Peter Dreier read the previous post about the billionaire Robert F. Smith giving a grant to erase the debt of the class of 2019, and he wrote to express his strong belief that government action is needed, not the generosity of philanthropists.
For college students across the nation, their student loans are a crushing burden that cause some to drop out and others to decide that they can’t afford a house, a car, or further education. Education is a right, which should be available at minimal or no cost for those who want to earn a degree.
He wrote:
I’m sure you agree that this bit of philanthropy is great for the students at Morehouse College and great PR for Mr. Smith, but this is NOT the way to reduce student debt in the U.S. There are more than 44 million student borrowers who collectively owe $1.5 trillion in student loan debt in the U.S. His gesture is getting too much and the wrong kind of publicity. We obviously shouldn’t have to depend on charity to meet basic economic and educational needs like college tuition and room-and-board. We need the federal government to erase the debt and, going forward, increase financial aid, while requiring the wealthiest universities and colleges to use their tax-exempt endowments to expand scholarship grants (not loans) to low income and middle class students. And we should end all federal financial aid to for-profit colleges, which are mostly rip-offs and a huge source of student debt, especially since so few students actually graduate, so they owe lots of money without a degree or decent job prospects.
It would have been better journalism if, in reporting the Morehouse story, reporters also noted that Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have great proposals around student debt that doesn’t depend on noblesse oblige. Access to financial aid for college students should be an entitlement, not a lottery. And billionaires like Mr. Smith should be paying much higher taxes so we can afford to give every college student a debt-free education.
My response:
i agree completely.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Peter Dreier IS correct, but Mr. Smith’s action is true philanthropy and should be acknowledged. I’m sure that Mr. Smith knows that he should be taxed at a higher rate and he probably feels some remorse and a need for some atonement. It shows that the man has a heart and a soul. If this were Bill Gates wiping away college debt, I’m sure that there would be all kinds of strings attached. Philanthropy vs. Fauxlanthropy/Villainthropy.
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Peter’s second paragraph is right on the mark. What Mr. Smith did was generous and well-intentioned, no doubt. It should be praised. But it should also be put into perspective. Lottery-style generosity does little to improve society.
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Amen. Lotteries for education is ridiculous and shameful.
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While well meaning, it is still tokenism and not a solution to crushing debt.
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Thank you, Peter Dreier! I had the same thought when I read that piece.
First of all, IS this billionaire advocating for higher taxes on billionaires? Do we know?
Too many billionaires want their taxes to be low so people will overpraise them for making a donation that is a tiny fraction of what they should have been paying in taxes in a country where the .01% did not own politicians and now (thanks to people who decided not to vote for HRC) the Supreme Court.
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We are still paying student loans off twelve years after the last of our four children graduated. I think only one of them still has student loan debt, which we will try to help with if we ever pay ours off. Some more education debt was covered by refinancing our mortgage. Do we get help, too? And, with Trumps’ new tax plan, we are paying substantially more in taxes and making no more money!
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Um, in the big scheme of things I agree that billionaires should be taxed at higher rates, etc. but for THESE graduates, this single act of philanthropy may have turned the tide for the next few GENERATIONS of their families. In an era where black wealth is SIGNIFICANTLY LESS than that of whites, I cannot be mad about this. People of color always have to wait for the government to decide to do the right thing. Mr. Smith said, “We take care of our own.” To quote the young folks: haters gon’ hate.
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I am not mad about this nor, do I believe, is anyone else here. The fact that the lottery came up good for these graduates is great for them and their families, just like being born into the right (mostly white) family is for millions of other Americans. We don’t hate, we put into perspective. There’s a big difference.
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Thank you.
To clarify, I’m salty about the tone of the article not necessarily the comments of anyone on this blog.
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And it wasn’t a lottery; it was a GIFT. They didn’t know upon enrollment at Morehouse that their debt would be paid at graduation.
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It WAS a lottery. He could have done this at any HBCU. The number just came out right for the students at Morehouse. Ask last year’s graduates and this year’s juniors at Morehouse…or Howard…or Grambling…or…
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It is interesting how many who scoff at free public college educations cheer this action. They claim we don’t have the funds but ignore the skewed federal priorities that give military funding carte blanche. It’s easier to praise random generosity than to become educated and advocate for sane policies.
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Families should keep the number of children, who need to be educated, and their incomes and ability to pay for college in balance.
If only families who could afford to pay for college, would have children, and families that cannot afford college would not have children, the problem would be solved.
Education is not a right. Anyone who thinks that college should be “free” or available at minimal cost, should tell the government to raise their taxes accordingly, or else make a donation to the college of their choice. Where in the US or state constitutions, is the “right to education” stated?
The massive student loan debts in this nation, are not a “scandal”. Every family who had children, and could not afford college, is responsible for the debts that their children have had to incur.
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Good thing that America didn’t embrace your desires back in the late 1800s. Good thing that America wasn’t full of people like you who preferred an aristocracy and therefore remained in countries that believed like you, Charles, that education was for the rich and the poor should rot.
Good thing Americans established land grant universities and Pell grants and other programs based on the belief that America would become the greatest country in the world by making education accessible to ALL students, and not just the deserving “rich” ones like the brilliant Trump children.
How sad we have people like Charles who hate everything America stands for and wishes America was more like the failing European aristocracies that Americans left behind for this new land of opportunity established by patriots who believed even poor students deserved an education instead of traitors to democracy who demand America become a place where only rich students have that opportunity. Maybe you’ll get your wish, Charles, and America will look like the repressive feudal societies that were the places Americans left.
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It sounds wonderful to just “write off the debt”. Here’s the problem, you can’t write it off. You can transfer the debt incurred BY CHOICE to all taxpayers, i.e., 50% of working Americans. Why should I pay for your children’s college education? And by the way, that is a bill that I would be paying on until I die — the “write off” would come from general revenue, but there already is not enough general revenue, so the country, that means those of us that actually pay taxes, will be paying for the debt and interest on the debt for years to come. You signed for the loan, you pay it. It is YOUR obligation. I pay my mortgage without your help. You pay for your college without mine.
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