Abstract
Student loan debt forgiveness has become an increasingly controversial hot-button topic in American higher education today. On one hand, the American system of higher education has grown increasingly expensive. More students have been forced to take out loans to support their education as a result. On the other hand, many people oppose debt forgiveness on financial and ethical grounds. This paper argues in favor of debt forgiveness on principle, and offers a practical solution about how to achieve it.

Student Loan Debt Forgiveness: An Argument in Favor

Student loan debt is crippling young—and many older—Americans. More people are in debt for their educations than at any time in the nation’s history. As a democracy, having an educated populace is considered necessary for government to function, so people are able to vote in an educated fashion. Our society is growing increasingly technologically complex, and greater and more specialized knowledge is needed for it to be competitive and generate new ideas. Yet because of the high cost of education, a new generation of college students is being penalized rather than supported for pursing knowledge and a college degree.

According to Nichols, Bullington, & Gregory (2020), federal student loan debt has grown by 60% in the past 10 years, supporting the notion that education more financially burdensome for the current generation of college graduates. The United States is relatively unusual in this, even compared with other industrialized nations, where tuition and higher education is heavily subsidized. According to The Atlantic, “higher education has become impossibly expensive, saddling 44 million Americans with $1.6 trillion in debt. The cost of a year at a private college is now $37,650, on average, and $10,560 at public institutions” (Lowrey, 2020, par.4). For the average middle-class family, this means that students must take out loans, or their parents (or both).

The economic costs are significant. College graduates report delaying home buying because of having significant debt, even forgoing having children (Lowrey, 2020). Debt-ridden graduates report experiencing significant depression and anxiety, which can...…a significant contribution to society. For example, 75% of all psychology graduates are women (Weiner, 2014).

Opponents to debt forgiveness argue that it would disproportionately favor upper middle-class individuals who take out money for graduate schools and private institution (Chinos, 2017). But the data suggests this is not true, and it could substantially free up the lives and scope of choice of many borrowers, particularly Black and female students, to live more fulfilling lives without being burdened by debt. With debt forgiveness, students could take jobs without the pressure solely of paying student loans, and take into consideration the potential value those jobs could provide for society.

The current proposal of President-elect Joe Biden to forgive debt is relatively modest, up to $10,000 per person for undergraduate debt which would not substantially benefit upper income borrowers (Lowrey, 2020). Even though this would not necessarily be live-changing for all borrowers, it is an important and compassionate first step for freeing a generation suffering from debt as a result of…