The day President Biden announced his plan for partial student loan forgiveness every Fox News personality had a meltdown. The network is known for its unhinged reactions to anything a high-profile Democrat says or does, so this was expected.
Fox anchors were so hyperbolic they acted as if the IRS would send personal bills to each household to help wipe zeros off the ledgers of debt for student loan borrowers. That is complete fiction of course as there are no new taxes planned to pay for this proposal.
Fox saw this not just as a handout but a breakdown of the very fabric of society. Now hard-working greasy spoon waitresses and overworked plumbers would be paying the debt of latte drinking philosophy majors who went to Harvard.
Of course, most college graduates don’t go to Ivy League institutions. The number one college major in the United States is business followed by nursing. Philosophy ranks at number 35.
About 77.7% of undergraduate students attend public institutions, only 0.3% of federal student borrowers attended Ivy League schools.
Despite most students picking the thriftier option of public school over private around 44 million Americans owe a combined $1.7 trillion in student loan debt.
For these Americans making major purchases such as a home, car or investing in a small business is nearly impossible as they try to keep up with hefty loan payments. With some of this burden lifted those same borrowers would be more likely to spend money in ways that could help fuel the overall economy.
The burden of the student debt crisis is also quite uneven.
According to data collected from the Brookings Institution Black borrowers are disproportionally affected.
Four years after graduation, black graduates have nearly $25,000 more student loan debt than white graduates: $52,726 on average, compared to $28,006 for the typical white graduate.
Black college graduates are still substantially more likely to default on their debt within four years of graduation (7.6% versus 2.4% of white graduates).
And nearly half of black graduates (48%) owe more on their federal undergraduate loans after four years than they did at graduation, compared to just 17% of white graduates (a situation known as negative amortization).
At graduation, black students owe $7,375 more than white students ($23,420 versus $16,046).
When Fox News anchors used the example of a wealthy white Ivy League graduate they were simply creating their own reality.
The theme pushed across the network was fairness. The three terms - unfair, fair and fairness were used a total of 62 times during the 15 hours of Fox News I analyzed for the week ending August 28th, 2022.
Sure, it’s not fair that one person might get up to $20,000 in student loan forgiveness whereas someone else might have already paid back their loans. It’s not fair that someone who didn’t go to college doesn’t get forgiveness for other types of debt. It’s not fair that someone who chose to go to trade, or vocational school doesn’t get any help.
There’s a lot more inequity to go around in the U.S. educational system that a one-time loan forgiveness program. Our country is extremely unfair in many ways - overall income inequality is currently higher in the U.S. than any of the G7 nations.
It’s not fair that children in wealthier zip codes tend to get a much higher quality education than those who grow up in the lowest rungs of our society. It’s not fair that some students have every higher education cost paid for by their families while others are saddled with tens of thousands of dollars of debt. It’s not fair when students from well-connected families get into elite college despite mediocre grades and test scores.
Since most school districts are mostly funded via local property taxes a kid who grows up in a housing project or a trailer park is far more likely to attend a poorly rated school.
Most inequity is just shrugged off as part of life.
Fox News loves to promote the idea of meritocracy - that every man or woman succeeds in life based on their merit and work ethic.
The concept of a meritocracy is a fairy tale promoted by the same folks who were born into privilege. A free and fair society would have to start at a place where all children are born with the same economic and cultural advantages, and we are nowhere near that.
A child doesn’t have any agency in their own college aspirations except to do well in school and apply for scholarships, grants and work-study programs.
A disadvantaged child might also grow up in a high crime neighborhood surrounded by negative influences and instability. They may also have to work while in high school to help pay for basic expenses for their entire family.
If I pointed this out to any Fox News anchor their answer might be, “Life’s not fair,” a phrase any poor kid has heard a million times before they turn 18.
This proposal, however imperfect, is just one step that would help millions of Americans get out from under crushing student loan debt.
Fox News also never addressed the new income-driven repayment (IDR) plan in Biden’s proposal. IDR plans allow borrowers to pay their loans back based on a percentage of their income, Biden’s plan slashes this rate in half from 10% to 5%. It would also allow loan forgiveness after a set number of years. This would also help ease the burden for future borrowers.
Biden’s plan doesn’t address rising college costs or do much to prevent a future student debt crisis. The cost of a college education has risen nearly five times the rate of inflation in the past 50 years.
Thirty states currently offer some form of free college for students who qualify which should be expanded to every state in the country. We should also invest in programs that help students from lower-income families pay for trade or vocational schools.
The government could also expand opportunities for students who want to work in public service in return for loan forgiveness. So far only 175,000 borrowers have qualified for forgiveness under the PSLF limited waiver as of mid-July 2022. This could be one way to also tackle shortages in professions like healthcare and education.
Fox News is correct. Loan forgiveness only helps some Americans. It isn’t fair but much of our educational system and economy is incredibly inequitable.
Yay you’re back !