How does student loan forgiveness affect our national security? You might be surprised 

This week, student loan repayments officially restart for millions of American citizens. 

According to the Department of Education, approximately $1.6 trillion of outstanding federal loans owed by nearly 43 million borrowers will now resume. The resumption of student loan repayments is a stark reminder that U.S. policymakers need to be more proactive in authorizing greater levels of student loan forgiveness and investing in more affordable higher education for citizens. Doing so is critical to boosting America’s national security and economic standing in world affairs.   

Economic growth and productivity are largely determined by four major factors: physical capital, access to natural resources, technology and human resources. The United States has expended a great deal of effort in developing and investing in all factors except for human resources.   

Inadequate early education and training in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has eroded America’s advantage over peer competitors. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ranked the United States 18th in science education and a paltry 37th in mathematics education. The education gap also affects those in traditional vocational industries, including mechanics, welders and machinists. Indeed, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation found that some domestic manufacturing plants have struggled to recruit quality workers due to a lack of basic math skills and their inability to read blueprints.  

As a result, the United States has fallen behind its global competitors in terms of human resources that possess critical knowledge. This not only entails education in sciences, mathematics and technology, but also a deep understanding of cultures, languages and identities. 

Adm. William McRaven, former head of U.S. Special Operations Command, warned that “unless we are giving opportunity and a quality education to the young men and women in the United States, then we won’t have the right people to be able to make the right decisions about our national security.” Education is vital to America’s national security, yet the inability of citizens to afford higher education has arguably become a security threat that undermines the United States’s standing in the world.  

Student loan forgiveness should therefore be regarded as a national security priority. Viewed in this manner, student loan forgiveness and affordable higher education is a bipartisan problem that requires a bipartisan solution.  

Fortunately, a number of policy options are readily available and may be implemented rather quickly.   

In particular, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program grants loan forgiveness to individuals working within low-paying public careers, including teachers, first responders, government employees and nonprofit or community workers. Currently the program only grants forgiveness after an individual makes 10 consecutive years of repayments while working in public service; I argue the timeframe should be reduced to seven or even five years of public service. The policy change can be enacted quickly and would satisfy even the fiercest critics who insist that any loan forgiveness must be reciprocated in some manner. Above all, doing so will incentivize more Americans to pursue public service as a career, which simultaneously benefits society as a whole.   

This reduction in the PSLF timeframe should also be extended to those in vocational or trade schools. Individuals wishing to acquire skills as mechanics, truck drivers or construction workers should also have access to affordable training and, more critically, be able to contribute to the national security of the United States in the form of public service. Such skills are essential in manufacturing and producing military equipment and hardware. Indeed, vocational skills are urgently needed — security experts have recently sounded the alarm that the United States would run out of weaponry if it went to war.  

Student loan forgiveness and affordable education constitute a clear investment in the human resources of the United States. They promote the pursuit of higher knowledge at precisely the moment when America has declined in the global rankings and faces international challenges from peer competitors. The national security of the United States will be enhanced by a more educated citizenry as modern conflict becomes increasingly more automated and reliant upon advanced technologies that require individuals with higher education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The extension of loan forgiveness through public service will also attract individuals with traditional blue-collar skills necessary to build modern armaments and weaponry.   

The director of Defense Research and Engineering for Research and Technology, Milan Nikolich, has declared STEM to be a “national priority” and emphasized the urgent need for the Department of Defense to recruit future generations of young students into careers that address technological and military challenges. Lt. Cmdr. Arlo Abrahamson of the U.S. Navy has similarly stressed the need to “attract the requisite talent” critical to helping the military develop innovative strategies involving modern technology. Meanwhile, the former assistant secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy, Deborah Rosenblum, has emphasized the need for craftsmen and individuals who attended technical schools to help manufacture and build munitions.  

Reducing the timeframe of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and extending the program to those in vocation schools will therefore help advance the national security of the United States.   

Jeffrey Treistman, Ph.D., is an associate professor and chair of national security at the University of New Haven. He previously worked for the U.S. Department of State as a policy advisory in Baghdad, Iraq, and was a research assistant at the Institute of National Security and Counterterrorism.