If Your Student Loan Was Cancelled; Who Should Pay For It?

In Nigeria here, student loan is really a thing. We have a good number of students who are depending on loans made available by the federal government to study in the higher institution.
Well, I can say that it's a bad or good thing.

But, let's look at it this way.
Imagine you finally graduate from university. You have your certificate, you have done NYSC, and you are now trying to figure out what to do with your life.
But there is one thing following you everywhere.Your student loan.
Every month, part of whatever salary you manage to earn goes towards paying it back.

Now imagine that one day, the government comes out and says:
“All outstanding student loans have been cancelled.”
Sounds good, abi?
You probably want to jump and shout, “Thank God!”of course wh wouldn't?

But then comes the second part:
To cover the cost of cancelling those loans, the government will increase taxes.
And guess what?
You will also pay those taxes.
Suddenly, the matter is no more as simple as “cancel the debt” again.

This is where Nigeria's student loan system becomes an interesting case study.

With the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), students who may not have the money to pay for their education can access loans to support their studies.
For a Nigerian student whose parents are already struggling to pay rent, school fees, feeding, transport and other bills, having access to a student loan can make a huge difference.
Because let's be honest, education in Nigeria is not all that cheap.
Even when the school fees themselves don't look frightening, add accommodation, textbooks, handouts, transportation, feeding, internet subscription, departmental dues and all those “small small” expenses that somehow become very big at the end of the semester.
Before you know it, the money has finished.
Some students even have to combine school with different kinds of work just to survive.

So when someone says, “Why don't you just pay your school fees?”
I sometimes wonder if they understand what the average Nigerian student is dealing with.

For some families, sending one child to higher institution is already a serious financial responsibility.
Now imagine having three or four children in school.
This is why student loans can be useful.
They give someone an opportunity to study now and worry about repayment later.

But here is the part that makes me think.
What happens after graduation?
Getting a degree does not automatically mean getting a job.
You can graduate today and spend months or even years looking for employment.
You can finish university with a good result and still be sending CVs everywhere. Most Nigerian graduates can attest to these.

You can even get a job and discover that your salary is barely enough to survive.
Imagine earning ₦150,000 a month and having to think about rent, food, transportation, family responsibilities, internet, emergencies and everything else life brings.

Then another deduction enters the picture:
Student loan repayment.
That is where debt can start feeling very different from the opportunity that created it.And this brings us back to the original question.Suppose the government decides to wipe out all outstanding student loans.
That would obviously bring relief to the people who owe.

But where would the money come from?

Government money is not some mysterious pot hidden somewhere in Abuja.
Ultimately, public spending has to be funded somehow.
So, if cancelling student loans means increasing taxes, would you support it?
Think about it carefully.
Maybe you didn't attend university.
Maybe you paid your school fees yourself.
Maybe your parents struggled and sacrificed everything to put you through school.
Maybe you worked while studying.
Maybe you never took a student loan because you didn't want to owe anybody.
And now the government says everyone should contribute more through taxes to clear the loans of people who took them.
Would that feel fair to you?
To me, it wouldn't feel fair enough.
But on the other hand, you can look at it from another angle.

An educated population does not only benefit the person holding the certificate.
That student who studied medicine may eventually become the doctor treating you.
The person who studied education may become the teacher teaching your children.etc

So perhaps society also has an interest in making sure that people can afford to get educated.
This is why I don't think the student-loan conversation should simply be:

“People borrowed money, so let them pay.”

There is more to it.
We also have to ask whether the repayment system is realistic.
Can graduates actually find jobs quickly enough to repay?
Are salaries high enough?
What happens to someone who remains unemployed?
What happens when someone earns so little that repayment becomes another serious burden?

And most importantly:
What kind of education system are we building if young people have to begin adulthood already owing money?
At the same time, I also understand the argument on the other side.
If government keeps cancelling debts, where does responsibility come in?
If taxpayers are constantly asked to pay for other people's loans, what happens to people who made sacrifices to avoid debt?
And if government uses taxpayers' money to fund everything, won't the taxpayer eventually become the one carrying the burden?

Honestly, I don't think there is an easy answer.
And maybe that is what makes this topic interesting.

For me, the Nigerian student-loan conversation is not just about money.
It is about opportunity.
It is about responsibility.
It is about fairness.
It is about whether education should be seen mainly as a personal investment or something society should collectively support.

Thanks for stopping by!