Today's Press-Citizen Op Ed speaks to the problem of student loan debt. It offers a lot of criticism regarding the high cost of education, but little in the way of substantial ideas for reducing the debt load.



Given the loans are guaranteed by the Government, given the Government has an interest in promoting services to lower-income areas and families, why not simply expand the loan forgiveness programs to include other professions? I understand physicians can choose to practice in a remote rural area or lower income urban clinic in exchange for a minimal salary and loan forgiveness. Well, I am aware of many graduating lawyers that would love to go into public interest law but can't based on their loans. The last time I looked, the Legal Services Corp. for Iowa paid somewhere around $18,000 to $22,000 per year. The average law school debt (word of mouth only, I haven't looked at statistics) seemed to range somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000 depending on whether one went to the University of Iowa or Drake. Do the math - the average graduate can't take that job without some loan forgiveness. Even the $30,000 or so starting prosecutor or public defender salary is a stretch. So they go to Chicago and get a firm job. I'm sure it's the same story in other professions.