Student Loan Forgiveness Can Be Better

Illustration by William Hennessy (SCOTUSBlog)

From Politico yesterday:

“President Joe Biden has just 12 days to meet his self-imposed Aug. 31 deadline to decide whether he’ll use executive action to forgive thousands of dollars in student loans for millions of Americans.”

“When Nightly asked about Biden’s upcoming decision, the White House responded with an answer from press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s Aug. 9 briefing, in which she said the president would have a decision by the end of the month.”

“‘When it comes to the cancellation — look, I just said the president understands firsthand the burden — the burden that a student loan has on families, it puts on families. And we’re just going to continue to assess our options for cancellations. So, no decisions have been made on that,’ she said.”

“Loan forgiveness will fuel GOP talking points about big government spending, with a populist dimension. As Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell’s office framed it: ‘Democrats Want Working Families to Eat Elites’ Grad School Debt.’”

How come no one is talking about targeting loan forgiveness to borrowers who are doctors, nurses, teachers and police officers (with perhaps some income caps for eligibility in the case of doctors)? A social good comes to all Americans from folks in these professions, and all are in short supply in America today. Why should working people subsidize others becoming lawyers, or investment bankers, or cultural anthropologists, or gender studies specialists (to take some examples at each extreme of the conversation)? Targeting loan forgiveness in this way would also create a political runway for then making education more affordable for people pursuing careers in medicine, teaching and law enforcement, which would also be good for America.

Thoughts?