I read that
Obama reads ten letters from the public a day, so I've sent a couple, like this:
President Obama,
Thank you for your emphasis on education in your recent state of the union and Saturday radio address.
There is one thing you could do that would be a tremendous encouragement to current educators and encourage others to become teachers: expand the student loan forgiveness program to all K-12 and public college instructors.
Those who currently get student loan forgiveness could get it at an increased pace or some additional incentive like a tax credit.
I teach community college, and because most schools hire mostly part time instructors at as little as a quarter the pay of full time faculty and don't us health benefits (I didn't get any from from any of my schools for the first eight years I taught), I was not able to make consistent payments on my student loans until just the last two or three years.
Consequently, my debt doubled from $50,000 to over $100,000, and my payments are greater than my rent.
The overuse and abuse of part time faculty at community colleges needs to be ended as well, but expanding the forgiveness of student loans would tell society that our work deserves at least one-tenth of one percent as much of the financial recognition that Wall Street gave themselves in bonuses with the bailout money.
Sincerely,
5 comments:
If you teach at a community college, the proper source for loan forgiveness should be your state. Many states offer their own loan forgiveness programs for teachers. The only problem is that they have become so popular, that some states (such as Illinois) actually have a glut of graduates with degrees in teaching. There are not enough openings to hire them full time as loan forgiveness plans require. It is a catch-22 situation.
In any event, this should not be a federal decision- community colleges are supported by their states.
state college loans
collegeloanconsultant,
If states were taking care of this issue, there would be no need to ask for federal action.
Retroactively allow student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy. STOP these nonsense social engineering schemes with student loan money. If someone wants to be a teacher fine, but they should not have to do so in order to get relief. Anyone who qualifies, or has qualified, for bankruptcy should be able to include their student loans.
That is how you get relief for ALL! The idea of granting relief for those in certain fields and not for those in others, even though they are also hurting is foolish. Why just public school professors? Why not all professors? Stop trying to pick winners and losers. We need equal protection for all. Anyone who has a worthless degree that was overpriced and over promised and now find themselves hurting needs relief.
Provide bankruptcy protection for all student loan borrowers!
Good idea. Also, since some of us have been forced to teach college overseas, that should be considered public service too!
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