Is student loan forgiveness a handout or a hand up? The Bible has its own views on this

A few years ago, I participated at the dedication ceremony of a Habitat for Humanity House. The family was so excited to live in the brand new house built by volunteers. Community leaders delivered remarks on the occasion. One said, “Today is a symbol of a hand up rather than a handout.”

I cringed at that comment. There has been a continuing tension in American society about the perception of so-called giveaways to poor people. Americans have a “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps” ethos with regard to accepting money from the government or even charities. We witnessed this resentment to help the poor in the last century when the government introduced Social Security.

Last month we commemorated the 87th anniversary of Congress voting for Social Security on Aug. 14, 1935. Back then, this program was brand new and there were plenty of Americans who opposed Social Security as a hand-out program rather than a hand up, even though the country was in the midst of an unprecedented depression that devastated the nation and impoverished millions — particularly senior citizens. Some political leaders opposed it despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of Americans supported Social Security benefits and realized how vital this program would become in the years to follow.

According to historian Arthur Schlesinger, “A representative of the Illinois manufacturers testified that if Social Security was passed it would undermine America by “destroying initiative, discouraging thrift, and stifling individual responsibility.” In 1935, Congressman John Taber said Social Security “is designed to prevent business recovery, to enslave workers, and to prevent any possibility of the employers providing work for the people.”

We saw some of the same opposition decades later when Congress established Medicare and the opposition rang the same bell of fear that such so-called give-away programs would destroy initiative. We even heard that same old bell ring again most recently when Congress gave financial support to the nation during covid. Many said it was a handout and not a hand up.

Now it feels like deja vu with the opposition against the student loan forgiveness program that President Biden signed into law by executive order last month. We have heard reasons why student loan forgiveness is wrong coming from the old hand-out response team ranging from accusations of prejudice against blue collar workers to triggering out of control inflation.

But is there a religious perspective on this matter that provides us with a different viewpoint that helping the poor or those struggling to make it in America is a righteous act ? The Bible has an ancient tradition called in Hebrew “the Shmitah” or Sabbatical year release. In Biblical times the law stated that one worked the land for six years and in the seventh year it was a Sabbatical year when the farmers let the land lie fallow and no farming was done. In addition the Shmitah year called for the forgiveness of loans or debts.

“At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed. Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess — if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. For the Lord your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you” (Deuteronomy 15:6-11).

Yes, we live in an urban society but the idea that we forgive a portion of debt for the students who are our future is also a critical value that defines our respect and hope for the next generation.

Aren’t the college students our crop and our nation’s produce? Clearly we have to be practical to understand the financial consequences of such a policy today. Is forgiving a portion of the enormous expense of what it takes to get a college education a handout or a hand up?

“For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to the needy, to the poor in your land” (Deuteronomy 15). History teaches us that there will always be a segment of our nation who cynically believes that forgiving part of a student loan or, in fact, granting any financial assistance to anyone is just another giveaway to those gaming the system.

The Bible, on the other hand, teaches us that according to God’s will, supporting education is a hand up and truly a sacred act.