On August 21st, President Biden announced his administration would be forgiving $10,000 in federal student loan debt. Recipients of the Pell Grant — a program designed to help lower income families pay for college — are eligible for an additional $10,000, for a total of $20,000 for low-income students. While I am certainly not the biggest fan of the Biden administration, these measures are a welcome change in policy and a necessary first step in addressing the student debt crisis.

The student loan debt crisis is one of immense proportions. As of July 2022, it has soared to over 1.75 trillion dollars. Between ever-increasing tuition and real wages that have stayed stagnant for decades, it has become increasingly difficult for students to get degrees that are treated as necessary for modern employment.

In the 21st century, it is instilled from early on in school that college is not just  the goal but a requirement. Primary and secondary schools have become an industrialized pipeline for preparing students for SATs and College GPA requirements. I could go on for pages about the failings of the American education system, but suffice it to say — things are broken.

I'm glad Biden is finally doing something to address the issue. $20,000 is no small sum and will help millions of borrowers obtain a life-changing degree. It's just one of a few impactful actions by the Biden administration ahead of what is certain to be a turbulent midterm election in November. Some decry the loan forgiveness as bribing voters — but in a way, that's what politics is. Biden is fulfilling a campaign promise that helps millions of Americans. I don’t see a problem with governing that actually helps the governed.

While $20,000 will help millions, it doesn't address the scale of the crisis. According to NerdWallet, the average household with student debt in the United States in 2021 owed $58,957. For families with that much debt, $10,000 of forgiveness gets wiped out in just a few short years of interest.

Meanwhile, the crisis of student loan debt does not affect all students equally. Black students, especially Black women, have more student debt on average than their white counterparts. It was within this context that the leader of the NAACP, Derrick Johnson, released a statement in response to Biden's announcement that points out how little it does for Black borrowers. 

Like many other policy areas such as the environment and wealth inequality, the Black community has historically suffered disproportionate burdens yet receive only proportionate relief. Just for years after graduation, Black college graduates on average owe nearly twice ($53,000) as much as their white counterparts ($28,000)

Another issue is that this forgiveness only applies toward federal student loans. For many, much of their student debt is held in private student loans. Many students have also refinanced their loans, repackaging their debt into single loans with lower interest rates. The current plan fails to address these scenarios. 

The student debt crisis isn't going to be solved by this one action alone. If this is the only relief we get, we'll be back in the same place in a few years. To actually address these issues, there are a few things that we must do. 

First, the Biden administration must take immediate steps to forgive all federally held student debt. President Biden can do this with a flick of a pen, under the same authority with which he has just forgiven $20,000. 

Second, Congress must pass legislation to assume debt held in private and refinanced loans. Biden and the Department of Education do not have the authority to forgive this debt like they do with federally-held debt, so Congress must act. 

Most importantly, we must fix our broken system. The cost of postsecondary education is unsustainable. Unless we address this, we will be right where we started in a few years. To avoid this, we need to act quickly to make all public colleges, universities, trade schools and apprenticeships available to all at no cost.

We also need to focus on investing in historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and smaller rural colleges. These institutions serve communities that rely on them, yet have been sidelined for decades. This is an important step in ensuring that higher education is not only affordable, but equitable.

Lastly, we must rework our entire education system, from Pre-K to graduate school. This is a long-term process, which will inevitably take decades to come to fruition. The way we as a society view education in schools must be changed. Class sizes, standardized testing, homework — all these things need to change. 

If you're familiar with Pink Floyd's “The Wall,” you will recognize the imagery of faceless students on a conveyor belt heading toward a meat grinder. I'd argue what was true in 1982 is true now — that our education system (and that of Pink Floyd's United Kingdom) is designed to take creative and diverse children and stamp them into featureless and cookie-cutter workers to feed into the economy. 

All of this is to say — I'm glad Biden is taking steps in the right direction, but to really address this problem, we need to take a leap.

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