The Trump Administration Is Wrong. Students Are Not to Blame for Student Debt | Opinion

While Trump and other republicans are causing the national debt to skyrocket by cutting taxes on the very rich.

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-administration-wrong-students-are-not-blame-student-debt-opinion-1487228?fbclid=IwAR3nX-iIQg5SDywi3tPftYP7Ljxki6RcHq4iFj0bDiscIyYK-NAX-vilqWY

Rachel Fishman and Clare McCann
On 2/13/20 at 2:32 PM EST

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Borrowing loans for higher education is not a result of poor financial decision-making; it is the result of the growing price problem students and families face from increasing tuition and living expenses. In 1979, a student could work what amounted to a part-time summer job to pay tuition costs. Now, even working full-time for half a year wouldn't cover tuition—let alone living costs.

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A study from researchers at University of Maryland and University of Illinois found that community college students who were offered loans took more credits and had better grades than students who weren't offered any loans, and they were more likely to transfer to a four-year school. They were also twice as likely to graduate within three years with an associate degree. Graduating with debt is far better for most students than not graduating at all.

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That's why these proposals focused on arbitrarily capping loans and introducing new counseling requirements to borrow are so concerning. In principle, these ideas make some sense; no one wants borrowers taking on more debt than they can manage to repay. But cutting off access to federal loan aid—without commensurately increasing grant or other aid (the proposed budget from the Trump administration included no increase to the Pell Grant maximum award and would eliminate another grant program for low-income students, for instance)—is a recipe for growing inequality in the current system.

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