Thirty years ago, I was entering my freshman year at Syracuse University, which cost $25,000 a year to attend. My father, who had been saving money for my entire life to send me to college, told me he didn’t have enough money to afford Syracuse. I would have to make up the difference, and I did with scholarships and student loans. Four years later, I entered the University at Albany to earn my graduate degree in political science. I didn’t have enough money to live in Albany and attend school, so I made up the difference with teaching assistantships and student loans.

As a result, I arrived at Weber State University in 2002 with upwards of $72,000 in student loan debt. My first annual salary was not enough to pay off the monthly loan payments and live in Ogden, so I consolidated my loans into a 30-year 2% interest rate payment and am still paying them off today. I have never missed a payment. I did not take advantage of the deferred payment policies of COVID, and I’ve learned that President Biden’s recent forgiveness of $10,000 in student loan debt will not apply to me because I consolidated my loans before the federal government considered forgiveness.

Every once in a while, something the federal government does actually affects you, right in your pocketbook. This student loan conversation happening as a result of the president’s executive order is one of those things. I will be one of the millions of Americans who took out loans and paid them back and will not have any of it forgiven — and I am in no way angry about that.

First, none of my loans was predatory. It was never the case that I didn’t know exactly what I was doing. My father explained clearly that if I had attended a state school, he could have easily paid for it, and I would have left my undergraduate school debt-free. I also could have lived with my father while attending graduate school, and he would have covered my room and board. But I wanted to attend Syracuse University and I wanted to live on my own in my 20s. Those choices came with consequences that were costly and I was willing to bear the cost.

Second, I have no problem having put my brain on the line as collateral for a student loan. People take out loans all the time to buy cars or houses or boats, or any number of things that make their lives better. They get those loans because the bank knows if payments do not come in, they can take the property. My loan was backed by the federal government. Citibank awarded me the loan because the federal government said if I didn’t pay, it would pay for me. I’ve never needed the federal government’s help, so I’ve never taken it. But I don’t mind that it made taking a risk on me something a bank would be willing to do so that I could get the degrees I wanted. I knew I would finish school, I knew I would be gainfully employed and I knew I would pay back the loan — all of which is true. I was a good bet for the federal government.

Here’s the reason why I’m not angry that millions of Americans will be forgiven when I was not: Not all of those students were as aware of the consequences of their choices as I was. Predatory lending practices abound in higher education and many students have no idea what they’re signing up for; they did not have my dad giving them options and choices. Here’s another reason why I’m not angry: The federal government forgives things all the time so that its citizens can have better lives. That’s part of the “promote the general welfare” clause in the U.S. Constitution. I’m forgiven income tax on the money I pay for my home because the federal government wants us all to be homeowners. I’m forgiven income tax on the money I pay for my children because the federal government wants us all to have children. Other citizens are forgiven income tax for building small businesses, taking PPP loans during the pandemic or spending their own money on education supplies for their classrooms.

The federal government should absolutely make it possible for citizens to do the things the country needs them to do so we all have better lives. If forgiving loans to students allows them to go back to college and finish their degree, if forgiving loans allows them to purchase a home, if forgiving loans allows them to make the decisions that will take them into adulthood — all of which are for everyone’s good — then the federal government should forgive those loans.

My husband and I paid off his student loan debt. I’m in the process of paying off mine and, at some point in the not-too-distant future, there will be one less payment out of my checking account. We do not need the help of the federal government and we are not resentful that others who do need the help are going to get it.

Leah Murray is a Brady Distinguished Presidential Professor of Political Science and the academic director of the Olene S. Walker Institute of Politics & Public Service at Weber State University.

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