As a vet myself and a guy who worked his way through college helping active-duty military members use the benefits they earned, it is galling to hear the whining from civilians who borrowed money but now want to forget their debt.
As our best president, Calvin Coolidge, reportedly said, “They hired the money, didn’t they?” Bingo. They don’t get to stick the rest of us with the bill. USMC vet Cole Lyle explains.
Student loan forgiveness is a loser issue for the party that wants to win back the working class. pic.twitter.com/QbvO4TRgx5
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) May 11, 2022
Lyle: As President Biden considers forgiving student loan debt, there are important factors to consider, including the impact on our military and veterans who earned opportunities to pursue an affordable college education.
For most veterans, the choice to join the military was foremost about serving our country. But for many, it was also about receiving benefits to attend college without debt. Earning the GI Bill meant giving up years of their lives, serving in dangerous jobs and situations. The student loan debate is leaving out the impact cancellation will have on the veteran and active-duty community. That’s probably why, in a recent Mission Roll Call poll of 6,202 veterans, 77% opposed student loan forgiveness.
College is expensive, and it’s only getting pricier. But since an undergraduate degree — even if unrelated to one’s subsequent career — has become a barrier to entry for most professional career tracks, most prospective students feel like they have no other option. They become saddled with student loans that don’t go away in bankruptcy and can delay important life events like buying a home or having children.
But there has always been a path to free higher education. For over 80 years, military service and the GI Bill have enabled millions of Americans to pursue college debt-free, or nearly free. Serve in the military, and the federal government will help ensure you have the resources necessary for success without burdensome debt.
Already in college? Join the ROTC. In the military and want to use the GI Bill for graduate school? Use tuition assistance. Not sure what you want to do out of high school? Enlist and earn your GI Bill. Already have a degree or want to make the military your career? Transfer the GI Bill to your kids.
I joined the Marine Corps two weeks out of high school, deployed to Afghanistan, and earned my degree using the GI Bill. I know firsthand the sacrifices service members made to earn that benefit. They all made a choice. In most cases, joining the military meant receiving the GI Bill and the chance to go to school for little to no cost. They earned that opportunity…
The U.S. military is an all-volunteer force; the active-duty component makes up less than 1% of the total civilian population. Every year, hundreds of thousands of Americans earn the GI Bill as an incentive for their service. It isn’t something freely given, and it isn’t something any civilian can feel entitled to. For veterans and active troops who want to pursue a debt-free education through honorable service, policies that forgive student loan debt minimize their efforts and experiences.
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They all made a choice. In most cases, joining the military meant receiving the GI Bill and the chance to go to school for little to no cost. They earned that opportunity
Every year, hundreds of thousands of Americans earn the GI Bill as an incentive for their service. It isn’t something freely given, and it isn’t something any civilian can feel entitled to. For veterans and active troops who want to pursue a debt-free education through honorable service
The student loan debate is leaving out the impact cancellation will have on the veteran and active-duty community. That’s probably why, in a recent Mission Roll Call poll of 6,202 veterans, 77% opposed student loan forgiveness.
ALL colleges & Univs should pay into debt since students take out loans for said colleges
same for Vets
What so say is true but unfortunately military service is not an option for many people especially people with disabilities. And Americas safety net for the disabled is abysmal. Disability courts are run by government beaurocrats with no medical expertise who do everything they can including making up reasons to deny disability aid to those who need it the most while instantly approving scammers. It is better to never be born than ti he disabled in America whether or not you got to college and if you go to college with a disability not only do you have student loans but expensive medical conditions you have to pay for out of pocket because again our government has no compassion for the disabled whatsoever. Your article would be much more convincing if everyone was eligible to join the military but sadly that’s not the case and the only alternative for those who are ineligible is poverty, destitution, misery and a life that is not worth living
I noticed some years ago that the Democratic party had become the party of the uber wealthy, elite Hollywood types, the politicians who will use any means to stay in power and young people who still believe their campaign propaganda when they are using tax payer moneys to pour into the poor areas and making promises that are totally forgotten until the next campaign. It’s sad that college profs long ago gave up teaching anything about the unique “good” of the USA. It’s really weird is it not that the poor all over the world and even the not so poor still believe that the USA is the land of freedom, promise and opportunity for everyone – but college professors teach only the negative and maybe even that Socialism is the compassionate view. This talk of college debt payoff is another campaign effort to buy votes – what about the students who paid their debts? what about all the students who will have debts after this small time of history!???
Though entitled I never used mine having served from 1961 to 1987, I do not believe any loan taken should be forgiven. I joined to serve but respect those who joined in order to more easily be able to afford a higher education and if any person has any little bit of self-respect needs to own up to the fact, you knew this was a loan which was to be paid back and now you want to welch on your word. Does not speak much of the type of person you are.
“Student loan forgiveness” mocks all of us who KNEW we couldn’t go to college, but went to work, and now these freeloaders think WE SHOULD BE ON THE HOOK FOR THEIR LOANS! You’d think they would know the definition of the word “LOAN” by the time they got out of High School! I would have loved to have gone, but knew financially, it was unreachable! Guess they still think the gov’t has a money tree to pick the money from, but freeloaders, that money tree is we TAXPAYERS, and we aren’t responsible for your LOANS. You took out the LOAN, and LOANS aren’t GIFTS!