{"id":23219,"date":"2019-08-09T16:26:29","date_gmt":"2019-08-09T20:26:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/?p=23219"},"modified":"2019-08-09T16:26:29","modified_gmt":"2019-08-09T20:26:29","slug":"i-immigrated-to-the-us-to-pursue-the-american-dream-not-to-pay-for-your-college-degree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2019\/08\/09\/i-immigrated-to-the-us-to-pursue-the-american-dream-not-to-pay-for-your-college-degree\/","title":{"rendered":"I Immigrated to the US to Pursue the American Dream, Not to Pay for Your College Degree"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script async type=text\/javascript src=https:\/\/www.dclick.io\/static\/js\/ad.min.js><\/script><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-23220\" src=\"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/graduate-1024x654-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"802\" height=\"512\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Candidates were back at it last week, competing to see who could <a class=\"steem-keychain-checked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2019\/07\/31\/transcript-first-night-second-democratic-debate\/?utm_term=.4b0dde1c9871\" rel=\"nofollow\">present<\/a> the best student loan forgiveness plan. Sure, that might appeal to some of the party&#8217;s base and America\u2019s cash-strapped millennials. But for roughly <a class=\"steem-keychain-checked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2019\/06\/17\/key-findings-about-u-s-immigrants\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">46 million<\/a> immigrants like me, the idea that the government should forgive student loans is totally unfair. After all, when we came here, our idea of the American Dream was to work hard for a brighter future\u2014not for the government to pick our pockets.<\/p>\n<p>I understand the motivation behind these proposals; alleviating student debt sounds ideal. I came from Russia to attend grad school in the US, so I know just how expensive tuition can be. But when I got my degree from Stony Brook University in New York, I did so without taking out a single loan. And it wasn\u2019t because I was Hawkings-brilliant or Gates-wealthy. I planned meticulously, made sacrifices, and worked hard. This, I believed, was the way Americans did things and got what they wanted.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"link-0\">Legal Immigration<\/h2>\n<p>Affording US tuition wasn\u2019t easy for my lower-middle-class family, even at America\u2019s cheapest schools. So, to earn the scholarships I <em>had<\/em> to have, I went above and beyond. While others partied, I spent my weekends studying and engaging in extracurricular activities that would boost my resume. When I didn\u2019t understand a subject, my parents hired tutors with the little savings they had. While most of my classmates enjoyed their summers off, I was working at a department store six days a week from seven in the morning to 11 at night, building up savings for graduate school.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, I was offered a tuition waiver and a graduate assistantship, which included a stipend and health care benefits. I had to work as a teaching assistant and later a research assistant for next to minimum wage. Even with this financial package, there were times when I couldn\u2019t even afford so much as a cup of coffee with my classmates, which made it more difficult to socialize and fit in.<\/p>\n<p>I knew that immigration wouldn\u2019t be easy, so like many of my fellow immigrants, I chose a major that maximized my chances for an employer-sponsored visa and a decent income. I struggled against the natural pull of humanities and performing arts\u2014creative professions that would have been a great fit for my personality and interests. But I literally could not afford the risk of being unemployed. Instead, I pursued a path that would still be professionally satisfying for me while also paying the bills. After all my classes, internships, and networking, I graduated with an MA in economics and political science. And, as a result, I found a well-paying job with benefits.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not alone. There are millions of highly-educated, foreign-born individuals in the US workforce with stories like mine. We took an entrepreneurial approach to our lives, seeking to better ourselves and live the American dream. That\u2019s why it\u2019s disappointing to see some Democratic presidential candidates push programs that would heavily tax people who have worked and saved for their future.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"link-1\">Student Debt<\/h2>\n<p>To give you a sense of the fiscal impact of some of the proposals, let\u2019s take a look at their estimated cost. Sen. Elizabeth Warren\u2019s plan of canceling up to $50,000 in student debt would cost an estimated <a class=\"steem-keychain-checked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/story\/elizabeth-warren-to-introduce-bill-cancelling-up-to-50000-in-student-debt-for-most-borrowers-2019-06-13\" rel=\"nofollow\">$640 billion<\/a>. Sen. Bernie Sanders is proposing wiping out all of the existing student debt\u2014a sum of about <a class=\"steem-keychain-checked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/zackfriedman\/2019\/06\/24\/student-loans-bernie-sanders\/#65f529413fc2\" rel=\"nofollow\">$1.6 trillion<\/a>. To be fair, not everyone jumped on the wagon. Some of the candidates proposed <a class=\"steem-keychain-checked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2019\/07\/30\/democratic-presidential-candidates-plans-for-addressing-student-debt.