Real Talk: You Should Support Student Loan Forgiveness

It’s been a few weeks since the White House announced a plan for student loan forgiveness, and in that time, you’ve likely seen all sorts of articles and social media posts pushing back against it.

Watching these arguments unfold has been frustrating, and it can be hard to know what to say.

To help all of us know how to respond, I interviewed my dad, Ken Clarke, who spent more than 35 years working as a financial aid professional. 

I mean it when I say my dad is the perfect person to walk us through this conversation. When he retired, he was the dean of financial aid for all Maricopa County community colleges in Arizona, and he had helped thousands of students navigate the financial aid process throughout his career.

The conversation I had with him was so good and full of information that I ended up splitting it into two episodes.

In this first episode, we address four of the most common arguments against student loan forgiveness:

• The argument that the plan only helps the “elite.”
• The complaints about having to “foot the bill” for other people’s education.
• The objections that the plan is “unfair” to people who have already paid off student loans.
• The criticism that the plan is too expensive.

And be on the lookout for the bonus episode with the second half of this conversation where my dad and I talk more about the history of student loans and how college became so expensive.