American education and Biden’s student loan forgiveness
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This opinion column was submitted by Ignacio Romero, Latino Anti-Disinformation Program Manager at the Institute for a Progressive Nevada.
Since ancient Greece, education has been said to be the foundation of society and the greatest pillar of its development. Throughout human history, education has played a fundamental role in creating economic wealth, prosperity and political stability for people and nations.
Our nation’s founding fathers recognized the power of learning. This was best summed up by Ben He Franklin when he said that “an investment in knowledge yields the greatest return”. In Massachusetts, the first public school to become the United States.In the decades that followed, many communities followed suit, establishing free or publicly funded schools.
When the new nation was declared created, the state made education one of its priorities and soon established public schools. By 1870, every state had a tax-assisted institution of learning, and American literacy rates were among the highest in the world. This solid foundation helped society expand its concepts and propose, explore and create new ideas.
As this awareness grows in different parts of the country, we look back at the decades that followed and see the construction of monumental engineering and architectural projects and the light bulb, the telephone that changed the way we live across our planet. , microwave and hundreds of other wonders.
After World War II, federal and state governments also helped young Americans pay for private colleges. In 1965, the Higher Education Act expanded access to college for women and minorities.
The achievements of public and private education have made our country a land of opportunity and have risen to the top as world leaders. Other countries were determined to follow our example and went one step further. Germany, France, Argentina, Finland and Denmark are just a few of the countries that have decided to guarantee free university education to their citizens.
As the 1970s arrived in the United States, the oil embargoes of Arab nations began, leading to severe and painful inflation. Federal and state subsidies for poor, middle-class college students plummeted and often dried up. All this as tuition and college costs have increased exponentially. What many thought of as a temporary blip has turned into a more permanent condition.
Prior to 1970, students could work part-time to pay for their college tuition, but today that is not possible. In 1970, the average cost of her one-year education at public institutions was $394. Today, the same education costs him $10,560. Since 1980 alone, the total cost of his four-year colleges, public and private, has tripled his, and federal support has not been able to keep up. Pell Grants (Grants for Low-Income Families) once covered nearly 80% of public college costs, but now he only covers a third. Beginning in the 1970s, lower- and middle-income American families began going into debt to send their daughters and sons to school.
Free or low-cost education seemed like a right for Americans 50 years ago, making this country the “American Dream,” but has come under attack from politicians obsessed with the ideology of small government. I’m here. A typical college student today, who had to borrow money for his education, graduated with $25,000 in debt and entered the market aggressively, buying real estate or starting a small business. This unfortunate failure has affected the economy of our entire country.
That’s why Biden announced plans to help low-income families with student loan forgiveness. Students earning less than her $125,000 are guaranteed a student loan of up to $10,000. Recipients of Pell Her Grant will be waived up to $20,000. The measure will benefit more than 40 million Americans and provide a breath of fresh air for an estimated 330,000 Nevadans. The new plan will begin to affect students at home, where state officials have already submitted draft bill requests to make significant changes to the student loan repayment program.
In this respect, the president seems to be giving back to Americans a little bit of what has been taken from them since the 1970s.
Ignacio Romero is the Latino Anti-Disinformation Program Manager at the Institute for a Progressive Nevada.
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