Opportunity, in Debt.
Today, Bernie Sanders proposed his plan to cancel all $1.6 trillion of student loan debt in the country. Senator Elizabeth Warren announced her intentions last week to file her own plan in the Senate which would erase up to $50,000 in personal student loan debt. Before you ask yourself how much this is going to cost you, allow me to explain why both proposals are equally horrible policy. You may be surprised to learn the reason each idea is terrible.
- The idea is not terrible because it teaches young American’s that their decisions come free of consequences.
- The idea is not terrible because it absolves folks of a commitment or an obligation they made.
- The idea is not terrible because of the cost: $600 billion to $1.6 trillion.
- The idea is not terrible because it thumbs it’s nose at the countless numbers of American who honored a commitment they made and made the requisite sacrifices to repay their loans.
- The idea is not terrible because it teaches our kids that life isn’t made up of a series of choices, each free from repercussion.
No. The idea is a terrible idea because it robs Americans of opportunity.
When I got the call from the registrar’s office at the University of Mount Union right before I left for Christmas break, I didn’t think much of the request to come in for a meeting. However, when that nice, young lady presented me with a bill for approximately $10,000 — which needed paid in short order if I wished to return for second semester — I knew I had to take action. I had to make a decision to do something different.
While Mount Union is a good school, as a kid raised by a single mother, I knew that leaving college with more than $40,000 in student loan debt wasn’t prudent. While staring at the invoice statement, I believe I told that lady something to the effect of, “Ma’am, I know you don’t know me from Adam; however, that number represents greater than a third of my mom’s annual income. I don’t know how you expect me to pay that.” While it might sound a bit over the top, if not for that frank conversation about student loan debt and the realization that perhaps college is not for everyone, I would have never have been afforded the opportunity to attend West Point.
You see, after getting the news that I had to come up with $10,000 in order to return the following semester I couldn’t afford to spend my holiday break just hanging out with old high schools buddies. Rather, I made the choice to use my Christmas break visiting the local recruiting offices of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. After several meetings and in-depth conversations about the unique opportunities offered by each branch of the military, I settled on enlisting in the United States Army. With a $10,000 debt in hand, I returned to Mount Union to finish out my freshman year knowing that in June I was off to basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
Upon completion of basic and advanced job training and about half way through my initial 24 month enlistment my company commander approached me about my desire to remain in the military. She told me that I was a good soldier with potential and there was a way for me to remain in service to the country while striving to be the first in my family to obtain a college degree. Only after a brief conversation with that young, Army Captain did I realize that despite not coming from a well-to-do background or a politically connected family that a place like West Point was an opportunity for a kid like me who grew up working on a dairy farm in rural Pennsylvania.
In short, if not for facing the harsh realty of the cost of a college education and the associated debt that comes with that education, odds are fairly high that I never would have been presented with the the opportunity to attend the nation’s premier leadership institute, the United States Military Academy at West Point. Oh, and for those who might be wondering, the answer is yes. I made good on my obligation and my responsibility and paid off my student loan 15 years after leaving Mount Union. And no. I don’t regret my choice or the decision to incur the debt. Life is about choices and I don’t shy away from the choices I make or the consequences of those choices.
That year playing college football at a small, liberal arts college in northeastern Ohio afforded me the highest honor of my life: commanding a company of my own soldiers in Iraq. I learned more about myself and the undying love of country found in our nation’s sons and daughters during my two years leading a company of paratroopers out of Fort Bragg than I ever would have otherwise. Without being face-to-face with the thought of potentially insurmountable student loan debt, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
So to Senator Warren, Senator Sanders, and others like them who are compelled to absolve young folks of their responsibility for commitments they made I’d say this: you’re not helping anyone. What you are doing is limiting their growth while depriving them of transformational opportunities.
Who knows, perhaps y’all are denying another young man or woman from small town America their opportunity to achieve their full potential, shake the hand of the Commander in Chief, and most importantly — become the first person in their family to receive a college degree.
