Well, a lot of things. But at this particular moment it's a group of people who are either in school & scamming money or have recently graduated & want their debt forgiven.
Because gosh, it's hard to pay back money that you so willingly took to use for your own advantage.
Without being too specific there was a post in a FB group where I'm member. The poster was talking about getting their grant money & how excited they were to be purchasing yarn with it. Not groceries for their family. Not paying their mortgage/rent. Not even buying diapers for their kids. But yarn.
Now, I'm certainly not going to begrudge anyone a skein of wooly deliciousness, but when you're receiving free money from the government for your education it's not really cool to be buying wooly goodness. Not when there are families struggling to put their children through college & not when there are families who are living frugally in order to set aside money for their children's education. Not when there are students working 20-40 hours a week in addition to going to school full time so they can pay for their education themselves. Yes, it's judgmental but hey, it's my blog. I can judge if I want to!
There was also an acquaintance (we were pregnant together & on a message board for women due in April '04) who posted that we should all sign a petition for the federal government to forgive student loan debt as it will help the economy.
Um, no. I'm very sorry but last time I checked you WILLINGLY took on that debt. You got your degree which was your goal. Maybe if you found a cure for cancer, then I could see forgiving your student loan debt, but until that happens, then no. Again, I'm sorry.
This person wasn't amused when I asked where does debt forgiveness end? My husband is a disabled veteran. We pay our car loan monthly. We pay our mortgage monthly. Sure it would be nice if that were forgiven, but I'm not holding my breath. Please, our government threatens not to pay us every few months because they can't get their business together. You think they're going to suddenly announce that all disabled vets have free housing? Trust me when I say that I'd be living in a beautiful lake front home on Lake Champlain (or Smith Mountain Lake if Hunter had any say) if that were to happen.
But if people who have actually done SOMETHING for their country aren't getting anything forgiven, why should student debt be forgiven? Have we really raised a generation who expects that everything in life is free & fair? Lord, help us!
I work for a company that does help desk and administrative support for tuition reimbursement programs at other large and well known companies. People have lost their jobs for having the company pay for their entire tutition when they have a grant. The gaul of some people never ceases to amaze me.
ReplyDeleteI <3 you for this post. It burned me too. You are my hero!
ReplyDeleteI have a FB friend who blogged about the credit card debt that she and her husband defaulted on was treated as income by the IRS. In the end they owed the government 1/8 of the actual debt. And she was upset!
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