First, Congress seems so excitedly gung-ho about all the issues they want to open or re-open, but no way they can get to each and every one of these in 2 years. So, be forewarned something could happen, but that’s all we know, yet.
Just looking a default rates masks the burden of too-high loans, for those who are paying for them (even at 27k.) For many, it’s deferring a fuller young adulthood, how young grads invest their money in their own present (and the economy) and build toward their later secure futures. (The way to look at this, I think, is from the whole reality of the burden. Not just to look at individual stories where it works or doesn’t or just that only X% default.)
And what makes student loans “manageable” is the same process that ties new graduates for a minimum ten years. IBR is a form of ‘out of sight, out of mind.’
We took PPloans, but we knew, as Calmom did, exactly how we would pay them back. They were an ease, this wasn’t some binary decision- go to college under massive debt or not go to college at all. Families do need to make decisions wisely, look at various options, including the less expensive schools. A loan is a lock, a ball and chain, not a freebie, just because it pays the tuition bill now.
Many people think college is a guarantee of later success. It isn’t. It’s only a beginning, a hope. But we’re set on sending as many kids as possible to college, right out of high school. Maybe that needs to be re-examined. Maybe something like the GI bill, a little paying it forward. You work, you save, some matching grants, some smaller loans.