While urging the educational system to better prepare students for the job market, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis made fun of college students who rack up massive debts for “zombie studies.”
The Republican senator emphasised the need of giving young people options rather than pressuring them into costly college degrees for which they are not prepared while speaking at a conservative think tank event.
DeSantis said, “You’re not any worse than anybody else because you didn’t obtain a four-year degree.”
He continued, drawing laughter from the crowd, “Think of all the folks who have four-year degrees in zombie studies with a $100,000 in debt, and then they wind up in a job they could’ve had out of high school.”
Trying to force every single kid who passes through our educational system into conventional four-year institutions is something we do not want to accomplish. They must understand that there are several options available, so choose the one that suits you the most.
DeSantis faced backlash for his remarks on social media. Many people accused him of hypocrisy and noted that he had earned a BA in history from Yale before enrolling in Harvard Law School.
Others, however, took the lesson to heart and shared their own struggles with increasing student debt—which, for many students, continues to rise even after graduation due to high interest rates.
The typical year of tuition and related living expenses at a US institution costs more than $35,000, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, and Americans owe almost $1.7 trillion in student loan debt, according to the Federal Reserve of St. Louis.
In August, President Joe Biden unveiled a proposal to provide some relief for borrowers of student debt.
For those with annual incomes under $125,000, his administration has offered to forgive up to $10,000 in student debt; for those who also received Pell Grants, a federal programme that provides the most needy undergraduates with aid that they do not have to repay, the amount will be doubled to $20,000 in debt relief.
Federal student loan payments were put on hold during the outbreak for what Biden dubbed the “last time,” but are now anticipated to resume in January.
The plan, however, has been compared to the act of applying a sticking plaster to a gaping wound since it does nothing to address the growing expense of education, which is the primary cause of the issue that will continue to affect future generations of students.
Since the debt cancellation only applies to people who took out federal student loans before July 1, the threat of significant debt will continue to hang over current high school grads – and everyone after them.
According to government statistics, one of the key reasons is growing college tuition, which is now more than twice the inflation-adjusted average from 30 years ago.
Republicans and several of his Democratic colleagues criticised Biden for not addressing the larger issue.
The debt cancellation, according to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, “doesn’t address the core issues that make education costly.” Instead, she advocated for more Pell Grants for low-income students and targeted loan forgiveness for those who really need it.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., one of the other critics, said the forgiveness should have been accompanied with measures to reduce the “absurd” expense of education.
We cannot keep entangling yet another American generation in this vicious cycle, Bennet added.
According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a non-profit that promotes reduced deficits, the nation’s federal student loan debt would return to today’s levels – more than $1.6 trillion – within five years of the cancellation.
According to senior policy director for the budget organisation Marc Goldwein, “this doesn’t fundamentally fix the student loan issue.” It will be a once-only clean slate that removes many names from the rolls. However, they will just be replaced by new borrowers.
Additionally, it raises the possibility that a portion of student debt may be forgiven by future presidents, which might make borrowers feel more comfortable taking on debt and ultimately lead to higher tuition at universities, according to Goldwein.
This might make it more expensive to attend college, he said.