Student Debt Burdened Them, So They Moved Abroad and Stopped Paying

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/04/business/student-loans-abroad-default.html

Some Borrowers Are Moving Abroad and Abandoning Their Student Loans

A record number of student loan borrowers are in delinquency and default. Some are making the drastic decision to leave the country and abandon their loans.

The New York Times

Paying your debts is a business decision, not a moral decision. There is nothing moral about paying your debt to a bank and nothing immoral about not paying your debt to a bank.

Businesses do this ALL THE TIME. Businesses can do this, and will walk away from debt the second when the math makes sense. If it's okay for businesses, then the exact same behavior should be okay for us humans to do. I walked away from my house at the height of the financial crisis. It was a business decision, because the mortgage was far larger than the value of my house.

Student loans are the only reason why tuition has gone up 10x in 30 years. Every financial entity from banks to schools feel like it's okay to hang students out to dry with large debts because they will have to pay for it for the rest of their lives. I hope a large portion of the debt disappears because the students simply walk away from the US.

In my opinion, if you agree to a deal and then decide not to fulfill your end of the deal, that is immoral. Like if you agree to pay me to make you a sandwich and then you take the sandwich but leave without paying, that is immoral.

In my opinion, if you make a $50,000+ bet on an 18 year old's future career, whether or not that bet works out for you is entirely your problem.

Investments don't always work out, tough luck. That's obviously not the same as buying a sandwich.