College and trade-school graduates saddled with heavy burdens of student loan debt could get some help if a bill proposed by U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito is enacted. It would provide practical, realistic avenues to help them.
Capito, R-W.Va., and Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., have introduced a workmanlike bill on the issue. It is not the sweeping sort of proposal so many liberals make to land votes from younger people, but it has two important qualities: First, it is not a mere transfer of cost from college students to taxpayers. "Free" tuition promises fall squarely into that category.
Second, because it is "doable," the Capito-Ayotte bill actually could be enacted.
A key feature of the plan is that it would make it much easier for students who borrowed money directly from the government to refinance their loans in the private sector. As Capito points out, some borrowers can refinance at lower interest rates than those granted in Washington. That could save some substantial amounts of money, perhaps making the difference between paying off student loans and defaulting on them.
Also included in the Capito-Ayotte plan is an interesting fringe benefit for working men and women. It would allow businesses to help employees repay loans with "pretax earnings," something like some retirement savings plans available to many working Americans.
One major complaint about Capito-Ayotte is a claim it would allow big banks to rake in profits by handling more student loans.
Really? By that argument, it is bad for private lenders to make money by giving student loan borrowers lower interest rates and thus, saving them money. But by the same argument, it is all right for the government to make more money by charging higher interest rates.
Come on, now. Is that the best critics can do? Claiming that if the private sector does something beneficial, it is bad but if the government does something detrimental, it is good?
That may make sense to some people in Washington. Out here, not so much.
