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Student Loans : A Burden Worth Bearing

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Student Loans: A Burden Worth Bearing With the news of the now infamous ITT Tech closing its doors last week, the millions of students undertaking financial loans for this fall semester have something to reconsider outside of the classroom. Student loan forgiveness has become an increasingly contentious topic over the past few years, most notably as being the crux of Bernie Sanders’, and now of course, Hillary Clinton’s, presidential campaigns, as can be noted from Clinton’s Democratic National Convention speech this past July in which she promised, “to make college tuition-free for the middle class and debt-free for all!”(McCaskill). While there is concern to be had with the recent unfurling of predatory for-profit colleges, more important is the need to shift our focus away from emotional appeals and towards President Obama’s policies that have led to this unfortunate situation before it becomes an irreparable failure. The Government Accountability Office released an unflattering report this past February demonstrating the determinantal effects President Obama’s administration has had on exacerbating student debt. While student borrowing represents a quarter of all federal borrowing, only 37% of student borrowers are actually paying down their loans(GAO 5). Additionally, more than 40% of the 22 million Americans who have borrowed from the government’s main student-loan program are behind or are not able to payback over $200 billion worth of loans commensurate to

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