The US is currently having a major student debt crisis, which is due to the government’s monetary policy. Student loan debts cause significant harm to many people in the US, and the situation is aggravating each year. Carlson reports the volume of federal and public student loan debt reached an unprecedented level of US$1.64 trillion (140). The amount of student debt has been significantly increasing starting from 2006 (Carlson 140).
The average size of the loan per borrower is also increased, which leads to a bigger financial burden. The article underlines that student loan debts impact people of multiple generations as people may still have part of it left at the age of 62 and over (Carlson 142). Student loan borrowers have less financial security in adulthood and are prone to errors made by loan agents. Additionally, student loans damage more African American people and their families, especially those with lower socioeconomic status. This causes even more racial and social inequality, which leads to increasing disparities.
The increasing damage of student loan debts has roots in past political decisions and impacts the current political background of the US. The author of the article argues that the reason for such a situation is the “privatization of public higher education that has been part of the neoliberal agenda since the early 1980s” (Carlson 140). After World War II, public higher education was considered a public good due to the necessity to restore the economy and multiply the technological resources of the country. The government aimed at increasing its competitiveness in the global market, as well as in the Cold War.
However, in the 1980s, the US decided to implement a neoliberal agenda, which is one of the features of a capitalistic society (Carlson 144). According to this political direction, higher education was considered to benefit individuals rather than the whole country. Therefore, people who get higher education should bear all the costs associated with it. The political shift resulted in a current situation of public disinvestment in higher education and a fast accumulation of student loan debts.
The article further discusses changes that have been made in recent years about the problem. For example, the Obama administration aimed to introduce policies that could relieve the burden on borrowers. However, the measures were not effective, and the neoliberal agenda was only solidified. The Trump administration wanted to further move higher education from the public to the private sector. It was achieved by The DeVos-Trans–’ FY 2021 budget proposals and the Direct Federal Student Loan Program (Carlson 149). Therefore, in recent years the neoliberal agenda has been only strengthening, worsening the situation for borrowers.
The article concludes that changes should be made to move away from the neoliberal agenda in the future to prevent the student loan debt crisis from aggravating. However, the main point that the author is making is that all the people harmed by the situation should be considered victims of “a state crime or some other form of social harm” (Carlson 150). The article provides recommendations on the political changes that the government should make. They include making higher education more public-funded, expanding eligibility for grants, and providing free tuition for public colleges and university students. The measures should be taken to prevent the crisis and further increase the financial burden on people, which harms their social and economic position.
Work Cited
Carlson, Susan M. “The U.S. Student Loan Debt Crisis: State Crime or State-Produced Harm?” Journal of White Collar and Corporate Crime, vol. 1, no. 2, 2020, pp. 140-152.