Sunday, April 19, 2015

A Change in Student Debt

Well, it’s been a long semester, filled with twists and turns, but I’ve finally decided on my call for change. I suggest that the government should allow pro bono hours to be applied toward alleviating law school student loan debt.
Image result for byu law school


About two weeks ago, I finally decided to attend BYU Law, and the main factor was the price. I felt like I would have more freedom to actually serve people when I graduated if I graduated with as little debt as possible. However, not all people are as lucky as I am to go to a school that provides a fairly cost-effective option. Some graduates find themselves saddled with six-figure debt that severely impedes the options they have to serve others because instead of serving the poorer community, they need to work to pay off their student loan debt.


Image result for pedagogyEarlier this semester, my call to change involved seniority and tenure in schools, and although this seems a drastic change from that idea, the two are somewhat related in that they both stem from education. The idea of pedagogy evolved around the 1700s when the value of public education was beginning to be realized. Developing systematic ways of teaching the masses led to a move from apprenticeships leading to a law career to formal schooling leading to a law career. The first law school in the United States was established in 1784. Shortly thereafter, the American Bar Association began regulating those law schools and the law profession in general, and its 50 hours per year of pro bono work became the standard accepted amount.

As I explain in this post, that requirement isn’t being met. Government subsidized service hours could help lawyers meet the requirement and help the government save money on services for those whom the lawyers would serve.


When I discussed this idea with my wife, she gave me another idea that helped expand my mode of communication, or at least the breadth of communication on this issue. She suggested that the same idea could go toward med school loans or dental school loans. I thought about expanding my communication to include those professions, but since I’m personally invested in law school, I focused on the law school aspect of this to keep my communication simple. However, I do feel like this idea could be applicable to a large number of graduate type programs. It certainly could be a difference maker in the lives of recent law school graduates. 

Update

With my call to change, I debated within myself to call for lower tuition rates, but I ended up going for a more moderate approach in the spirit of spretzatura. Essentially, I recognize that there are so many differing opinions on the subject and so many interests that lowering tuition outright isn’t feasible. Slowing tuition rates is, but that didn’t solve the debt issue. Instead, I attempted a compromise that would benefit both sides of the issue instead of a one side takes all agreement.


My idea is not to replace state appointed attorneys, but to rather complement them in areas that they don’t deal with. State appointed attorneys occur in criminal suits, but they don’t occur in areas like insurance claims or landlord/tenant disagreements. Rather than providing service where the government already has employees, lawyers could provide service in other areas that the government does not employ attorneys but areas that would improve the community. 

3 comments:

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  2. I like how this is applicable to you, and to all of us in a very real way. Good choice in audience - and good approach in the idea that this will allow you to help others more, sooner, since you're not spending time paying off debt. My question is, how would this play with the cost of tuition/other financial aid you can get from the government? Would they just foot the bill, or replace state appointed (and paid) attorneys in certain cases with pro bono lawyers paying off debt, and maintain costs that way?

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  3. I enjoyed your presentation, and like Joe thought that your personal examples were wonderful. You presented your argument well, however it did take me a while to discern what you were trying to call into change. As I understand it, you are asking for something mostly policy-based where the government will allow loans to be forgiven through pro-bono hours. This is an excellent suggestion, however I feel we are on the cusp of a revolution in higher education, particularly because there are so many student loans. My question then, is what possible solutions would you see to lower tuition, rather than simply "fix" debt after the fact. Why have tuition costs exploded, and what can we do to make education more accessible from the start, rather than just possible to work off at the end?

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