The Good ‘Ol Days
BY SOPHIA GOETZ WITH ART BY MAKENNA LARSON
Debt. It’s practically what defines being a college student today in the United States. While the start of freshman year is typically preceded with dorm shopping, orientation, and welcome week, it is also accompanied by FAFSA forms, loan counseling, and accumulating interest calculations (what’s the difference between fixed and variable again?).
A recent calculation by the Federal Reserve estimated the total amount of student debt in America to sit just below $1.75 trillion. And while a college education is considered a privilege, by this statistic alone, we can infer that there are certainly more than an elite few having to take out a significant amount of debt in the form of student loans.
But that’s just it: we live in an era where more of us are going to college than ever before, a lot more than our parents, and even more so than our grandparents. But it’s also no secret that the economy isn’t what it used to be. Gone are the days of singular minimum-wage jobs that had the capacity to provide for basic living expenses, a car, a house, and even a family. The “deal” between corporations and workers that once promised security and room for growth in return for hard work and loyalty is now off the table. In its place stands a very over-saturated and competitive job market, exploitative work environments, and skyrocketing inflation rates. While we don’t need to take an Econ 101 class to understand the gravity of America’s modern-day economic landscape, it’s more of a question than simply how we got here. It is how we as a capitalist nation have chosen to treat this shift in student loan debt, becoming insidiously more normalized and yet more of a problem than it was fifty years ago.
Bootstraps At the Ready!
Just before the start of the 20th century, the expression "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" first appeared. It is said to have originated from a physics textbook published in the late 1800s that included the example question, "Why can't a man lift himself by pulling up by his bootstraps?”
The question was intended to be ironic or to imply that socioeconomic advancement was an impossibility, but instead, it soon became a common expression, often utilized in conservative fiscal rhetoric. Throughout time, as the phrase's recognized meaning changed, when we encourage someone to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps," we're suggesting that socioeconomic growth is something that everyone should be able to do.
The Wake Magazine was curious about the student loan debt situation of our fellow students here at The University of Minnesota. When asked how much debt would be held at the time of graduation, we received answers varying from figures of $15,000 up to $80,000. Students also answered the question of whether or not they would have to cover either part or all of their tuition during their time as undergrads. While a couple cited generous relatives and parents, the majority planned on either paying off their student loans via scholarships or future postgraduate employment. But as we observed previously, the means by which modern-day college students who lack a generous benefactor or full-ride scholarship must pay for their tuition and living expenses have remained stagnant for nearly half a century. In short, the landscape has changed, but college students have been instructed to navigate it the same way.
The Evolution of the “Grindset”
It’s just as they say: “capitalism breeds innovation,” right? One of these innovations, borne mainly out of the illusions purported by social media and “flex culture,” is that of the “grindset,” or “hustle.” College-age members of Generation Z are all too familiar with rhetoric that if you aren’t committed to the hustle, then you’re simply not cut out for success, nor are you deserving of its benefits. In essence, it is just the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps'', repackaged. The basic tenets of hustle culture include juggling two or three jobs, along with a high school or collegiate course load, all while cultivating a healthy yet rigorous personal lifestyle (I’m looking at you, GymTok).
Students’ answers to the question asked in The Wake’s survey on student debt, “If you're the one paying for part or all of your tuition, what challenges do balancing a job and college work pose to you?” displayed the harmful consequences of “grindset” culture being marketed so rampantly to today’s generation. One student remarked that their constant hustle to afford college was taking a toll on their mental health. “I work two part-time jobs on top of being a full-time student. I've been good at managing all three, but whether or not it will all be enough to cover the cost of college is a large source of anxiety for me. I'm not sure how anxiety is supposed to ‘aid’ me.”
Because working one’s way through college without the help of student loans is no longer an option, the “norm” is instead working unsustainable hours in order to afford rent and living expenses, all while accruing interest on loans taken out to afford tuition. Another student commented on their experience. “The mental toll of knowing that I will probably be paying back this loan for 30+ years is already hitting me. I am already having to make payments while in school, and it’s over $600 a year, and that’s just interest. Very scary!”
10k From President Biden: Fair or Unfair?
At the conclusion of our survey, we wanted to find out from students what they thought about President Joe Biden’s recent student loan forgiveness plan to the tune of $10k. While one hundred percent of our responses came back as positive, there has been much talk–mainly in conservative news spheres–about whether or not the President’s plan is “fair” to those who have already paid off their student loans.
The whole debate around whether or not canceling student debt is “fair” actually reveals a much larger problem with US’ capitalist culture as a whole. And that’s that we have been conditioned to believe that life in America should be hard. Not only have we been conditioned to believe that achieving basic success in this country should be difficult, but we have also been told that this is a good thing. Most of the rhetoric purported by those who believe student loan forgiveness is “unfair” often follows their descriptions of struggling to survive and make ends meet in America, with some sort of iteration of “but that’s how it should be!”
This country does not provide its citizens with healthcare, housing, paid family leave, and a number of other things that other wealthy nations are able to give to its taxpayers. But this toxic culture of working oneself to inhuman standards is inscribed so intrinsically into American living that it eventually is sold back to us. We are told that it’s actually a good thing that we are not provided with systems that would afford us basic necessities because then we get the chance to work for them. Not only do we get the privilege of getting to struggle in order to survive in the U.S., but we had better be grateful for that opportunity because that is what freedom costs. One of the wealthiest nations in the world has successfully convinced its citizens that not only should life be hard, but you’re not going to get any help, and you don’t deserve any help.
Instead of telling people to just work harder, wake up earlier to start another side hustle, or just start a business, perhaps we need to turn the conversation and ask why in order to survive we must work ourselves to death in a hyper-capitalistic society. Despite what hustle culture tries to convince us of, taking care of yourself is important, and relating your self-worth to how much you can work promotes a negative obsession with productivity and pushes the idea that the amount of labor we can produce equates to our purpose as human beings.