As much as education is very important in life, not everyone can afford it. I think some governments looked at the reasons why some youths are school dropouts, especially those from poor family backgrounds, and introduced student loans so they can assist students in paying fees and buying the needed textbooks, which is a great initiative.
Good enough, my country embraced this too, and many students are beneficiaries of it today. But then, there is a concern, and that is payback time after students graduate from schools.
You will find out that you have a lot of debt to pay back from your income, and it could even take years repaying this kind of loan, especially if they do not have a good job immediately. Without mixing words, such payback can be tiring.
But...what if governments wake up one day and decide to clear all outstanding loans so that each student can begin their lives afresh? Of course, the news will be exciting to the family and students' concerns. After all, who wants to keep paying back the loan for God knows when? lol
Hold on a bit; don't celebrate yet, hahaha...what if clearing the student loan means that you and I will start paying high taxes to support such an idea? Remember, you and I didn't partake in the loan, but as a support to these students.
You see, it's not rice and beans at this point...we want everyone to attend school, but at what cost? Remember, some people stretched themselves doing a lot of hard labor to pay their fees without taking the loan. Imagine telling such a person too to pay high tax for those who took loan? Do you think he or she will clap for you?
As much as I know, some people will key into this, while some will not. For those who will key into it, they may see it as having more population of educated people who will benefit our society and economy in terms of creating business, providing services, and more, so why not invest in these students by simply paying their debt?
But then again, there is another concern: if the paraventure the government clears the students' debt, what about others owing debt in other places? Are we also expecting taxpayers to clear those debts? This question is sensitive because as much as we want more populated, educated people in our society, we must think of fairness and the possible consequences of our decisions.
Overall, my personal view about this is that the government is capable of making education more affordable to start with. They can also give scholarships to the deserving students; they should bring down the unnecessary cost of education and, if possible, create a kind of flexible loan repayment structure if it's necessary and without asking anyone to pay higher tax for student loans. It's better to prevent people from entering into big debts that could take years to clear rather than creating an opportunity for them to sink into it and later start looking for an escape route.
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