Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis poked fun at college students incurring huge debts for “zombie studies” when he urged the school system to better prepare children for the job market.
Speaking at an event hosted by a conservative think tank, Republican lawmakers stressed the importance of offering young people a variety of avenues rather than forcing them into expensive college degrees they are not suited to.
“You’re no worse than anyone else because you didn’t get a four-year degree,” DeSantis said.
“Think of all the people who got a four-year degree in zombie studies with $100,000 in debt and then ended up in a job that they could have had after high school,” he added, causing audiences to laugh .
“What we don’t want to do is try to force every single student that comes through our school system into traditional four-year universities. You need to know that there are a variety of paths you can take and find what works best for you.
DeSantis received some flak for his comments on social media. Many users accused him of hypocrisy, pointing out that he earned a BA in history from Yale and went to Harvard Law School.
But others took the message, speaking of their own struggles with soaring student debt, which continues to grow for many students after graduation due to high interest rates.
Americans owe nearly $1.7 trillion in student loans, according to the Federal Reserve of St. Louis, and an average year of study and associated living expenses at a US university costs over $35,000, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Speaking at a Conservative think tank event this week, the Republican lawmaker stressed the importance of offering young people a variety of avenues rather than forcing them into expensive college degrees for which they are ill-suited
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses attendees during the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit Friday, July 22, 2022 in Tampa
President Joe Biden announced a plan in August to provide some relief to those struggling to pay off student loans.
His administration has offered to forgive up to $10,000 in student debt for people earning less than $125,000 a year and will double the debt relief to $20,000 for borrowers who also receive Pell Grants have — a federal program that helps the neediest students that they don’t have to pay back.
Biden also extended a pandemic-era pause in federal student loan payments for what he called the “last time.” Payments are now expected to resume in January.
The specter of high debt will still lurk over current high school seniors — and everyone after them — as debt relief only applies to those who took out federal student loans before July 1.
Among the main causes are rising college tuition, which federal data says is more than double the inflation-adjusted average of 30 years ago.
Biden’s failure to address the broader issue drew reproach from Republicans and some of his Democrats.
President Joe Biden speaks on student loan debt relief on Wednesday, August 24, 2022 in the Roosevelt Room of the White House
Biden’s student loan debt relief plan will pay off tens of thousands of dollars in debt for millions – but has been criticized for failing to do anything to fix the underlying problem (file image)
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said the loan cancellation didn’t address the root issues that make college unaffordable. Instead, she called for expanded Pell Grants reserved for low-income students and targeted forgiveness for borrowers in need.
Other critics included Senator Michael Bennet, D-Colo., who said the forgiveness should have been supplemented with measures to deal with the college’s “absurd” costs.
“We cannot continue to trap another generation of Americans in this cruel cycle,” Bennet said.
Without broader action, the country’s federal student-loan debt will return to where it is today — more than $1.6 trillion — within five years of cancellation, according to the Federal Budget Committee, a nonprofit organization that works to lower deficits .
“That doesn’t fundamentally solve the student debt problem,” said Marc Goldwein, senior policy director at Budget Group. “It’s going to be a one-off clean slate that wipes a bunch of people off the reels. But they will only be replaced by new borrowers.’
It also raises expectations that future presidents could forgive some student debt, which could make borrowers feel more secure about borrowing and in turn could encourage colleges to keep raising rates, Goldwein said.
“This has the potential to worsen the college’s affordability,” he said.