Today, Joe Biden could sign an executive order to cancel all student debt | It's a historic move that would provide much needed stimulus to the economy, while also putting pressure on Congress to act on tuition-free college and trade school legislation

DrWaxu on May 24th, 2021 at 18:22 UTC »

Let's go Biden! If he forgives student loan debt by executive order, Democrats will win the white house in 2024 and have a good chance of gaining a number of seats in 2022.

Not to mention, Republicans have student loan debt too. I know a few Trump supporters alone who would vote for Biden in 2024 if he forgave student loan debt, even if Trump was on the ballot. This is a huge opportunity.

Notorious_UNA on May 24th, 2021 at 18:24 UTC »

But if we don’t keep the younger generations saddled with debt how will we force them to work low-wage corporate jobs or join the military? I mean honestly, think of the shareholders for once

finalgarlicdis on May 24th, 2021 at 18:30 UTC »

For those who are new to this conversation, and claim that cancelling the debt doesn't solve the fundamental problem: Everyone advocating for student debt cancellation is also a supporter of making colleges and trade school tuition-free, and sees cancellation as an intentional strategy to accomplish that.

The reason there is this present focus on Biden using his executive order to cancel student debt is because (1) he has that power to do so right now, (2) nobody expects congress to pass legislation to cancel it over the next four years, and (3) because cancelling all of that debt would force congress to enact tuition-free legislation or be doomed to allow the debt to be cancelled every time a Democratic president takes office (since a precedent will have been set).

Meaning, to avoid the need for endless future cancellation (an unsustainable situation for our economy) the onus would be forced onto congress (against their will) to pass some kind of tuition-free legislation whether they like it or not.

As a side note, because the federal government will be the primary customer for higher education, that means they also have a ton of leverage to negotiate tuition rates down so that schools aren't simply overcharging the government instead of students.