Even if the president has the legal authority to forgive billions of dollars of student debt – a question which will no doubt be litigated in coming months – should a president take such action on his own, without congressional support and approval? Isn’t this precisely the kind of issue that should be the subject of congressional legislation and legislative debate?
What exactly is the rationale for forgiving student loans right now? Is it really because of COVID?
Why student loans and not credit card debt? Why student loans and not housing debt? Why student loans and not any debt?
It seems to me that wiping out -- i.e., "forgiving" -- billions of dollars of student debt, rather than, perhaps, postponing repayment of the student loans while the pandemic lasts, ought to be considered presidential overreach.
We are not at war, not in Afghanistan, not in Iraq, and, given the easing of masking and other restrictions in our daily lives, we hardly seem to be at war with Covid any longer.
We treat "a degree" as a generic thing in large parts of the economy. Which means we are treating them as status differentiators, not crucial-skill-factories.
$10,000 reduction in debt is equivalent to about a $2000 p/y salary increase. It's not nothing, but it's hardly determinative.
A bachelor's degree costs around $250k to create. The average cost of 4 years of high school in this nation is $56k. Where is the money going to come from?
There is only one solution:
We must drastically reduce the cost of tuition (get it down from around $30k p/y to something closer to what high school costs - $15k p/y)
And students must attend university while living at home (or paying for their own room and board).