If Teachers Work at Low-Income Schools, Should Their College Debt Be Forgiven?

What is everyone opinion on this?
If Teachers Work at Low-Income Schools, Should Their College Debt Be Forgiven?

 

This is nothing new; Federal and state loan forgiveness programs for teachers have been around for decades. They are also common for doctors and nurses. I don't think they are particularly controversial.

Remember the 90s sitcom "Northern Exposure", about the Jewish doctor from New York who was stuck in a small town in Alaska? The whole premise of the series was that he had to work in a remote corner of Alaska to get his medical school loans forgiven.

 

Sure .....

 

I think it should be case by case basis; otherwise, it will be a problem. If someone knows that he or she will get loan forgiven upon becoming a teacher. While in College, he or she stacks up $200,000.00 loan include tuition, room board, apartment, food, and etc; when he or she knows that K-12 teachers don't make that much.

 

And you only have to work in these area for a certain amount of time and then you can move on to where you really want to be. My bestfriend's cousin did this. She got her undergrad, grad degree, 3 certificates, room and board (on campus housing for all of it), books, etc... with financial aid and the Perkins loan. She ended up with close to $100k in student loan debt. She went to work as a teacher in a very underserved area for the 5 years she had to agree to and then, when her loans were completely paid off, moved to a very well off area and got a job at a private school making 3x what she made before. And she's debt free. Her exact words were "If you're going to be a teacher, that's the only way to do it. Teaching just doesn't pay enough to cover all of my bills and pay off my loans. At least this way I'm debt free and can work where I want making as much as I want without the stress of loan payments."

 

Are you sure those were her "exact words"? Seems like an awfully long quote to remember verbatim...

 

A teacher at a private school making 3x that of a public school teacher? That's just bizarre...

From what I'm familiar with, teachers can have loans forgiven if they teach in a low socio-economic area or a hard to staff school. I taught in one, and after five years I was eligible for loan forgiveness. For me, however, because I was a lowly social studies teacher, I was only eligible for 5K of forgiveness. Math, Science and Special Education teachers were eligible for $18K.

-Matt

 

Teachers are very elite schools (I'm talking Choate, Phillips Exeter, Phillips Andover, Deerfield, etc.) can make very high salaries, but they are often times alumus of those schools. If the school is religiously affiliated the salaries tend to be horrible.

 

Yes, that's exactly what she said. I even checked to make sure. I was super shocked when she said it. I couldn't believe teachers could do that. It really doesn't seem fair.

And yes, she makes A LOT more. She was teaching in south Los Angeles in a really bad area, now she teaches in a private "rich" school in the Beverly Hills area. SO yes, she makes A LOT more. Her goal was always to teach in a "rich" area that could afford to pay her what she felt she was worth. So she went the "poor, underserved" route for a few years "did her time" as she said, and now makes GOOD money teaching where she wants with no debt. I just really don't think it's fair that teachers have that option.

 

And why do you think it is not fair?

 

I agree, if I'm savvy and resourceful, I can get through an undergrad without debt. Why should I take on debt just to have it (potentially) forgiven if I work in a poor area? Pay a little more to teachers staffing schools with more need, and you'll get a good applicant pool of qualified teachers. In fact, last I read we still had an excess of teachers, so why any incentives at all?

 

It comes down to why we, as a society, subsidize student loans in the first place. If we, as a society, want to encourage people to do this, we offer incentives to do so. Is this a good one? I guess everyone has their own opinion.

 

I don't think it's fair because why are they more special than anyone else who gets a degree? Are they more special than the doctors, lawyers, police officers, firefighters, Veterinarians, Dentists, mental health counselors, social workers? Do teachers really do anything that puts them so far above the military, fireman, police, doctors that they should have a chance at having everything forgiven and leave everyone else to pay for their loans? To me, it just doesn't seem fair.

 

Can't speak to all of those, but doctors, dentists and veterinarians can have their school debt forgiven for going to under served areas. Big law firms will sometimes pay large portions of law school debt for highly sought after highers. It's not like the debt is being forgiven by the government, someone is simply picking up your tab. If your boss told you they were going to pay your student loan debt would you say "no, no. That wouldn't be fair to all the people that are paying for their own education"?

 

It's not just the teachers that are getting this sort of deal. I know that the military offers to pay off 15% of your student loans for each year you serve (making it a 6 or 7 year hitch if you want full payoff). Medical and health related people often get their student loans paid off in exchange for prsacticing in a remote area. In Canada, you can go to seminary for free if you agree to serve as a pastor among the Eskimos (and probably other First Nations peoples). And there are likely many other similar deals that I am aware of.

 

Friendly Canadian usage notes!

[1] Inuit.

[2] "First Nations" isn't a superset that includes Inuit. The superset is aboriginal (indigenous, Native). Within the aboriginal peoples of Canada there are then three groups: First Nations (Indian), Inuit, and Métis.

The term Indian is still used sometimes, but less and less. (For one contributing factor, about 1 in 30 Canadians now have roots in India the country.)

 

There is loan forgiveness specifically for social workers. There is also loan forgiveness for anyone who works for a government or non-profit agency for 10 years while making 120 consecutive payments.

 

WOW. I had no idea. Maybe we're all looking at the wrong areas to work in......

 

If those aren't things you're interested in there is no point in pursuing a career in those industries, so not really the wrong area.
Besides, fulfilling the requirements for these waivers isn't always easy. The comedian Aziz Ansari has a bit in his stand up comedy about foreign doctors working in rural areas to get a visa and/or their student loan debt forgiven. "It's kind of like a girl going, 'Yeah, you can see me naked. But you can only look at my left elbow. And my left elbow is racist.'" Something similar could be said of being a white teacher working in the inner city for five years to get debt forgiven. That can't be easy. Beyond that I'm still not sure if I believe your friend's story. Typically the debt waiver is capped and I don't see anyone paying off a $100k student loan bill for a teacher; for a doctor or lawyer sure, but those are different beasts.