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February 22, 2023
Next week, the Supreme Court will be looking at a case that will shape the future of higher education for the next generation. They will hear oral arguments about President Biden’s plan to cancel student debt on federal loans.
Higher education is currently tainted by a huge student debt crisis. There are approximately 43 million Americans carrying student loan debt, with that total debt exceeding 1.5 trillion dollars. Last year, President Biden announced a program to cancel student federal loans proposing that this would fix the debt crisis. Initially, some jumped at the idea. It would cancel up to $10,000 of debt for those making less than $125,000 per year as well as up to $20,000 of debt for Pell Grant recipients. The White House estimated that 26 million people either applied for or would qualify for this program.
It moves the debt problem from the students to the American nation as a whole.
While there is a real crisis in student debt, Biden’s program does not actually fix the problem. Some have objected to his plan based on legal grounds. But the reality is Biden’s plan is worse than that. It moves the debt problem from the students to the American nation as a whole. Not surprisingly, many colleges and universities have remained silent. However, New Saint Andrews College has stepped up and voiced strong opposition.
NSA President Dr. Ben Merkle released a statement explaining how Biden’s plan won’t fix the higher education debt problem. In fact, it will lead to other financial issues and ultimately hurt the American economy and hard-working families.
“Big Ed” is the name Dr. Merkle has given the higher ed crisis. Big Ed is all of the academic institutions that the federal government bails out when times get hard rather than forcing them to do the hard work to cut spending and programs.
NSA’s foundational commitment to not take any federal loan money makes us one of only a few colleges in the nation free of federal strings. We see this commitment as the solution to the student debt crisis.
In six days, on February 28, the Supreme Court will consider the legality of Biden’s plan in the case Biden v. Nebraska. This case will determine whether the government continues to favor Big Ed in opposition to hard-working Americans.
If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the Biden administration, this will incentivize students to take out loans knowing that they do not have to pay them back, triggering a large boom in students taking out loans. If the Supreme Court rules against the Biden administration, this will be a helpful roadblock to the too-big-to-fail mentality. While this kind of ruling will be a step in the right direction, there is still much work to be done to fix the crisis in higher education.
The true solution to this problem is for colleges and universities to do the hard work of weaning themselves off federal money.
The reality is that many people leave college with thousands of dollars of debt and little ability to pay it back. The true solution to this problem is for colleges and universities to do the hard work of weaning themselves off federal money. Freedom from federal money will enable them to charge reasonable tuition based on the market price. This, in turn, will give students the freedom to see what tuition actually costs and whether they can afford it. This is the truly deep reform that higher education needs.
