Thesis Statement
The rules regarding obtaining and repaying college financial aid loans should be completely revised.

Potential Objections
If graduates were unable to repay their student loans, the government would no longer offer them. Also, the government would not loan money to students if there was no way for them to repay it.

Counterargument
The student default rate on student loans has risen steadily since 2008. In that year, the rate of default was 7.0 per cent, while in 2010, the last year for which research is available, the rate was 14.7 per cent. These figures indicate that the number of students who default on their student loans more than doubled from 2008 to 2010. If this trend continues, the number of defaulters can only be expected to grow. Despite the increase on students who default on their loans, the government has imposed no restrictions on the loans available.

In addition to the number of students defaulting on their loans, almost twice as many graduates are now applying for student loan forgiveness compared to students less than 10 years ago. This indicates that more students are anticipating defaulting on their loans, even if they have not yet done so. Despite severe penalties for defaulting on student loans, the number of graduates who feel the need to do so continues to rise.

The government has made no attempt to change the amount or availability of student loan funds in response to the increasing number of defaulters. In fact, the maximum amount of money available to be borrowed has risen to keep up with increasing tuition costs and to keep pace with annual cost-of-living increases. It would seem that the government is willing to loan money to any student, without regard to their ability to repay. Therefore, the student must decide for himself whether he will be in a position to repay whatever loan debt he accrues, and plan accordingly. It is, after all, the student’s responsibility to repay what he borrowed, not the government’s job to police him.