Debate: Should Biden Cancel Millions of Americans' Student Debt?

Byrnes: Forgiving student loans would also make inflation even worse, prioritizing the needs of the elite educated class over those of the ordinary hardworking American who is struggling with inflation just as much as Americans with student loan debt. This is just another way the Democrats are trying to buy votes at a time when they’re experiencing dismal polling numbers because they frankly haven’t delivered on their campaign promises. 

Bloink: Much of the student debt in this country is held by borrowers who earn less than the median household income in the U.S. — and the current student loan forgiveness proposals would provide relief only to Americans with an income below certain threshold levels. The prospect of giving people more money to spend each month won’t have a significant impact on inflation, and we shouldn’t use that as an excuse to avoid doing what’s fair.

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Byrnes: Countless Americans haven’t made a student loan payment in over two years. While they might now be expecting a government handout, they had ample opportunity to make decisions that would make it easier to repay those loans once they went back into payment status. Not every pandemic-related relief measure has been made permanent. If we’re looking for ways to help Americans deal with inflation, we should be examining measures that are applied fairly and across the board — not only as a handout to this small group of elite, educated Americans.

Bloink: The administration isn’t suggesting providing a bailout to wealthy Americans. On the contrary, these proposals would serve to benefit taxpayers with lower incomes who are burdened with student debt that they’ll likely never be able to repay in their lifetime. The education system in this country is failing, and while we have a long way to go and there’s much that can be done in the long run, this is one way that we can provide immediate solutions.

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