Jayne: Gesture prompts discussion

Roughly 44 million Americans owe roughly $1.5 trillion in student loan debt. Think about that. We owe more for student loans than for any other debt except mortgages, and much of it is owed by young adults trying to get a grasp on the American Dream.

Research indicates that student debt is one reason young adults are delaying marriage or starting a family and one reason they have difficulty buying homes. It even makes them less likely to become entrepreneurs; when you have a monthly loan payment, you are more likely to embrace the security of working for an established corporation rather than risk the ups and downs of starting your own business.

In most cases, taking out a reasonable student loan is a wise investment in your future; many new graduates won’t think twice about borrowing a similar amount for a car. And we aren’t necessarily talking about the for-profit schools that coerce students into high-interest loans in exchange for training that is essentially worthless in the job market.

But it seems that America has its priorities messed up. Making it easier for students to afford college or learn a marketable trade is necessary for providing companies with the employees they will need in the future.

Washington lawmakers recognized that this year in overhauling the State Need Grant. Last year, some 68,000 students received a grant, but another 20,000 who were eligible were placed on a waiting list because of a lack of funding. Hopefully, that has been fixed. Not everybody needs to go to college to have a successful career; but everybody who wants to go and has the academic ability to do so should have the opportunity.

A little backwards

Yet while Washington is enlightened regarding the needs of students and the benefits of an educated workforce, the nation as a whole is failing its young people. The problem isn’t that Robert F. Smith is willing to donate millions of dollars to young people; the problem is that there is a need for him to do so.

The United States annually spends $700 billion on the military, is adding $1 trillion to the national debt this year, and provides tax cuts for the wealthy. Meanwhile, we allow recent graduates to struggle with $1.5 trillion in loan debt. That seems a little backwards.

As The New York Times wrote editorially last week in reaction to Smith’s largesse: “A new generation of plutocrats has amassed great fortunes, in part because the federal government has minimized the burden of taxation. Americans once again are reduced to applauding acts of philanthropy necessitated by failures of policy.”

The point is not to decry Smith’s benevolence; the point is to create a situation in which it is not necessary. And that should be easy.