Joe Biden stepped firmly on the new third rail of American politics yesterday. He unveiled a plan to help former college students struggling with up to 1.5 trillion in student debt. Virtually all will get $10 thousand in forgiveness. Students who took advantage of Pell grants will receive an additional 10 thousand in relief.
Many of my fellow baby boomers are against giving any forgiveness to student debt. We paid our own way and paid off any loans goes the argument. Unfortunately, this attitude flies in the face of real world experiences of my generation.
When i graduated high school in 1969, tuition, room and board and books at a New York state public university ran about $2500.00 per year. I had a regents scholarship and some savings and was able to graduate in 1973 with about $1500. in debt at 4% interest. All told, in today's dollars it cost me about 50 thousand to graduate. That's about the equivalent of one year of expenses today. Much of the difference is the bloated administrations in today's universities and colleges. We need to reform higher education to reflect our priorities.
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