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Celene Zavala John Kubler English 114A 5 December 2013 The American Dream Is Becoming Unattainable Most of the teenagers in America are told that they must do their best in high school to go to college. What most people dont realize is that college is one of the most expensive investments they will make in their life. Students who cannot afford to go to college take out loans that help them pay for their education. Students end up taking out loans that are going to take them years to pay off just to go to college because, that is what everyone tells them to do. The price for a middle class student to go to a great university is to fall into debt when they graduate and not being able to buy a house, car, or anything else that has to do with credit. This is just causing a greater impact on the governments debt crisis because no one will be putting in money that contributes to helping out debt. The reason why the government debt crisis is so enormous is because college students arent making enough money to pay off their loans and to buy houses, cars, or other things that will stimulate the government. Making the American Dream unattainable to college graduates because of their loans is what continues to be the problem with the United States debt crisis. Students should be forgiven their loans after a certain amount of years paying. It shouldnt be fair that they are forced to pay the money back all their lives and never get to live the American Dream. Students should be forgiven their loans after a certain amount of years of paying it off because, no student should be punished for furthering their education, which might also help the American economy by allowing students to by allowing students to be able to make purchases that

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will let them live out the American dream. Being punished with debt is not what Americans should have to go though. Obama has taken notice of the severe effect of debt college students are getting into. In his exact words he states In the United States of America, no one should go broke because they decided to go to college (Biden 1). It is clearly true, every student is told to get in to a great school, preferably an ivy league or four-year university so they will be able to pursue the career of their dream. In the article my the author Brian Holmes, he explains that college is what is supposed to be the gateway of the American dream but now a day it is just so much harder to reach (Holmes 1). Students who are doing what they are supposed to do to better them selves are getting caught up with student debt. If students are getting loans for their education they should be forgiven their loans after a certain amount of years. The White House explains how students are forgiven loans after twenty years of paying them off and students with public service jobs are forgiven after ten years (Biden 1). Its great to see how there is a solution to help students live out the American dream. When they are forgiven they will be able to buy a car, a house, and other things of that nature. This will be beneficial to the economy and that money can be helped to pay the national debt crisis. The fact that students who graduate college arent able to buy a house or car is actually hurting the economy. The college graduates are too busy paying off their loans to be able to go out and live that American dream. Some people are even too busy paying off their loans that they dont feel like they can ever get married or have children. Even for simpler things such as food or clothes seems like a burden when paying off student debts which Annie Lowrey wrote in her article (Lowrey). No one should be living such a life, especially the fact that they went to college to not be in this situation of living check

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by check. This is what most students are woken up with, the fact that they are going to college to get a career that will pay the bills but are forced to use the money to pay off their loans. The students who are going to college to live out the American dream are the ones who are the least likely to accomplish that. Students who want to buy a house or car when they are still paying off their loans are being denied to receive these luxuries. This is technically hurting the economy even more because, not many people are able to make purchases that with benefit the government (Mishory 1). This is the last thing the economy needs, as seen in 2009 when Wall Street went down housing was one of the first to go down (Untouchables). If students were approved to buy a house this would help out mortgage companies and may be able to rebuild the economy. This all falls back on to student loans being forgiven. Honestly students are just trying to do what ever it takes to give themselves a better future like a house and a car. Why should they be denied these loans when they did what they were supposed to do and go to college? They would be helping out the economy because that is what the college graduates are trying to attain, which is the American dream that has been made so hard to grasp due to these horrible student loans. There are many people who will argue that forgiving loans will actually just cause us to go more in debt. I do agree but I also realize that if there are not many people buying houses or cars the economy is in an even bigger slump. Many people argue that students should just take out loans that they know they can afford and pay back. Justin Wolfers states that forgiving student loans is the worst idea ever. He goes on explaining how the United States should just make loans more widely available to students (Wolfers). Forgiving loans sounds like it would be a terrible idea but I

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personally know people who graduate from college and go straight to an easy work force because they receive no Financial Aid or they dont get loans because they know they cant afford to pay it back. Forgiving student loans will increase more students to go to college and better themselves. This all leads up to students being able to reach the American Dream. If students had their loans forgiven more teenagers would have the chance or motivation to get into a college so they can live the American Dream. All in all, loan debt are hurting graduated college students but also our economy. Take a second to realize that by forgiving student loans more students who graduate can be able to buy a house or cars, and successfully live the American Dream. Meanwhile helping the economy and stimulate more purchasing in stores, restaurants, and other places that it can also create more jobs for people. Just by forgiving loans the economy can reestablish its self and the giant debt crisis wouldnt be so bad. The American dream is being taken away from all these students who need a loan to go to college. Instead of the students getting a job they want and living a great life, because thats what we are told when we go to college. The students in America are living off of paycheck to paycheck. We are constantly told that when we go to college life is supposed to be better, but right now in our society going to college and getting a loan can cripple your credit score making it harder to buy a house, car, or anything else needed to survive. It is also making graduates scared to ever get married or have children. Basically, student loan debt is killing the American dream. Why put it in our heads when we are younger to go to a great university so we can live out the American dream, then we take out loans because we are practically forced to go to college. But as an outcome we are stuck in sum crummy apartment barely being able to pay for food and clothes because we need to pay off our student loans. Forgiving student loans will makes a graduated college students life

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turn into the American dream, as well as cut our National debt crisis. This will be beneficial for just about everyone and Americans will finally be allowed to attain the American dream.

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Work Cited Biden, Joe. "Ensuring That Student Loans Are Affordable." The White House. Web. 16 November 2013. Holmes, Brian. Silence=Debt: Life Beyond the Education Bubble. BrianHolmes.wordpress.com. n.d. Web. 13 November 2013. Lowrey, Annie. "Student Debt Slow Grow as Young Spend Less." Editorial. The New York Times 11 May 2013: B1. Web. 16 November 2013. Mishory, Jen, and Rory OSullivan. Denied? The Impact of Student Debt on the Ability to Buy a House. YoungInvincibles.org. n.p., 15 Aug. 2012. Web. 14 November 2013. Untouchables. Video.CNBC.com. CNBC LLC, NBC Universal, 4 Jun. 2009. Web. 16 November 2013. Wolfers, Justin. Forgive Student Loans? Worst Idea Ever. Freakonomics.com. Freakonomics LLC, 19 Sept. 2011. Web. 14 November 2013.