Stitt and red-state governors line up to keep college inaccessible

Last Updated on September 13, 2022, 12:44 PM | Published: September 13, 2022

On Monday, Gov. Kevin Stitt joined 21 other Republican governors in calling for President Joe Biden to withdraw his plan for student loan forgiveness, further cementing the party’s status as the gold bucket water carriers for the nation’s elite. 

The letter, dated Sept. 12 and signed by Stitt, Gov. Ron Desantis of Florida, Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas and other brain trusts currently running grifts on their red states, castigates people for wanting a better life and taking out what turn out to be onerous student loans to pay for entry to that life. You can practically see and hear the wagging finger from these self-righteous scolds. 

“College may not be the right decision for every American, but for the students who took out loans, it was their decision: able adults and willing borrowers who knowingly agreed to the terms of the loan and consented to taking on debt in exchange for taking classes,” the letter reads. “A high-cost degree is not the key to unlocking the American Dream—hard work and personal responsibility is.”

That’s right: bootstraps. Of course, bootstraps are only for lower and middle class citizens. If moneyed parents, a new car at age 16, private school and legacy status in the Ivy League were not part of your formative experience, then buckle down. If you are poor and do not want to take out a student loan, pay for college the Dave Ramsey way.

Republicans are against Biden’s plan because most people paying off student loans are younger and less likely to vote for GOP/MAGA candidates, but there’s more. 

Rich republicans like incoming Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond and Representatives Markwayne Mullin and Kevin Hern soak the masses and fill their bank accounts with forgivable PPP loans, but then tell people who ask for help with their college debt to go live in the almshouse. 

It does not help that most of these politicians came of age at a time when college was much, much cheaper. Current college students at state schools are paying five-to-10 times more than I did in the 1990s. Of course, the minimum wage has only risen $3 in that time, but yes, let us hear more about bootstraps and the value of determination and hard work from the Monopoly men of elite American conservatism. 

The Brookings Institution analyzed Federal Reserve findings in 2020 that show the breakdown in student loan burden among the earning classes, and it proves the lie in the Republican governors’ letter.

“The highest-income 40 percent of households (those with incomes above $74,000) owe almost 60 percent of the outstanding education debt and make almost three-quarters of the payments,” wrote Brookings fellows Sandy Baum and Adam Looney. “The lowest-income 40 percent of households hold just under 20 percent of the outstanding debt and make only 10 percent of the payments. It should be no surprise that higher-income households owe more student debt than others. Students from higher-income households are more likely to go to college in the first place. And workers with a college or graduate degree earn substantially more in the labor market than those who never went to college.”

In other words, college helps people earn more money and not going to college earns people less money, generally speaking. The Republican governors want college to be an experience for people like them — everyone else, stop asking for help. 

There are probably more insidious reasons for this, like Stitt owning his own bank, for instance. Stitt does not want to part with any loan revenue for Gateway Bank, which currently services student loans. By signing this letter, Stitt does merely get privilege points for either cruelty or for self-dealing. He gets it all.

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