OPINION: Data show often
Americans are “literally being crushed”, by pupil money, according to Press Secretary Karine Jean- Pierre.
During a press conference on Wednesday, the spokesperson for President Joe Biden made the comment.
NBC News ‘ Peter Alexander asked Jean- Pierre about another Americans who were not getting a$ 35, 000 handbook, the average number given as part of Biden’s continued loans.
This one is for “public support staff like teachers, caregivers, or law enforcement officials, or are borrowers who were approved for pleasure because of fixes we made to Income- Driven Repayment”, according to the White House.
” We’re talking about folks who are in debt, who are actually being crushed, who are practically being crushed”, she said.
” They’re not actually being crushed”, another writer said.
” Financially. Okay? Do you agree with that? …crushed financially”, Jeanne- Pierre said.
” They’re trying to get their life back on track”, she said, justifying the latest loan.
Her declaration is not true actually, literally, or financially.
Mark Kantrowitz, a professor of financing at the University of Pennsylvania, offers a method for determining the value of student loans.
You can use a straightforward rule of thumb to figure out how many student loan debt you can afford to pay off after graduating, he writes. You can afford to repay your student loans in ten years or less if your complete student loan debt at completion, including focused attention and mortgage costs, is less than your monthly starting income.
Data show that “teachers, caregivers, or law enforcement officials” normally make, only on their starting wage, enough money to cover their debts.
A February 2024 statement from Mission Research Institute compiled information on the middle arrears of various public service workers, including officers, nurses, social workers, and instructors.
Debt loads were higher for the last two categories, and lower for police officers.
For example, the median debt for police officers for their bachelor’s degrees was in the low$ 20, 000s.
However, counselors ‘ median debt was in the$ 40K to$ 50K range.
Teachers had similar median debt for their bachelor’s degree, but had higher debt, as expected for their master’s degree, in a range of about$ 30K to$ 40K. However, teachers typically receive pay raises for graduate degrees.
Still, that debt is manageable.
In my state of Indiana, the median salary for a teacher is$ 58, 000. That does not include any extra money made during the summer, teaching classes, tutoring, or working other jobs. It also does not include the benefit of retirement plans, health insurance, and other remuneration.
Nor does it include household income, which is the more important number.
According to the National Education Association data, this should n’t be a problem for the majority of teachers. The lowest- paying state, according to their research, is Montana. ( Montana has the 12th lowest cost- of- living, however. Thus, a Montana teacher is not necessarily poor.
Teachers, on average, make$ 34, 476 starting off. That is more than the median debt for a bachelor’s degree in education, and is even more than the median debt for some master’s degrees in the same field.
And teachers, generally, handle their money well. A 2023 study by financial expert Dave Ramsey’s company found teachers are in the top five careers for millionaires.
In other words, they are n’t being crushed – literally, figuratively, or financially.
Nor are nurses. Entry- level nurses, according to 2019 data from Cross Country Healthcare, were making an average salary of more than$ 50, 000. Given their skills, nurses also have opportunities for overtime and moonlighting. The median wage for nurses, as of May 2023, ranges from 71K for schools to nearly 100K for government agencies, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In contrast, the median bachelor degree debt for a nurse is around$ 22, 000.
Police officers, too, make more than their student loan debt. Only 1.3 percent of entry- level police officers even have a bachelor’s degree as is, according to Mission Research. The median debt for police officers, according to the report, is around$ 22- 23K, for a bachelor’s degree. Meanwhile, the starting salary for police officers is often in the 60s to low 70s, depending on where someone works.
The new sheriff’s office in Indiana’s Morgan County, Indiana, earns$ 62, 000 annually, and an Indiana school resource officer also makes$ 46, 800 annually. The starting salary in Greenwich, Connecticut is$ 74, 403, and$ 85, 280 in Aurora, Illinois.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the lowest 10 % of all police officers earn around$ 45,000 annually.
Nurses, cops, and teachers provide valuable services and they should be fairly paid.
But they are not “being crushed” in any sense of the word.
MORE: It is possible to pay off student loans with work and financial discipline
IMAGE: White House/YouTube
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