Again, this is the r-selected expectation of free resources:
Half of college students believe their student loans will be forgiven after graduation, according to a recent poll. LendEDU, “a private firm that connects students and their families with student loans and loan refinancing,” conducted a survey that found 49.8 percent of students believe the government would forgive their student loans after graduation, the New York Post reported.
Despite what these students believe, there are actually a limited number of instances where the government can forgive student loans.
Sometimes I think this type of free resource perception is in part due to the innate psychological disconnect r-strategists have with other human beings. A wolf always thinks of his pack members as a part of him, but the rabbit is all alone within his mind. If you think of other people, then money given to you is naturally seen as coming from others. If I had $100,000 in debt, and it went away overnight, in the back of my mind is the question of who was counting on that $100,000 that is now going to get screwed.
If I was a rabbit though, who could graze without a care in the world right alongside the dead body of a compatriot, then I could easily see that $100,000 given to me and the debt erased, without ever even thinking about anyone or anything beyond the positive effect it would have on me personally.
Also, notice that if I thought about this mass-erasure of student loan debt as a K-strategist, I would see myself as part of a massive group, all seeing their debt erased. As a result, I would begin to imagine how massive the cost of erasing all of that debt would be, and what the cost to the country would be. But if I only see myself, then that $100,000 becomes just a small drop in the bucket of money our government throws away every day.
There is an individualist focus to the r-strategy, which is probably perfectly suited to promoting the selfishness and hedonism of the strategy. While freeing, it must also produce a real sense of isolation, possibly explaining their tendency to panic and experience amygdala hijacks at the thought of being out-grouped.
[…] Half Of College Students Expect Their College Debt Will Be Forgiven […]
It is even worse than described. College loan serfs are delegated to a lower and still sinking social class that they cannot get out of ever. As the father of three college grads who I paid in full for in college, the non-loan young adults tell me they won’t marry the debtors and usually won’t even date them when find out their indebtedness. Attractiveness, personality, job prospects do not matter. The loan serfs are viewed as poverty bait and the non-loan young adults with prospects are sought to bail them out. Tying yourself to other peoples poor choices (and their shiftless parents) is an age old hazard. In choosing a mate it is an early and glaring indicator.
It’s simple in theory: identify the financial beneficiaries of education fraud and impose the cost of debt forgiveness on them.
Here’s an r-selected response to stress:
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/did-the-oscars-just-prove-that-we-are-living-in-a-computer-simulation
“If things don’t go my way, I’ll pull the covers over my head, stick my fingers in my ears, and make up a story.”
Forgiving the debt would likely create a wave of rabbitry (and migration) that would be civilization ending. If you don’t want debt- then don’t buy. For years, so many immigrants have come through the US college system that to forgive their debt is just beyond criminal- its some type of satanism.