Student Debt Relief Is Undermining the Military’s Predatory Recruiting Practices
The US military has a long history of recruiting poor people by offering benefits like free college. With Joe Biden’s partial student debt forgiveness, GOP war hawks are fretting that the military won’t be able to prey on desperate young Americans anymore.
US Army recruits with the New Jersey National Guard perform physical training in Sea Girt, New Jersey, October 19, 2019. (New Jersey National Guard / Flickr)
Amid a brutal year for military recruiting, conservative war hawks are openly fretting that President Joe Biden’s announcement last week of a onetime means-tested student debt cancellation will undercut the military’s ability to prey on desperate young Americans.
“Student loan forgiveness undermines one of our military’s greatest recruitment tools at a time of dangerously low enlistments,” Representative Jim Banks (R-IN) tweeted shortly after the announcement.
Student loan forgiveness undermines one of our military’s greatest recruitment tools at a time of dangerously low enlistments.
— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) August 25, 2022
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