Hi Russ,

Thanks for commenting and participating in the discussion.

President Trump’s Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos released a statistic that only 25% of federal student loan borrowers are actually paying down their federal student loans (many are making payments, but the payment is smaller than the interest generated each month, so their loan balances are increasing).

One of the worst offenders in the higher education system is the for-profit colleges, which specifically target minority and low-income students. They spend a ton of money recruiting students but very little training them or getting jobs. As much as 90% of their revenue comes from federal student loans.

The people targeted by these colleges can’t pay back their loans because they don’t have a marketable education. Some will never fully repay their student loans. I’d argue that the blue-collar worker should be far angrier at the government that allowed these for-profits to dupe students, and the people getting wealthy on federal loans.

Ultimately, this is part of a much larger problem.

Borrowers with student loans have a harder time buying a house, and making many other purchases that drive our economy. The crippling debt affects not just the borrower, but everyone. The longer we continue to ignore student loan issues, the worse things will get.

While it seems women and minorities take on more debt and some are slower at paying it back, how is it fair for a blue collar working person to pay for a “student loan forgiveness program”?