According to U.S. News and World Report, the average tuition and fees at ranked colleges for the 2021–22 academic year were $10,338 for in-state public schools, $22,698 for out-of-state public schools, and $38,185 for private schools. With no-questions-asked access to educational loans, it’s no surprise that U.S. student-loan debt topped $1.75 trillion last month.
The social ramifications are very real. Families are struggling with student-loan debt, while many young professionals are delaying marriage or opting not to have families at all because they feel their repayment obligations are too great.
Democrats in Washington, as is their wont, promulgate their perpetual policy panacea: throw money at the problem. They’ve made student-loan forgiveness a platform plank for their party and a primary imperative of the Biden administration, with POTUS fans celebrating his illegal student-loan bailout last week, which will transfer $10,000 to $20,000 in debt from some taxpayers to others, in addition to making other sweeping changes that ultimately reduce borrower responsibility. Never mind, of course, the legality, fairness, or economics of the matter.