Thread by @RachelBitecofer

1. I'm going to open a convo w @RadioFreeTom about this.

Yes, 40% didn't graduate & no owe tons of $ but likely still have bad job prospects & although some didn't grad bc tough circumstance/med issues, as a once prof I can tell you, that's NOT the majority. Most didn't bc

https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1382130469765062656

2. they didn't like doing, or prioritize enough, the college part of college & end up failing out.

Now here's the thing- just some context- your college record is permanent so if you fail out somewhere at 19 or 20 you can't "transfer" out that shitty GPA & its very hard to get

3. access to loans/aid again to go back when you're in your late 20s when you have a worth ethic & better understand living in poverty (as I did- though lucky, I didn't START until I was that age). So they're stuck w loans they can't pay AND they can't continue on to finish. BUT

4. the moral hazard point I want to raise w Tom involves responsibility. The college system is literally "dying" to fill seats. I bet almost no one knows this but right now, in every state annually the day the "total # of available freshmen" comes out every college/uni's admin is

5. biting their nails- will there be enough to go around& to fill their freshmen quotas?! Each year less schools do (esp small liberal arts privates) & have to close down. We expect that over the next 20ys hundreds of these schools will close. Publics too. SO, the pressure to

6. recruit is MASSIVE & frankly, that means a lot of kids who are not academically talented OR inclined enough to go to college (at least not at 17/18- I was a TERRIBLE HS student bc I barely bothered to go to class!) get heavily recruited- that's flattering- & so they find

7. in college, often on loans, and maybe they fail out after 1 semester but the system is set up to allow students at least 2 semesters to get their shit together or finish failing out. And the loan companies are aggressive telling students- hey that school that you really like

8. but is WAY more expensive, we can help you go there bc like w mortgage lenders in 2006-2007 they see a cash cow when they see one. Esp the private lenders who get mommy & daddy to sign. Nothing the gov't would do would touch that private lender debt, I'm guessing. Which, BTW,

9. starts accruing interest, fat interest, the day those loans go out while some fed loans wait till graduation But even the fed gov't gets in on the interest accruing pie bc its tasty- 1/2 of fed loans.

Moral hazard: who's to blame, the predatory recruitment (again they NEED

10. those students to keep their college fiscally solvent!), the predatory private loan lenders that sent my own son dozens of applications which I promptly threw away, or the ill-prepared or unsuited kids/people to take these magic loans where the benefits are clear & immediate

11. but the PAIN is hidden & differed? Now, believe it or not I'm not arguing loans should or should not be forgiven. I just want people to understand the full complexity that drives the debt. I do think that if people could wipe their old GPA's (keep any earned credit) & be able

12. to go back to school when they're more matured or more focused- that would be huge. This would involve new policy, not only in the schools but also within FAFSA. I think all the people that got suckered into the "fake" programs like Phoenix abs deserved relief. And then there

13. people who owe as much for undergrad as I owe for UG + a doctorate (or more) & that's bc they went to privates & paid judicious sums for what was in actuality, not a great education. Unless its Harvard, Yale Princeton, etc expensive schools are just expensive. Many are not

14. truly academically tough to get into, even if they have illustrious reputations. And students are sold going there. Yes, they SHOULD make better choices, but if the core value of liberals is to believe people are generally good, the core value of conservatives is to believe

15. in formal theory, rational choice. In other words, to believe that people can make good decisions. Esp flawed in decision systems with too much choice & "nudges" that are designed to push them into poor ones. So yes, millions took APR-adjustable rates for mortgages they were

16. surprised to be offered, but since lenders were confident (pretending to be anyway) they did it. Same w a lot of these shitty loan decisions for college. So its clear to me, a reform w some component of "forgiveness" is proper. Lots of gray away between clean sweeps & good

17. reform, but the politics don't lend themselves to pragmatism, & for this you have the effects of hyperpolarization & exploitation on the Right, which has created an atmosphere where candidates have to campaign on absolutist platforms. Worse on the Right BY FAR, but the left.

18. BTW I should disclose I owe massive student loans- which I needed to pay for my entire education at publics. I also worked full time it was as a fairly decent low paying position. But I was a single mom, no child support for all but 2 of those 11yrs. My balance reflects the

19. the gap between my income & my bills. That's why they call the $15 min wage campaign "a living wage."