Student loan forgiveness unfairly shifts the burden of college debt to everyday Americans

Nothing celebrates the doggedness of American workers like transferring self-incurred debts from college-educated workers to the backs of those who elected to forgo college.

But that’s the Labor Day message that the Biden administration delivered to American workers with his loan forgiveness plan. It is, at best, a political gimmick, and at worst, a monetary redistribution plan that steals from lower-income workers to benefit their wealthier counterparts. No wonder President Joe Biden is banging around Pennsylvania demonizing those who disagree with him as threats to democracy — he’s clearly hoping no one will pay attention to his disastrous ideas.

Gone are the days of celebrating the American spirit — one rooted in a tenacious drive to create the life you want through hard work. No longer do our elected officials care to celebrate generations of workers who came before us and paved the way for the life we have today.

Instead, they choose to defile that spirit and that legacy with an estimated $500 billion bailout to consenting adults who willingly accepted loans. Make no mistake: Despite assertions to the contrary, this bailout will ultimately end up being paid for by taxpayers. Giving out $10,000 checks to college degree-holders — some of whom are six-figure earners — will come at the expense of skilled trade workers and those who worked hard to pay off their loans.

Biden’s debt cancellation is a slap in the face to the Americans whose work is the backbone of our country — those manufacturers, electricians, home builders, truck drivers, and other skilled trades professionals who chose to pursue a career path without the need for the higher education that comes from a four-year university. These workers barely get the respect of the ruling class — even though they play a big role in keeping food on our tables and lights on in our homes — and now our president has chosen to thank them by forcing them to pay for degrees from woke universities that are training ill-educated elites to look down on everyday people.

The gesture is even more outrageous when you consider that the average person with a bachelor’s degree will earn around $1.2 million more over their lifetime than someone with a high school diploma.

As a nation, we have an entitlement problem. The overreach of our government — and its created nanny state — has led to a society that believes all of its problems will be taken care of by the collective — often at the expense of those earning the least. But poor planning on the part of one person doesn’t constitute an emergency for another. And in this case, the debt of a mere 13% of the population — or 45 million Americans — should not constitute an emergency for every single other taxpayer.

Unfortunately, we will have an emergency on our hands if this student debt cancellation goes into effect. The White House estimates debt cancellation will cost $240 billion. The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School’s analysis paints a much different picture: $519 billion over 10 years. Wharton estimates the plan will cost more than $1 trillion when it factors in other components.

Regardless of how much the plan costs, it will undoubtedly make life harder for taxpayers — 59% of Americans worry student loan forgiveness will make inflation worse. They’re not wrong. Lawrence Summers, a top economist in the Obama administration, acknowledges that student loan debt relief is spending that increases inflation and raises tuition.

We need to stop stigmatizing not going to a four-year university.

If every American with a college degree were in high demand, we wouldn’t be having a debate about needing to cancel student loan debt in the first place.

The reality is that college isn’t the right option for everyone, and America is in dire need of blue-collar workers. Take skilled plumbers — their job outlook is expected to grow 5% (approximately 23,400 jobs) through 2030, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to a new study by Black & Decker, outdated perceptions are driving the reluctance to join trades — but these perceptions are misplaced. Half of current skilled trade workers with less than 10 years of experience earned at least $50,000 at the start of their careers. Ninety-four percent of trade workers say that their jobs are in high demand.

But, alas, here we are. And while we wait for Americans to come to their senses about affordable futures, we must face the reality that the self-incurred debt of millions is now on the back of every taxpayer in the nation.

The only hope for America is that the Supreme Court recognizes the unconstitutionality of this unilateral action and strikes it down. Despite what President Biden may believe, Congress holds the power of the purse strings — not the White House.

Jennifer Stefano is the executive vice president of the Commonwealth Foundation and a fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum.