College Will Still Cost You

Biden’s plan is a Band-Aid solution to a bigger problem: A low return on tuition for too many people

- Romesh Ratnesar

About 10 minutes after stepping to the podium of the Roosevelt Room on Aug. 24—having already regaled reporters with stories of wearing baseball spikes to his father’s workplace in Newark, Del., and driving a “nice used car” to his high school prom— President Joe Biden got around to the topic at hand. His administration planned to grant student loan forgiveness to more than 40 million Americans, with at least half seeing their debt wiped away. “We’ll provide more breathing room for the middle class so they’re less burdened by student debt,” he said. “And, quite frankly, fix the system itself.” Biden turned to his secretary of education, Miguel Cardona. “When we came in, we both acknowledged [it] was broken, in terms of … ” The president paused, considered whether to delve into the brokenness of the “system,” and thought better of it. He sighed.

“Anyway.”

The White House’s decision to cancel federal student loan debts does many things. Most obviously, it provides $10,000 in relief to all individual borrowers making $125,000 or less and as much as $20,000 for students from low-income families. Depending on your political leaning, it will either boost Democrats’ support among young voters before the midterm elections or energize Republicans outraged at the prospect of inflationary handouts to college-going elites. (Or both.) It’s already caused a 500% spike in traffic to the government’s federal student aid website. What it won’t do is address the ongoing crisis of college affordability that’s left so many saddled with debts they’ll never be able to repay.