The Real Issue With Student Loan Forgiveness
"Rather than redistributing student loan debt to those who never took it out, leaders should be focussed on holding universities accountable for a return on investment that has failed an entire generation of students."
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that investments should bring a return, not leave you in the hole.
From 1980 to 2020, average college tuition and fees increased by 1200%, while the consumer price index inflation increased by 236%.
Montana is dead last in gainful employment rankings for public colleges with only 51% of students graduating from programs with excellent debt-to-earnings outcomes, meaning that typical graduates who borrowed the median amount will have great difficulty repaying their student loans, and some will simply not be able to repay them at all.
Unfortunately, President Biden’s plan to outright cancel up to $10,000 in student loan debt, and up to $20,000 for Pell grant recipients does little to address the underlying cause of rising tuition.
And as Governor Gianforte recently pointed out, President Biden’s plan forces those who never went to college or who already paid off their student loan to pay for those who did.
Rather than redistributing student loan debt to those who never took it out, leaders should be focussed on holding universities accountable for a return on investment that has failed an entire generation of students.
For Liberty,
Tanner Avery
The Latest
Woodrow Wilson vs. the Hutterites
You probably already know that Montana has a long history of thriving Hutterite communities, but have you heard about President Woodrow Wilson’s shameful attempt to break them? Renowned author and Frontier board member Lawrence W. Reed retells this story in this month’s Frontier History column.
“The crimes that President Woodrow Wilson’s administration perpetrated on the Hutterites of the upper Great Plains is a story largely forgotten, but one so unforgivable that it deserves a retelling.”
The Latest Red Tape Reduction
Over the last year, Montana agencies were busy identifying unnecessary regulations under the Governor’s Red Tape Relief Initiative. Now these agencies are beginning to release plans to ask lawmakers during the 2023 legislative session to eliminate these regulations. One agency, the Department of Public Health and Human Services, just released their proposals encompassing everything from removing updating language to ending duplicative processes.
Our Take: After a year of hard work identifying unneeded regulations, the Red Tape Relief Initiative is leading to dozens of proposals that will streamline regulations and reduce Montana’s regulatory burden.
Bozeman Eyes Local Sales Tax
Last week, the City of Bozeman began outlining their plans for getting approval for a local option sales tax during the 2023 Legislative Session.
Our Take: Bozeman wants to continue squeezing every dime out of taxpayers instead of addressing the actual cause of their revenue woes: reckless, out-of-control spending. Bozeman should follow the lead of the state and implement a conservative budget.