The United States has $1.7 trillion in outstanding student loan debt. That number represents the accumulated consequence of a forty-year policy of shifting the cost of higher education from government to individuals — the deliberate dismantling of the public investment in higher education that once made an affordable college degree a realistic expectation for the broad middle class.
In 1980, a student could work a part-time job over the summer and pay their public university tuition. Today, at most public universities, four years of tuition alone exceeds what a minimum wage worker earns in a full year. The gap has been filled by debt — debt that follows borrowers for decades, accumulates interest at rates that make repayment a treadmill, and cannot be discharged in bankruptcy in most circumstances.
The consequences ripple outward. Student debt delays home purchases, family formation, retirement savings, and the kind of risk-taking — starting a business, moving to a new city, pursuing a career in public service or the arts — that a healthy economy and society depend on. It also falls disproportionately on Black borrowers, who take on more debt and have a harder time repaying it due to structural wealth gaps.
The solutions are straightforward in concept if contested in politics: significant debt cancellation for existing borrowers, free or low-cost community college, restored public funding for state universities that brings tuition back to affordable levels, and income-based repayment systems with real forgiveness timelines.
But the larger question is what higher education is for. Not just job training — but the formation of informed, capable, engaged citizens. And who should pay for it.
What does accessible, affordable higher education look like? Submit your vision.