Biden’s Student Loan Relief Plans Didn’t Pan Out. Here’s the Way Forward. - Editorial

The Editorial Board writes:  

Many Democrats thought President Joe Biden’s efforts to forgive vast swaths of student debt would be both good policy and good politics. But their hopes of winning over young voters by relieving college loan burdens did not pan out. The Democratic ticket not only failed to make any gains among 18-to-29-year-olds relative to its 2020 performance but also lost ground in the age group. Student debt remains a real issue: The $1.6 trillion in federal loans weighing on 42.8 million borrowers acts as a drag on the economy and has trapped millions of Americans in cycles of long-term default. However, Democrats, and everyone else, must learn two lessons from Mr. Biden’s experience: Blanket relief for borrowers, regardless of their income and ability to pay, strikes many voters, correctly, as inefficient and inequitable. And reforming the student debt program is a job best done in the halls of Congress, not the Oval Office.