For those on the road to graduating college, neck deep in debt, things can look bleak at times. With a rough job market, the idea of graduating with tens of thousands of dollars in debt is both intimidating and stress-inducing. Perhaps you find yourself in this situation and begin to wonder why you even bothered to seek a higher education when there is no imminent career for you and Mom and Dad are not in a position to continue to house you post-graduation. At the very least, you would want to be able to get a job, something to stay afloat while hunting for an actual career-type job, and not have to worry about the bank breathing down your neck for soon to be delinquent student loans. There is a potential solution to evade this problem in future generations that the higher ups in this country will likely never allow to come to fruition.

In his book “American Democracy in Peril,” William E. Hudson, while elaborating on the imbalances of equality of opportunity in America, references what seems to be a brilliant idea. Rather than being forced to rely upon generous family members to pay one’s way through college, the idea is proposed that every child in America be born with an $80,000 education savings account. When a child becomes of college age, the money would be available to help him or her to attain a higher education and be a more productive citizen and eventually, taxpayer.

This might sound like a bit of an expensive program for a government that is finding itself deeper and deeper in a different kind of debt. Not a problem—the program practically pays for itself. If the child eventually elects not to attend college, or a trade school, or is simply unable to be accepted, the $80,000 is simply absorbed back into the system. If the child decides to attend college and the money is spent, then when this individual eventually graduates and finds a position where he or she earns a livable salary, that salary is then garnished at a percentage so that the person can eventually pay back his or her $80,000 debt to society, or the individual can elect to simply pay it off sooner if he or she wishes and is able to. The program would essentially pay for itself and not rely on population growth to sustain itself like a program along the lines of Social Security.

A program like this, however, will likely never find a place in a country where one’s daddy is often the best determinant of his college-educated fate. This program, in creating a greater equality of opportunity that does not favor the wealth-hoarding rich who invest masses of money to pass down to future generations of their families. The old-money would likely bark at such a program, labeling it another step in the direction of American socialism, dooming it to become just another Fox News punch line. If the United States of America is serious about remaining the world’s top superpower, that goal will only be achieved through a better educated workforce. Why not create a system that promotes mind over money to ensure the best and the brightest students in this country can focus on finding cures for diseases and developing a viable alternative fuel source rather than worrying about bill collectors? I am sure there are many at this very University who wish such a policy had been put into place many years ago.