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">smaller-scale solutions<\/a> to the issue. And yet, although the specifics of how all the presidential candidates would raise the funds to cover their proposals differ, rest assured, in one way or another it will come out of taxpayers\u2019 pockets.<\/p>\n<p>To boot, college loan forgiveness proposals don\u2019t even address the root issue of the problems they claim to fix.<\/p>\n<p>Without a basic understanding of debt and future earning potential, there will always be a risk of overspending while young and becoming indebted for life. And low levels of <a class=\"steem-keychain-checked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/blog\/brown-center-chalkboard\/2018\/10\/15\/financial-and-student-loan-illiteracy-among-us-college-students\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">financial literacy<\/a> are still one of the primary reasons that <a class=\"steem-keychain-checked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/zackfriedman\/2018\/06\/13\/student-loan-debt-statistics-2018\/#57b858eb7310\" rel=\"nofollow\">millions of Americans<\/a> are taking out student loans they then struggle to pay back. But basic financial knowledge could teach people to plan for their educations, mortgages, and retirement savings and give them the personal finance management skills they need. Some independently operated <a class=\"steem-keychain-checked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/story\/how-one-high-school-is-teaching-hundreds-of-students-to-become-millionaires-2019-05-03\" rel=\"nofollow\">schools<\/a> are already teaching financial literacy in places where parents don\u2019t even have bank accounts.<\/p>\n<p>But proposing student loan forgiveness programs is just misguided. After all, a free lunch still isn\u2019t free, and all Americans, foreign-born and natives alike, will end up paying the bills for these costly proposals. And for immigrants like me, that doesn\u2019t quite look like the American Dream we thought we\u2019d signed up for.<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<div class=\"dclickad\" data-client=\"darth-azrael\" data-slot=\"1565382343978\">\n<\/div>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/fee.org\/media\/33712\/screen-shot-2019-04-23-at-113748-am.png?center=0.38167938931297712,0.45247148288973382&amp;mode=crop&amp;height=100&amp;widthratio=1&amp;rnd=132017178650000000\" alt=\"Jen Sidorova\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<h5><a class=\"steem-keychain-checked\" href=\"http:\/\/fee.org\/people\/jen-sidorova\/\"><br \/>\nJen Sidorova<br \/>\n<\/a><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jen Sidorova is a <\/span><a class=\"steem-keychain-checked\" href=\"http:\/\/young-voices.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Young Voices<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> contributor and a policy analyst at the Reason Foundation. You can find her on Twitter <\/span><a class=\"steem-keychain-checked\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jen_Sidorova\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">@Jen_Sidorova<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-style: italic;\">This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/i-immigrated-to-the-us-to-pursue-the-american-dream-not-to-pay-for-your-college-degree\/\">original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/fee.org\/counter\/184926\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><script src=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/Scripts\/fee-repub.js\" async=\"async\"><\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Candidates were back at it last week, competing to see who could present the best student loan forgiveness plan. Sure, that might appeal to some of the party&#8217;s base and America\u2019s cash-strapped millennials. But for roughly 46 million immigrants like me, the idea that the government should forgive student loans is totally unfair. After all, when we came here, our idea of the American Dream was to work hard for a brighter future\u2014not for the government to pick our pockets. I understand the motivation behind these proposals; alleviating student debt sounds ideal. I came from Russia to attend grad school in the US, so I know just how expensive tuition can be. But when I got my degree from Stony Brook University in New York, I did so without taking out a single loan. And it wasn\u2019t because I was Hawkings-brilliant or Gates-wealthy. I planned meticulously, made sacrifices, and worked hard. This, I believed, was the way Americans did things and got what they wanted. Legal Immigration Affording US tuition wasn\u2019t easy for my lower-middle-class family, even at America\u2019s cheapest schools. So, to earn the scholarships I had to have, I went above and beyond. While others partied, I spent [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[551,624,1574],"class_list":["post-23219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-politics","tag-debt","tag-education","tag-socialism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23219\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}