Student Loans: July 1st is coming. Let's do something about it.

             This July 1^st, the interest rate of college student loans will double if congress doesn’t do something, according to the Washington Times, the Huffington Post, and the White House’ Office of the Press Secretary. The increase would effect 37 Million Students and at a time when 52% of25-34 year olds say their financial situation is just “fair”, let’s hope Congress gets to work. In fact, let’s hope for their own sake: Altogether, 46 members of Congress owe $ 4.3 dollars in student loans (24 Republicans, 22 Democrats). 

             Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas didn't even pay off his loans until his third term in the court.

            As a college student, let alone an English major, I don’t hesitate to say that I have no idea how I’ll pay the credit I’m accumulating, let alone if it were doubled.

            

            Even if I were a college graduate with paid-off loans, I’d still be worried: According to American Student Assistance, “student debt can also negatively impact anindividual’s ability to take on other consumer debt – and therefore place adrag on the national economy.”

            This issue directly relates to recent statements President Obama made in an interview with George Stephanopoulos: We don’t want to have a balancedbudget just for the sake of balance. The president goes on to explain that balancing a federal budget on the backs of students paying loans, as well as the working poor, and the elderly.

If Student Loans continue to increase, it will become harder for us young folks to save for retirement, putting even more pressure on Social Security and Medicare, sucking Government-funded aid dry.

    

             What can we do about this? While I semi-trust the officials we elected as a nation a few months ago, I want to let them know why I voted for them. I'm going to write to congress, and I think you should, too. If you have complained about student loans even once in your life, or know the economy sucks right now, write a letter. Instead of getting all ironically detached and cynical, write a letter.

Here's the template for addressing your letter, provided by the National Association of Social Workers:

I encourage you to write a clear, concise, and considerate letter urging your local representatives and senators to consider how little sense it would make to allow student loan interest rates to double.

To Your Senator:

The Honorable (full name)
(Room #) (Name) Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator:

To Your Representative:

The Honorable (full name)
(Room #) (Name) House Office Building
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representative:

Coverage of student loan legislation are confusing, mostly because loans and bank lingo can be confusing as well, but President Obama, in his reelection campaign, got me on his side right away using the frame "don't double my rate," in reference to his stance on student loan legislation.

To be honest, I had no idea what this meant, and took his words at face value. As a frame, one might assume that using a negative phrase, such as "don't," isn't," or just defining your opinion based on somebody else's, isn't effective, as we saw in Senator John McCain's "that's not change" speech in 2008, but President Obama's "don't double my rate" worked for a few reasons:
a) it put the words in my mouth by speaking from the perspective of a college student or someone still paying loans
b) it put itself in opposition to something the target demographic would find horrifying, the doubling of rates.

I didn't know what frames were when I voted in November, but thanks to the Media and Politics class I took this semester, I now do. Now I know to look behind a politician's words to really know what they're saying. There is always something behind a frame, you just have to look for it.