Read

User menu

Search form

Why I Hope Congress Doubles Student Loan Rates

Why I Hope Congress Doubles Student Loan Rates
Mon, 6/25/2012 - by Carl Gibson

Photo: Don Emmert.

Congress has a matter of days to work out a compromise or interest rates on some federal student loans will double. Carl Gibson of Reader Supported News thinks that's a good idea.

I'm sure you're already mad at me after reading the headline. But, hear me out.

If student loan rates double, it could mean the birth of a new student uprising in America similar to the one that's changing Quebec. And an energized student uprising is exactly what America needs to wake Americans up to this corporate state's war on the 99 percent.

If Congress does nothing before July 1, the interest rates on Stafford student loans will double from 3.4% to 6.8%. This means millions of students and graduates already burdened by a crushing economic climate with very few jobs, and even fewer good-paying jobs, will be forced to default on their loans. This means the student loan debt bubble, which has already dwarfed credit card debt by surpassing the $1 trillion mark, could soon burst like the housing bubble did.

As a result, easy access to student loans could be over, and nobody except the very rich will be able to afford the alarmingly high cost of a college education. The college presidents who happily raise tuition every year - most of which gets paid for by these same student loans - will suddenly see their endowments drop to a record low. And with no borrowed money from students to finance schools, professors will inevitably lose their jobs and colleges will cut entire courses and programs from their curricula, leaving higher education flattened.

Mark Cuban made a reference to "The Coming Meltdown" in a recent blog post, in which he compared the student loan bubble to the housing bubble that burst in 2008. Students getting a degree with borrowed money likewise do it with the expectation of landing a good-paying job to pay off that borrowed money. But with a youth unemployment rate of up to 17%, a lot of those graduates are being forced to default on their loans as they have no income to pay off their debts. If/when those students who defaulted do find a job, collectors can legally garnish 25% of their wages. That certainly won't help that student move out of their parents' house when the cost of rent, food and fuel is still astronomically high. And unlike credit card debt, student loan debt can't be discharged through bankruptcy. It's financial enslavement for many at a time when the economic climate is on the precipice of disaster.

Under such circumstances, it isn't hard to envision a society where a well-rounded education and a good-paying job will be a commodity available only to the most privileged young people in the top 1%, while everyone else is relegated to unaccredited institutions and a life of low-wage work that will reinforce the wealth gap between those at the very top and everybody else. This is exactly why Congress allowing the Stafford student loan rates to double for so many who are already struggling could spark the youth-led revolution that America desperately needs.

The CLASSE movement, or "Maple Spring," continues to bring hundreds of thousands of young Québécois into the streets. While originally tiggered by a proposed increase in tuition, it has now become a collective youth-led resistance to government austerity measures, cuts to social welfare programs and the preservation of preferential treatment for the wealthiest of society at the expense of the next generation. And the government's attempts to suppress the student movement has only thrown gasoline onto the flame.

If student loan rates double on July 1, it will be a perfectly-timed call to action for America's current students, unemployed graduates and anyone already struggling to pay off a mountain of student loans. It could be an opportunity for the youth of America to prove wrong our elders who say we're nothing but a bunch of Facebook addicts and Kardashian groupies.

And with the elections just months away, it will be a perfect opportunity for students to vote out all the members of Congress who voted to keep student loan interests rates low only by raiding healthcare funds, instead of responsibly demanding that corporations and the wealthiest 1% pay their fair share. It will be our time to sway the direction of this country by calling for new leadership and holding them accountable for their actions.

Please, please double the rate, Congress. It could be just what this country needs to wake up.

Carl Gibson, 25, is co-founder of US Uncut, a nationwide creative direct-action movement that mobilized tens of thousands of activists against corporate tax avoidance and budget cuts in the months leading up to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Carl and other US Uncut activists are featured in the documentary "We're Not Broke," which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. He currently lives in Old Lyme, Connecticut. You can contact Carl at carl@rsnorg.org, and listen to his online radio talk show, Swag The Dog.

3 WAYS TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

ONE-TIME DONATION

Just use the simple form below to make a single direct donation.

DONATE NOW

MONTHLY DONATION

Be a sustaining sponsor. Give a reacurring monthly donation at any level.

GET SOME MERCH!

Now you can wear your support too! From T-Shirts to tote bags.

SHOP TODAY

Sign Up

Article Tabs

Agriculture, the service economy, sexual exploitation, manufacturing, construction and domestic work drive today's enslavement around the world.

Thanks to the Electoral College, leftists have perhaps the final say this November over whether democracy can hold on for at least another four years, or if fascism will take root and infect all facets of the federal government for decades to come.

What remains unknown is whether post-truth Republicans will succeed in 2024 as the Nazis did in 1933.

Based on details that have emerged about Trump’s presidential agenda, the far-right Heritage Foundation plans for the next GOP president to have all the tools necessary to demolish multicultural democracy and establish a white, Christian ethnostate that imposes a gender apartheid not unlike the Taliban’s Afghanistan.

Donald Trump, Hitler

Like Hitler, Trump has a unique command of propaganda, a captivating public presence, and he knows how to drive home narratives beneficial to him and harmful to his enemies.

Agriculture, the service economy, sexual exploitation, manufacturing, construction and domestic work drive today's enslavement around the world.

Thanks to the Electoral College, leftists have perhaps the final say this November over whether democracy can hold on for at least another four years, or if fascism will take root and infect all facets of the federal government for decades to come.

History shows there are no “one-day” dictatorships. When democracies fall, they typically fall completely.

What remains unknown is whether post-truth Republicans will succeed in 2024 as the Nazis did in 1933.

Based on details that have emerged about Trump’s presidential agenda, the far-right Heritage Foundation plans for the next GOP president to have all the tools necessary to demolish multicultural democracy and establish a white, Christian ethnostate that imposes a gender apartheid not unlike the Taliban’s Afghanistan.

Based on details that have emerged about Trump’s presidential agenda, the far-right Heritage Foundation plans for the next GOP president to have all the tools necessary to demolish multicultural democracy and establish a white, Christian ethnostate that imposes a gender apartheid not unlike the Taliban’s Afghanistan.

Posted 1 month 2 weeks ago

Thanks to the Electoral College, leftists have perhaps the final say this November over whether democracy can hold on for at least another four years, or if fascism will take root and infect all facets of the federal government for decades to come.

Posted 1 week 5 hours ago

What remains unknown is whether post-truth Republicans will succeed in 2024 as the Nazis did in 1933.

Posted 1 month 1 day ago

History shows there are no “one-day” dictatorships. When democracies fall, they typically fall completely.

Posted 1 week 2 days ago

Agriculture, the service economy, sexual exploitation, manufacturing, construction and domestic work drive today's enslavement around the world.

Posted 3 hours 11 min ago