The memorandum signed Monday by President Barack Obama to expand a law capping what student loan borrowers must pay in monthly payments puts those who amassed debt earlier on equal footing with those who are getting similar loans now.
Borrowers today can cap their monthly payments at 15 percent of their income, and that is supposed to drop to 10 percent next month. When it was enacted, however, the law only applied to those who took on the debt from 2007 forward. Monday's action removes the time barriers and makes the program available to all who have student debt. The Obama administration says it will help up to 5 million additional people.
Student debt has been rising for years as the cost of college education has increased. The Congressional Budget Office says that outstanding federal student loan debt is above $1 trillion, something which economists say is a drag on the economy.
Add in the fact that finding employment in their career field remains a challenge for college graduates, and many students struggle for years before they can finally get their feet under them.
Capping the amount that individuals pay back makes sense because they keep paying back, as opposed to defaulting on higher payments and costing taxpayers more, and it allows them to start building for their future.
Paying for college is becoming more difficult each year for many families and students, but the return is most often worth the investment.
A U.S. News and World Report story in August 2011 noted that people with bachelor's degrees earned about $2.27 million over their lifetime compared to $1.3 million earned by those with only a high school diploma.
Those with advanced degrees had lifetime earnings even higher.
Increasingly, however, the amount of debt that students accumulate while in college drags them down in the years following graduation. Recognizing the problem, changes were made previously to help those getting loans today to pay them back tomorrow.
Monday's action by Obama provides the same opportunity to those who accumulated student loan debt earlier and, as such, was the right thing to do.
