The student borrowed money from the lending institution, and gave it to the school; the school was paid, the lender is - or will be - paid, and the student was able to pursue their education. Those three parties entered into an agreement - the taxpayer did not. Furthermore, while I've heard arguments that the lender was predatory, or the school did not prepare the student, or even that the student perhaps did not select the best field of study, I've yet to hear how the taxpayer bears any responsibility for the creation of the situation - whatever the situation may be.
If these loans were so bad, why are the two parties that profited not bearing the burden? If there were issues with the loan (predatory?), the lender should discharge the loan - not collect taxpayer money through any sort of government action. If the school's tuition is such that the average person cannot attend without going into debt, the tuition needs to be adjusted. Having attended several schools - both junior colleges and state universities - I'm of the opinion that costs can be cut without decreasing the quality of the education.
The argument that this will somehow benefit the 'greater good' - though it only applies to a limited portion of the population - seems noble, but - if so - why stop there? If you think student loan debt is significant - or a burden - take a look at auto loans, especially with the recent flux in values; these are people that are that are struggling to pay their monthly car note - often at rates several times that of any student loan - so they can commute to a job to put food on the table for their kids, and may have decided to skip college due to the cost... but their tax dollars should pay for someone's English degree? If this would so greatly benefit society, why not credit card debt? All debt? Or perhaps give those funds to homeless vets - people that have already contributed to society, and could certainly use it more than some theater major living at home and looking for their next gig after leaving Twitter.
More to the point, will this fix the problem? Or will the graduating class of 2030 still be saddled with debt? More students should look at trade schools - there's been a shortage of automotive techs for 20 years.
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