“Dirty Jobs” host Mike Rowe is dead-set against student debt loan forgiveness, writing in a Facebook post that he sympathizes with students facing sky-high college tuitions, but “the fault belongs to you, and so does the debt.”
"Many it seems, suspect that I'll be supportive of these efforts [to forgive student debt], since I've written at length about the outrageous rise of college tuition, and the scandalous ways in which hundreds of thousands of students have been conned into borrowing ridiculous sums of money to purchase degrees that never lead to an actual job," he wrote.
Joe Biden has proposed loan forgiveness and free tuition for some in his student loan plan.
“Well, for the record, I do not support student loan forgiveness," Rowe countered on Facebook, arguing it was "unfair" to "millions of Americans who have paid their college debts, and sacrificed much to do so."
He also asserted tuition prices won’t drop because of forgiveness — and that loan forgiveness sends a "terrible message to the very same universities that already gouge their customers with sky-high tuition."
The television star touted more emphasis on skilled trades; his organization even offers scholarships to people seeking careers in those trades.
"I pity every young man and woman who is struggling today under the yoke of a crushing student loan," he wrote. "You were quite possibly sold a bill of goods. You were very likely pressured by your friends, your parents, or your guidance counselor, to attend the 'right' school."
But Rowe declared: "The fault belongs to you, and so does the debt."
In an emailed statement to Newsweek on Wednesday, Rowe amplified his opposition to loan forgiveness.
“We have to debunk the myths and misperceptions that keep people from pursuing other forms of education,” Rowe’s statement said.
“But we also have to do whatever is necessary to compel universities to lower the cost of a four-year degree. That's imperative, and I don't see how debt forgiveness will accomplish that."
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