Higher Education
Higher education fuels innovation in the US
The higher education system in the US is world class. Many students from around the world attend our universities, public and private alike. America has always understood that knowledge is power. We should not destroy our higher education institutions because there are subjects that some don’t like being taught.
That is not to say there aren’t major issues with higher education. Primarily, skyrocketing tuition costs and administrative bloat, make both professors and students suffer. We will not give up on our institutions, but rather seek common sense reforms. Reforms which include: requiring universities to engage in an efficiency and effectiveness audit, restructuring student loans, and adjusting debt levels per student upon graduation. We believe that interest rates on loans do not accurately reflect the risk level of the loan, given the fact that student loans are non-dischargeable during bankruptcy, and the federal government can directly garnish wages. We should allow borrowers to have a sensible rate that is close to inflation. With good payment history we would advocate a 0% rate as a subsidy to borrowers.
Additionally, we have witnessed many other parts of the economy having been bailed out over and over again, despite bad behavior (looking at you Wall Street and PPP loans). We believe that the government should have done more to invest in higher education in the first place. That’s why we propose a one time, student loan forgiveness of $20,000 for undergraduates and $50,000 for graduates. This forgiveness will also apply retroactively if you have already paid off your loans within the last 20 years on a sliding scale from graduation date. Also, we’d like to offer a special program for those in the trades who attain journeyman and master levels, for tools, that mirror forgiveness for university students. Not just book smarts should be rewarded.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is forgiveness going to solve the loan problem?
Along with the loan forgiveness program, we will help reduce tuition costs by requiring universities to engage in an efficiency and effectiveness audit. They will need to pass rigorous standards before they are allowed to disburse loan funds again.
How are we going to pay for it?
Taxes. We are going to invest in the citizens that want to better themselves and society, rather than those that horde wealth. Tax the wealthiest among us and spend it wisely.
This isn’t fair, what about everyone else?
The student loan program as it is, is absolutely unfair to those striving for higher education. Let’s also not pretend that most jobs today don’t require an undergraduate degree, or your application gets tossed into the digital dumpster.
Why not go further and cancel all debt?
We believe that canceling all debt would be inflationary and likely be too unpopular with the majority of other Americans who did not attend university.