is something that Biden can do unilaterally (and I think it is) then it is something he should do. Not only will it help so many people who have been trying to survive in this economy and economic system, but I would imagine it has electoral benefits.

The other final  thing to add is current policy creates uncertainty. They ran on forgiveness of some of the debt while others were pushing higher amounts. They rolled in and pushed back the start of repayment to the fall, but I was really hoping movement before then. But it's coming soon, and they want to spend their political capital on getting a bipartisan consensus on infrastructure which from where I am standing doesn't seem likely. Freeing up cash flow for borrowers, even if it spikes inflation some, should be a net good.