The Student Loan Borrowers’ Manifesto

We, “the student debt generation,” are tired of having our lives shackled by student loans, tired of being debt slaves, modern serfs, barely able to support ourselves, and increasingly unable to contribute to the economy or start productive lives of our own.  We are crippled by fear, feeling we cannot take financial risks like starting a business or pursuing a further degree due to the calamity that failure would bring. We wake up each day one bad break away from financial disaster. Our lives are dominated by our debt, and many of us feel permanently shackled by the decision to attend college.

We admit that we are responsible for our decisions, yet we were strongly advised to pursue this path by high schools and parents, who told us a degree was essential to open up doors in life and was the surest way to upward mobility.  Colleges sold us the same story. “It doesn’t matter the degree, you just need A degree. It doesn’t matter the cost, it’s worth it.” But now a disproportionate sum of our monthly paycheck goes to repaying student loans, and there is a disconnect between this dream of upward mobility and our reality.  Thus our generation cannot afford to buy houses (As NY Times reports), has prolonged starting families, cannot save for retirement, and is suffering from myriad mental illnesses - all because of the magnitude of these loans ("Buried in Debt").

The sad truth is we will not experience the same economic freedom and successes as previous generations, because we went to college.  The fact of the matter is that the cost of living has increased faster than wages for decades (As shown in Forbes)while the cost of college has increased astronomically higher than almost all other aspects of our economy.  Previous generations do not understand our plight because they did not face the same unique challenge and they too often believe that hard work on our part is the answer. As if a summer job during college was the solution to our problems.  The difference is “back in the day,” a summer job could actually pay for a year of school (As Marketwatch shows). You’d need to be a Wall Street trader to accomplish that today.

When the failures of the auto industry were realized, the automakers were bailed out.  When the banks failed, they were bailed out. When a normal person reaches rock bottom and needs a “get out of jail free” card, they can be bailed out through bankruptcy.  Student loan borrowers? We are told to suck it up. Here’s an income-based repayment program that will prolong your loans until you die and have you stuck in this cycle forever.  Here’s a deferment so you can pay more later just to buy food and shelter for another month. Many people take these “outs” because they have no other choices. Are these a lifeline?  Yes…. but with caveats.

Things can’t go on this way.  So what do we want?

1. We want to be recognized.  Those at the top need to take us seriously as an increasing percentage of society and an increasing bloc of voters.  We are not just a small group of “irresponsible youth” who took on debt we couldn't’ afford and can therefore be dismissed out of hand.  We cannot be dismissed, because we are growing in numbers every year and soon this problem will reach a tipping point, and the bubble will burst.
2. We want help.  Real help.  A bailout. Not a deferment or a “new repayment plan” that will generously allow us to keep our student loans until we die.  Not pity or sympathy. We want to be financially independent. We want to buy houses, we want to support local restaurants and businesses through our purchases (rather than the cheaper options of Walmart or Amazon), we want to contribute to society, but at the moment we are incapable.  And when in a similar position, other powerful industries received massive federal help. So why can’t we, as human beings, be afforded the same opportunity as corporations?
3. We want accountability.  We want colleges to be accountable for the employability of their graduates.  Allowing a student to take out $100,000 in loans for a degree that leads to a job with a starting salary of $30,000 is not just negligent and greedy, it is criminal.  There also needs to be accountability for the institutions who issued these loans, knowing full well they would be profiting off of the misery of a generation. Allowing students to take out $100,000 in loans for these degrees is a scam on the highest order.
4. We want bankruptcy protection.  If any other citizen finds themself at the end of their rope due to poor financial decisions, they can declare bankruptcy and their debt will be forgiven. But if you take out a massive student loan in the hopes of upward mobility or success in life and it turns out to be more of a problem than a solution, there is little to no opportunity to have that loan forgiven.  So let’s treat all bankruptcies the same.
5. We want reform of existing programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness.  These programs could actually help people if they were not so byzantine that more than 90% of people who thought they would have loans forgiven found out they would not.  So, in the spirit of fairness, forgive any student loans for people who have been in public service for ten years, as the program was designed, regardless of the type of loan or type of repayment plan.  Let’s encourage public service instead of discouraging it.

These solutions are a start.  But they are not the end. A permanent solution that could solve the student debt crisis and stimulate the entire economy is not impossible.  Thus:

1. We want a temporary wealth tax on the top 1% to fund student loan forgiveness.  It’s no wonder ideas like democratic socialism are so popular with those under 30, because the gulf between the exceptionally wealthy and the rest is widening at an increasingly frightening rate, and student loans are a major contributor to this.  A one-time wealth tax on the top 1% would allow those who can spare the most to help jumpstart the economy. Almost overnight millions would be able to buy houses, reliable cars, and other currently unaffordable items, and thousands would leave the rolls of government assistance.
2. We want equity between the cost of college, the cost of living and wages.  We want the cost of college to be aligned with the cost of life.  And we want our government to help make a college education a reality for all people.  Many Europeans can go to college for free or for a reasonable fee. If Europe can offer affordable college to all of its citizens, how can the wealthiest country on the planet not?

Student loan borrowers are not a powerful interest group loaded with money and able to hire the best lobbyists or contribute massive sums through PACs.  But there are millions of us, and our numbers are growing more by the graduation year. We are a powerful voting bloc and thus far those with the power to change things either don’t see us, don’t recognize the severity of our plight, or don’t care about us.  Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it’s one of the first two, and let’s make sure they know about us and understand our plight and how it impacts American society and the American economy (Read more on CNBC and Bloomberg).

We, as a unified bloc, will only support politicians and leaders who pledge to serve the interests of student loan borrowers and fight now for permanent and constructive solutions.  Because soon enough politicians won’t be able to be elected unless they run on a platform that addresses our issues. It might not be today, it might not be next election cycle, but it will be soon.  And the longer we are ignored, the worse off things will be for the long-term economic health of this country.

So join us.  Let’s solve this problem once and for all.