Joe Biden shouldn't buy into the college loan pity party

The public discourse on higher education seems to have lost its grip on reality. Daily news reports calling for a student loan bailout demand our sympathy for this highly educated group, and the proposed federal policies that are being floated around today mostly ignore their obvious economic and social advantages.

While the proposal to implement widespread cancellation of student debt is the most obvious example of this misplaced sympathy, there are plenty of others. A recent news article seemed to beg for the readers’ sympathy for a group of students in Massachusetts who were unable to receive their degrees or access transcripts because of overdue balances from unpaid tuition, room and board, and fees.

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Higher education pricing can be opaque and frustrating, but if you were buying a house, you couldn’t get away with only ponying up 90% of the down payment. A car dealership would never let you drive off the lot without paying all dealership fees.

If you’ve managed to get yourself all the way to the cusp of college graduation, this notion isn't beyond your grasp.

Higher education and earnings

Students are discovering that you have to pay your bill before you can get your degree. Sure, there are issues with surprise billing and transparency of the financial aid process that should garner some indignation, but it is hard to conjure sympathy for the financial woes of a group of young people on the cusp on gaining access to earnings and employment opportunities that will put them among the most privileged in the world. Only a third (36%) of U.S. workers have the luxury of a bachelor’s degree, and in the global population the share is even smaller.

Our system of higher education has been designed to allow universal access to opportunity (through nearly limitless subsidized borrowing). It is not designed to deliver degrees on a silver platter, and students are not guaranteed a payoff. They need to do their part to make it work.

The federal government offers a tool that its citizens can use to better themselves financially. While tools offer shortcuts to an end result, they don’t do so without demanding effort from the user. College is no different. This means paying the fees due before receiving your degree, and paying back the money you borrowed and invested in an education that paid you huge dividends in the form of employment and earnings opportunities.

Student loan debt: Don't forgive $50,000 in student loan debt. It's bad for Joe Biden, Democrats and America.

To illustrate this point further, workers with college degrees have a distinct economic advantage on many fronts. First, they earn more. Census data indicates that the median annual earning for Americans with a bachelor’s degree was about $52,000 in 2017 (excluding workers with graduate degrees who earn even more) compared with workers with just a high school degree who earned a median annual salary of $30,000. An annual income of $52,000 in 2017 meant you were earning more than two-thirds of all Americans.

College graduates less likely to be unemployed

Not only do college graduates earn more, they are also less likely to find themselves unemployed. The unemployment rate for workers with a college degree is always significantly lower than that of workers with just a high school diploma, and this is especially true during a downturn when unemployment among less educated workers generally spikes versus the more modest increases seen among college-educated workers. The unemployment rate for workers with a college degree is almost half that of workers with just a high school diploma (6.7% compared with 3.7%.)

Perhaps you’re thinking, “Sure, but what about all that lousy debt they had to take out to get there?” Great question. It comes down to one simple calculation: Would you rather be a 24-year-old entering the labor force with just a high school diploma? Or the one with a bachelor’s degree and $30,000 in debt (which is the average level among students with debt who complete bachelor’s degrees)?

Higher pay and more consistent earnings opportunity afforded by a college degree make that debt worth it many times over. Researchers have consistently shown that college offers a huge return on investment, even when students have to borrow to get to graduation.

That’s why most borrowers, especially those who succeed in completing their degree, are able to pay back their debt with reasonable monthly payments relative to their income.

Just over one third of Americans have the economic and social privilege of having a bachelor’s degree. This is an elite group with access to opportunities that other Americans and people around the world can only dream about. Let’s stop pretending that their debts or other inconveniences are worthy of our collective sympathy and, more important, our tax dollars.

Focusing on the plight of this well-to-do demographic by the news media and policymakers has done a distinct and egregious disservice to those in this country who are truly struggling.

Beth Akers is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Follow her on Twitter: @DrBethAkers

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: A college degree gives you an advantage in the workforce