Towards an Enlightened & Sustainable World

SALLIE MAE: FORGIVE STUDENT DEBT

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard someone call Occupiers entitled students just wanting their student loans paid for. Read below if you want to understand the real reason why students are upset. I can guarantee that the vast majority of students would be willing to pay a fair and practicable sum for their educations. The problem is that cost of education as it currently stands in comparison to potential wages is outrageously imbalanced. Our educated citizens are entering the workforce terrified and unlike a homeowner or a credit card debtor, students can’t sell an asset to recoup losses, declare bankruptcy or walk away from their bad investment (that’s right, education has become a bad investment). It the market really free if people are immediately indebted to and forced into certain labor markets out of necessity of survival? is society really benefiting from the talents and potential contributions of its citizens if those citizens are forced into money-driven labor rather than talent or interest-driven labor?

brosephstalin:

In 2010 something unthinkable happened – student debt surpassed credit card debt as the largest form of debt in this country, passing $800 billion dollars. In 2012 more history will be made as the amount of unpaid student debt climbs to $1 trillion dollars, with an additional $1 million dollars added to that number every 6 minutes.

The ripple effect that this has on our economy is crushing: students and recent graduates are forced into low-wage jobs in order to immediately start making payments back to banks and lenders; instead of stimulating the economy by spending millions of dollars, students and graduates are pinching pennies to just try to keep up with the interest on their loans; and the privatization of colleges and universities are expedited as the same loan agencies use the profit off of students to lobby for lower tax rates, forcing budget cuts to higher education in an economy where recent graduates struggle to find jobs.

Imagine students not working two part-time minimum wage jobs as they struggle to get through school, allowing them more time to participate in civic engagement. Imagine recent graduates not being pushed into a job market where they are forced to intentionally keep wages stagnant, allowing them the ability to work for non-profits or local businesses.

If we do not solve the student debt crisis the students of today will suffer, but the students of tomorrow may never have the opportunity to a college education. A generation of students will pay the hefty price of their student loans; but we must not forget that we will also pay the debt of an entire country ignoring the burden placed on those working to better their lives and communities by obtaining a college degree.

Sign the Petition and Spread this Throughout the Country!

(via troublicious)

Source: brosephstalin