Recently President Biden announced that $7.4 billion in student debt will be canceled. Those affected are only people who have been forced to repay loans for over 10 years, and the national student loan debt still stands at over $1.7 trillion.
Amid election year politics, Biden is trying to appeal to voters and regain the favor of those appalled by the administration’s support for Israel as it massacres tens of thousands of Palestinians. In Michigan and Wisconsin alone, 100,000 and nearly 50,000 Democratic primary voters submitted “uncommitted” ballots, respectively. But Biden’s efforts to sway voters does little to actually address the root of the student debt crisis.
Student debt wouldn’t be an issue if not for the skyrocketing increase in college costs. Since 1980, the cost of college tuition and fees has risen by 1,200%. Many students are forced to take on burdensome loans to afford their education. Democrats and Republicans have done nothing to stop universities from raising their prices or to make college affordable for all. Even attempts to significantly cancel debt are blocked within the system, as we saw in 2023 when the Supreme Court struck down a program to forgive up to $20,000 in debt.
Don’t be fooled. Biden and other politicians will not be the ones to save us from crippling debt. They are part of the same system that put us in debt in the first place by allowing education to be a source of profiteering.
