This morning the Supreme Court struck down a one-time student debt forgiveness program that would have helped more than 40 million borrowers.
I would have been one of the millions who benefited. Forgiveness would have radically changed the trajectory of my financial future.
Opponents of student debt relief argue that debt repayment is a personal responsibility and a moral obligation. While it is true — we should be good stewards of our financial resources — the argument fails to acknowledge fundamental structural problems in our economy.
Your debt isn’t actually meant to be repaid.
Last summer, I wrote an essay about my own experience with student loans. I graduated from college in 2013. Despite surrendering more than $13,000 in student loan payments to the Department of Education since then, my balance has only decreased by $4,000.
I, like millions of borrowers, haven’t reneged on my responsibility to repay my debt. I’ve dutifully made every single payment that was required of me — and then some. Yet, after a decade of repayment, I basically owe the same amount I originally graduated with. The laws of compound interest just haven’t worked out in my favor.