Here’s the dream for leftist politicians: put as many young Americans through college as possible, where they will absorb the messages of “progressivism,” and make the taxpayers bear the cost. What a brilliant, nefarious scheme.
As Rick Hess explains in today’s Martin Center article, Joe Biden’s minions are striving hard to make that dream a reality. Yes, earlier this year the Supreme Court said “no” to the administration’s first effort at canceling billions of student loans, but that hasn’t stopped it completely.
One part of the plan is to make repayment of loans so easy and short that many borrowers will pay little or nothing back in return for their years of college (I didn’t say “education” because that’s doubtful).
Hess writes:
Earlier this year, the administration finalized changes to income-driven repayment (IDR), gifting billions in taxpayer funds to borrowers. By having repayment reflect income, IDR was designed to protect both borrowers and taxpayers. But Biden’s new rules further sweetened the Obama administration’s already generous terms. Undergraduate borrowers will pay just five percent of their income above 225 percent of the federal poverty level (down from 10 percent above 150 percent) and will have all loan balances forgiven after as little as 10 years. Urban Institute scholars Jason Delisle and Jason Cohn calculate that less than one-third of undergraduate borrowers in programs like psychology, teacher education, and the liberal arts will repay their loans and that only 35 percent of borrowers in public associate’s degree programs will repay theirs.
This and more will be done through “administrative law,” without any action by Congress. The Dems don’t bother with actual legislation since they control the nearly omnipotent federal bureaucracy.
Read the whole thing.