1 Portion of SOTU that is VERY bothersome

Obama’s State of the Union Address - (Full Text Here)


"That's why I urge the Senate to follow the House and pass a bill that will revitalize our  Community colleges, which are a career pathway to the children of so many working families. 

To make college more affordable, this bill will finally end the unwarranted taxpayer subsidies that go to banks for student loans.  Instead, let's take that money and give families a $10,000 tax credit for four years of college and increase Pell Grants. And let's tell another one million students that when they graduate, they will be required to pay only 10 percent of their income on student loans, and all of their debt will be forgiven after 20 years –- and forgiven after 10 years if they choose a career in public service, because in the United States of America, no one should go broke because they chose to go to college."

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This portion of the State of dis-Union Address is one that is bothersome to me. First off he speaks of increasing Pell Grants. May I as where the money from Pell Grants comes from? (You can probably guess). The part, that sickens me the most, though, is the part that states student loans would be "forgiven after 10 years if they choose a career in public service". This does nothing to lower the cost of higher education. It actually most likely will increase it. So if I have this correct unpaid student loans will be forgiven leaving the burden on guess who, the taxpayer. All the while increasing the number of government employees that are paid by tax dollars which again rests on you, me and the rest of the taxpayers.

This leads me back to the question; why is the government in the higher education finance business to begin with? This is not a job for the government and like with most other things if the federal government would get out of the way there would be positive outcomes. Let the states control their higher education institutions and student financing as they wish and allow the private sector & free enterprise system work as it is supposed to.

Texacon