Jon Gertner wrote a terrific piece, Forgive Us Our Student Debts, in tomorrow’s NYT Sunday Magazine (link not available yet). I said my piece in it: A college diploma is the necessary ticket for a CHANCE to launch a young person into the middle class. But, for many kids, the debt that accompanies those diplomas erodes the very middle class safety and security that a diploma once promised.
What are the solutions? I want to use Warren Reports today to ask you to consider an option: An absolute guarantee that every young person in the U.S. can go to college on a government loan (regardless of family income), and that for every year of public service following graduation, a year of college debt is forgiven. Four years in college, four years in public service, and the student is 26, debt-free and ready to begin an adult life.
I have the faith of a teacher. If we want to strengthen the middle class, we must grow the economy so that there are good jobs for millions more Americans. Our best hope to accomplish that is a well-educated workforce that will create new opportunities in the US. We can remain competitive internationally only if we have a well-educated workforce that can out-innovate the rest of the world. We will be able to pay for health care and for the retirements of millions of our citizens only if we have a highly productive, high-earning cadre of young people. College is a collective investment that pays off for the whole country.
Here’s the core of the idea:
- Lend the money for four years of college tuition, fees, room and board to any student who wants it; if the student works in community service after college, forgive those college debts.
- College loan forgiveness is available to anyone who graduates from any two-year or four-year accredited school. The dollar amounts available are pegged to state university costs, with the money paid directly to the institution. Support is limited to five years. Any student, regardless of family income, can borrow the money, but the debts must be repaid.
- Three Options for Community Service: Service at Home: Community service workers can be assigned to the states to be put to work in public schools, cleaning up public buildings and parks, rebuilding roads and bridges, environmental clean up, computerizing state administrative systems, assisting municipal police and firefighters in administrative functions, and other conservation and infrastructure projects. For each year of community service after college, one year of loan would be forgiven.
- Military Service: Active duty service in any branch of the military would qualify for loan forgiveness. Each year of active-duty service would offset two years of loans. Eight years of reserve service plus six months of active service would entitle the reservist to four years of loan forgiveness.
- International Service: The U.S. Foreign Service and an expanded Peace Corps would also qualify for loan forgiveness. Each year of service would result in one year of loan forgiveness.
This proposal means that the typical student can begin adult life at 26 with a college diploma, debt-free, and four years of work experience.
The proposal would also have the effect of strengthening a sense of community within our nation, promoting a culture of patriotism and service, and improving perceptions of America abroad. The added workforce in the government could both rebuild local government infrastructure and help mitigate the coming crisis in the government workforce as boomers retire. This is an investment worth making.
