Student Loans in Perspective

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By William Benson

This is an independently submitted op-ed for our Quill section. Views and statements made in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinions of  The Tower.

$700. That is how much my parents recently had to pay for a plumber to come to our house for one hour. According to NPR, “While a shortage of workers is pushing wages higher in the skilled trades, the financial return from a bachelor’s degree is softening, even as the price — and the average debt into which it plunges students — keeps going up.” This begs the question, if a plumber can make $700 in one afternoon, what is the value of a college degree?

President Biden’s recent plan to “cancel” or “forgive” ten thousand dollars in student debt is a serious injustice to the American people, many of whom did not go to college. To make non-college educated individuals pay for the higher educational endeavors of others reveals the extreme disregard Biden has for the everyday American. Without stating the obvious, college is expensive — so imagine paying for the degree of someone you do not even know. Those of you who are working hard and plan to pay off your student loans, well, now you get to keep paying them — forever through your taxes.

What is the value of the education we are paying for? Unlike here at The Catholic University of America, it certainly is not a great liberal arts education. It is not the use of education to enrich the body and soul. Rather, at many American universities, you will find classes of various left-wing subjects that not only divide our country, but have no educational or professional value. Further, the educational value of such a degree is worthless. Where is the actual “education” to backup the degree? The only value it does have is the social value, or entry into a class of elite “educated” people. Kids that do go to college need to be exposed to an education that is valuable and beneficial to their flourishing.

As political commentator Michael Knowles points out, “The worst aspect of Biden’s ‘student loan forgiveness’ is neither the corrupt (albeit common) practice of buying votes nor the massive expense in a bad economy but rather that it will encourage more Americans to go to college.”

Many students have little to no knowledge of the terms of the student loans. Ask a random peer in your class, and they are fairly unlikely to know any of the specifics, myself included. That is wrong, and every student has the duty to inform themselves of what they are getting themselves into. Every fall, millions of students flock to college with no understanding of the financial debt they are taking on. There is enormous pressure on many high school students to go to college, but college is not for everyone. To make college an idol and a fixture of intelligence and professionalism is not only dangerous, but reveals a society unwilling to support some of its most essential industries – plumbing, electricity, water, all dignifying and very successful forms of labor. 

Instead of forcing every child to pursue massive debt and a degree they do not need, we should enact policies that promote all meaningful forms of labor and the common good of society. This is not merely telling students that they have options besides college, or telling everyone to become a plumber, but rather a call for a fundamental restructuring of how our country perceives education and conducts business. A college degree should not be the answer to financial trouble. Instead, our country should reflect on the hard work of millions of Americans who are not able to attend college, and craft policies that allow them and their families to live and work with dignity. Furthermore, we should subsidize education in the trades. This is a just proposition because it supports our most essential industries, and the individuals and families that would benefit from it the most. Now, as more Americans will be paying student loans, the value of a college education will come ever more into question.