Biden Student Debt Forgiveness Incentivizes Colleges to Hike Tuition More

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” Washington Post Deputy Editorial Page Editor and columnist Ruth Marcus said President Joe Biden’s student debt cancellation program will “incentivize colleges to continue to raise tuition,” and said that it’s not a wise use of resources to spend money on people who are “going to get a pretty good return on investment for those college degrees,” for the most part.

Marcus stated, “The Washington Post editorial board much more agreed with Jason Furman and Sen. Thune and David Brooks than with Sen. Warren. Look, is the Biden plan better than the Warren plan? Yes. Is the Biden plan better than the Furman plan? No. It should, as David said, be much more targeted. I would do it in a way that doesn’t incentivize colleges to continue to raise tuition, that doesn’t allow people like David’s children and my children to benefit from any loan forgiveness, in a way that really concentrates. And I would think more broadly about something, which is, if we have half-a-trillion, maybe even more than that, to distribute among the most vulnerable and deserving members of society, are people who are investing in college degrees, and most of them [are] going to get a pretty good return on investment for those college degrees, really where we want to use that money? That would not be my choice. And I’m sorry to say that because I think that this comes from a good place. It’s just badly executed and doesn’t consider our constrained resources.”

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