Usually I can at least see both sides on a given issue but this was one policy decision that I am coming up short on and adamantly oppose. I voted blue in 2020 but this definitely impacted that decision at the midterms.

I agree that the higher education system is part of the problem and needs to be revamped, but issues like this always seem to come back to one thing: credit.

As a country we live and die on credit. Dawglover05 touched on it well, credit increases demand for a good/service (housing, college, cars, etc), which raises the price of the good/service. It even potentially prices out some consumers that shouldn't be priced out. We as a society seem to have two things driving this: 1) I want _____ (typically now), 2) I can afford $_____ per month (even if it's for the rest of my effective life). At some point the snowball of monthly debt obligations rolling down the hill gets too big.

College educated individuals are more likely to be higher paid professionals, and I don't see a catastrophe, current or imminent, that warrants straight up forgiveness of student loans, decided upon by ONE individual. At the very least, a program of this scale needs to be discussed by legislators, not decided upon unilaterally. What happened was not democracy, it was a dictatorial decision.

This program doesn't consider the parents/borrowers who worked extra hours/second job to pay for education without loans. It doesn't take into account those with private student loans. If we're going to cite the system as causing damage to these parties, shouldn't they be included?

This policy brings into play the problem of moral hazard (ie people with fire insurance tend to take less risk against preventing fires). And that's probably my biggest beef with it - the lack of accountability that is expected at the moment.

I don't post often but when I do I try to post objectively. With this in mind I'll say the next part carefully. I have friends and family that will benefit from this forgiveness. I love that they will get something. Speaking of myself, I made many many sacrifices during and after college to 1) take out as few loans as possible 2) make sure I could pay them back and 3) pay them off early. I worked 30 hours a week. I missed out on a ton of stuff I wish I could have taken part in as part of the college experience. I chose a major that I mostly enjoy, but I approached it as a trade, something I knew I could find stable employment in, as opposed to following some of my other interests and dreams. And when I got my first job out of college I planned and budgeted to get myself out of debt. I didn't live large. Had I'd known I'd get a bailout I would be less inclined to make these sacrifices. Heck, I would probably have take out an extra $10k-$20k in loans, not worked, and enjoyed the last two years of school.

I have no regrets over the sacrifices and decisions I made. I was personally responsible for and accountable for my actions. I don't see why it's such a big leap to expect the same on an individual level. Yes, there are bad actors on the lending side and they need to be taken to task. But aside from anything fraudulent I typically come back to expecting personal accountability.