As President, Bernie Should Cancel All Student Debt
The billions of dollars in student loan debt are an economic and moral crisis. Bernie Sanders should promise to wipe it all out.
Graduates of Spelman College listen to actor Danny Glover during commencement ceremonies on May 19, 2002 in Lithonia, GA. Erik S. Lesser / Getty
In the United States, education is supposed to be an equalizer, and higher education in particular is key to improving your life chances. At least that’s how the story goes.
But in fact, millions of people are unable to access higher education without going into debt. More than 44 million people owe student debt, and the total amount of outstanding debt in the United States has more than tripled since 2006, totaling more than $1.5 trillion — almost 8 percent of the country’s GDP.
Meanwhile, real wage growth is up less than 7 percent over the same period, while rents are up more than 47 percent in real dollars.
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