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April 3, 2024

Feds Should Take a Big Step Back on Student Loans

The federal student loan program has gone off the rails. What was first designed as a program to alleviate the liquidity problem students face when paying for college is now an out-of-control entitlement program that rewards students for spending as much as possible on higher education, causing tuition costs to skyrocket in turn. Biden’s reforms…

By Beth Akers

March 28, 2024

Federal Student Lending is Beyond Repair

The integrity of the federal student loan program has been in precipitous decline since early 2020, when then-President Trump responded to the Covid-19 pandemic by putting a pause on student loan repayment. In retrospect, that move was the first domino to fall in a string of policy changes, culminating in the implementation of President Biden’s…

By Beth Akers

January 30, 2024

Democrats in the House Have a New (Old) Plan for Higher Education

Lately, it’s been Republican lawmakers who have been at the table and offering up comprehensive reform for higher education policy, but this week House Democrats got back in the game. Today, they released new legislation outlining their vision for higher education reform beyond the administration-led student loan cancellation agenda. In some sense, this marks a welcome return to normalcy,…

By Beth Akers

January 11, 2024

Biden’s Dismantling of Federal Student Loan Programs Has Inspired Republicans to Go Big

House Republicans released a new legislative package today aimed at bringing down the cost of college, holding universities accountable for the value of their diplomas, and reforming our broken federal student lending system. The College Cost Reduction Act represents the largest serious and comprehensive higher education reform package in decades and, in theory, has plenty…

By Beth Akers

October 20, 2023

Value Needs to be the Next Buzzword in Higher Education

For a long time, advocates and policymakers in the higher education space were fixated on improving “access” to higher education. As a society, we recognized that higher education was a powerful tool for promoting social mobility, and helping people born into lower-income households advance financially and pursue fulfilling careers. We also realized that higher education…

By Beth Akers

September 18, 2023

Biden’s Latest Student-Loan Plan Is Another Disaster

Late last month, President Biden and his Department of Education announced the launch of the “SAVE” Plan, a reform that expands existing income-driven repayment (IDR) programs to the tune of up to $550 billion. Now, it’s been reported that as many as 4 million borrowers have signed up for the plan, many of them enrolled automatically. Last week, Senator Bill…

By Beth Akers | Joe Pitts

August 30, 2022

Biden’s Student Loan Debt Plan is Driven by Politics, Not Economics

On Wednesday, President Biden announced his long-awaited plan to cancel student loans — effectively wiping away up to $10,000 for borrowers with individual income below $125,000 (and couples with joint income below $250,000). The administration’s plan forgives up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients under the same income limits. The move, which will cost taxpayers…

By Beth Akers

August 3, 2020

Replace the Federal Student Loan System with an Income Share Agreement Program

Key Points Read the PDF. Introduction We hear a lot about how student loans are unaffordable for borrowers. That notion was central in the 2020 Democratic primary race, with Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) proposing to wipe away massive amounts of debt. Student loans—an oft-forgotten policy issue in days past—were addressed in…

By Beth Akers