I built my first fortune by twenty-six. I coach business owners for a living. I study risk and reward. And I can tell you this: our student loan system is a trap set for kids who don’t know the rules. We hand them debt they can’t shake, for degrees they haven’t chosen, under terms they don’t understand. That isn’t education. That’s predatory finance dressed up as opportunity.
“We’re really kind of backwards in this country right now where anyone could get a student loan regardless of what they’re going to school for.”
The Core Problem: Debt Without Due Diligence
We are underwriting youth, not outcomes. At eighteen, a teenager can borrow tens of thousands of dollars with no proven direction, no income, and no collateral. They can’t rent a car. They can’t order a drink. But they can sign on to decades of payments that follow them no matter what happens next.
“You can get a student loan at 18… You can’t even get into a bar at 18. You can’t even rent a car at 18.”
Here’s the kicker most don’t hear in the campus tour: negative amortization. That means even when a borrower pays, the balance can climb. If the payment doesn’t cover the interest, the loan grows. So a kid does “the right thing,” makes the minimum, and watches the number rise. That is a psychological and financial squeeze that saps momentum right out of early careers.
“They don’t understand it could be negative amortization… the balance could still be going up.”
We Protect Entrepreneurs More Than Students
I love business. I know it’s hard to get a startup loan if you’re brand new. That makes sense. Lenders want a plan, collateral, and a path to payback. And if you blow it as an entrepreneur, there’s bankruptcy law. It’s harsh, but it gives a reset after failure.
“If you’re going to start a business and you’re brand new, it is really hard to get that loan… At least you can bankrupt out of it.”
With student loans, you don’t get that reset. We have made educational debt more permanent than failed ventures. That flips risk on its head. We’re protecting lenders and institutions while placing lifetime weight on the least experienced people in the deal.
Yes, Education Matters—But the Contract Must Be Fair
Education can change lives. It opens doors. But “education is good” does not excuse bad loans, unclear terms, or one-size-fits-all financing. Some majors have strong job markets and quick payback. Others take years to monetize—if ever. Yet the lending looks the same. That’s not wise finance. That’s lazy underwriting.
Critics will say forgiveness is unfair to those who paid. I get it. But the answer isn’t shame. The answer is sane rules that prevent this mess at the start. We need clear pricing, aligned incentives, and actual risk checks.
What Needs to Change Right Now
We can fix this without killing education or crushing dreams. Here are practical steps that put responsibility back where it belongs.
- Tie loan amounts and rates to program outcomes and placement data.
- Allow bankruptcy discharge after a good-faith period, like seven to ten years.
- Require transparent amortization tables that show total cost, not just monthly payments.
- Delay full borrowing until a major is declared and progress is shown.
- Mandate a short personal finance course before any funds are released.
These ideas don’t punish students. They protect them. They force schools and lenders to share the risk they create. And they reward programs that actually prepare people to earn.
Stop Pretending This Is Normal
We would never let an eighteen-year-old sign a complex business loan with no plan and no exit. Yet we call it “access” when that same teen is pushed into non-dischargeable debt while still figuring out who they are. That isn’t access. It’s a policy failure dressed as compassion.
“You can’t bankrupt out of a student loan, which means that we’re putting a lot of onus on these kids that didn’t know what they were getting into at an early age.”
If debt is education’s default, then education has lost the plot. The goal should be capacity, creativity, and contribution—not lifelong servitude to compounding interest.
My Bottom Line
I’ve seen what smart capital can do. I’ve also seen what bad debt steals. We should invest in young people, not mortgage their future before it starts. If we want real opportunity, we need real accountability for schools and lenders, real transparency in loans, and a real exit when life hits hard.
Call your representatives. Ask your school board and state leaders to tie funding to outcomes. If you’re a parent, demand clear cost and payoff data before your kid signs anything. And if you’re a student, slow down, run the numbers, and choose based on return, not pressure.
We can build a system that educates without trapping. It starts by ending the lie that debt without a safety valve is “help.”
