It would probably be pretty presumptuous of me to assume that all of you who are reading this care very deeply about my personal financial situation. And I totally get that, because chances are quite good that you have your own personal financial situations to be concerned about.
But dammit, this whole student loan cancellation thing is really sticking in my craw. I graduated from college back in 2006. I took out loans in order to go there, but I knew that the contracts I was signing off on said that I would pay it all back, with interest. And I did. And right now, I and my husband are just doing what we can to be financially responsible so we can take care of ourselves and our family.
OK, I started this whole thing off by talking about how as an individual, I’m likely not even a blip on your financial radar. But once you start adding up all the individuals who are in a similar boat, that’s when the feelings of solidarity might start to kick in. And you realize that there are a lot of people out there who, like you, worked very hard to make a life for yourself and your family and aren’t in the mood to bend over even further so the federal government can screw you even harder.
And that brings me to this thread from tweeter @JenM623. She’s decidedly — and quite rightly — not pleased about being told that she has to pay for someone else’s education while she’s still paying for her own:
I've been paying my student loans for 15 years, with about 8 to go.
They're not pleasant but I never asked for or expected forgiveness. I asked for the money and agreed to pay it back.#CancelStudentDebt
— Jen RN☘️ (@JenM623) August 24, 2022
I've worked a ton of OT to pay my loans down faster, and refinanced them to private (several times) for lower interest rates.
That's called being responsible and handling my shit.
It disqualified me from forgiveness, while I still get to pay for theirs.#CancelStudentDebt
— Jen RN☘️ (@JenM623) August 24, 2022
Irresponsible behavior is being rewarded. I feel like a sucker for doing things right and taking care of myself.#CancelStudentDebt
— Jen RN☘️ (@JenM623) August 24, 2022
Raise your hand if you can relate.
"But why do you want it bad for everyone just because you had it bad??" "An educated society benefits us all"
NOPE people educated with degrees so useless they can't get a decent job to pay their bills are not a benefit to anyone.#CancelStudentDebt
— Jen RN☘️ (@JenM623) August 24, 2022
You know what the real issue is behind student debt? It's not the colleges, or loan companies, or government, it's US.
Schools raise their prices every year, and people bitch and moan but keep applying.
Supply and demand. We're driving the high cost.#CancelStudentDebt
— Jen RN☘️ (@JenM623) August 24, 2022
But demanding that I pay for your poor decisions is asinine. It's too bad you made bad choices, it shouldn't be my problem.#CancelStudentDebt
— Jen RN☘️ (@JenM623) August 24, 2022
College tuition won't drop until demand does. Instead of going to the $40k a year school, go to community college. Then transfer to a state school.
If you want to fun college experience, fine. But you have to pay for it.#CancelStudentDebt
— Jen RN☘️ (@JenM623) August 24, 2022
And enough about demanding people be able to discharge their loans through bankruptcy. You can't do that because banks can't reposses an education. This isn't rocket science.#CancelStudentDebt
— Jen RN☘️ (@JenM623) August 24, 2022
You definitely don’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand why Joe Biden’s unlawful and unjust moves should make you angry.
There are countless other people out there with stories like hers, and with any luck, there’s strength in numbers when it counts. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and feel helpless when Joe Biden or Democrats or any government authoritarian-in-waiting decides to press the boot even harder on our necks, but we can still vote the thugs out. We can still hold them accountable for what they’ve done. They haven’t stolen that power from us. At least not yet.
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