Student loan (贷款) debt has become aworldwide problem. In America, the country\'s overall student debt reached arecord of $1.6 trillion in 2019. The average person with student loan debt owedbetween $20,000 and $25,000. A recent Japanese government report says it hasbeen lending over $9 billion yearly to students since 2010. Similar conditionsexist in Africa and South America.

Several factors account for high student loandebt. One is that employers everywhere have increased their demands for skilledworkers, making higher education a requirement for many jobs. The students,however, after graduation, often find that their country\'s economy is notstrong enough to support their financial needs, so their ability to pay backthe loan becomes a problem.

To solve the problem, many countries areseeking their ways. Australia has developed a system where students do not haveto pay anything back until they are earning at least $40,000 a year. InAmerica, several candidates running for president in the 2020 election haveoffered more extreme solutions that all or at least some of these loans will beforgiven.

Some professors in several universitiesrecently studied what the effects of debt forgiveness might be. They foundthat, overall, sudden debt relief greatly improved the borrowers\' lives. Notonly did they have more money, but they were more likely to move to a new areaand seek better paying work.

Yet the professors\' research doesn\'t includewhat might happen to financial institutions or the overall economy if debt weretotally forgiven. It only looks at how debt forgiveness would help the borrowers.They warn of some other possible negative effects. If a borrower knew that ifhe ran into any trouble he would be saved because he could get the debt relief,then he might actually become more reckless (轻率的) with his borrowing in thefuture.

No matter what, the professors agree that ifcountries do decide to approve some student debt relief the neediest studentsshould be helped first.