American citizens currently owe an estimated $1.6 trillion in college debt. Senator Bernie Sanders has proposed a plan to forgive all of this debt with many other Presidential candidates proposing similar plans. Americans who did not attend college, worked to pay for college, or sought more profitable degrees are understandably opposed to taking on this debt. As with so many issues in recent years, Americans are being forced to make a false choice between doing nothing and doing something that is both morally and practically indefensible.

A more careful inspection of the situation yields a solution that forces the relevant parties to accept their share of the blame for the situation and ensures that these practices are not carried over to subsequent generations of American students.

How did we get here?

In response to the launch of Sputnik, the federal government began insuring educational loans for those who were gifted enough to pursue a degree in a STEM field but were lacking the financial means to achieve that degree. Eventually, this guarantee was extended to all degree fields. When this happened, universities began to abuse the program by charging students tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars for degrees in subjects which are of no value in the job market. These “degree programs” indoctrinate the students into a belief structure that teaches them to oppose their own nation and makes them tools of the same system that placed this debt upon them.

These students and graduates are not our enemies. They are our sons and daughters and our brothers and sisters. They grew up in a society that imported tens of millions of skilled and unskilled laborers to drive down their potential wages while telling them that their only option for financial success was a college degree -- any degree. These generations of students were then embraced by universities that told them that they were becoming the intellectual elite while charging them astronomical fees for degrees which have no merit. Universities then used these absurd fees to pay for entire departments that are nothing more than political action groups for “professors” and school administrators who view their positions not as developers of minds but as enforcers of thought.

Who is at fault?

Responsibility for this debt and for remedying this situation should be shouldered by the three groups that bear the responsibility for creating it -- the universities, the students, and the government that created the situation and allowed it to continue. The fault of the universities and the administrations who took large salaries to teach nothing of merit is obvious. The same is true for students who sought to have a good time instead of obtaining an education that would yield a prosperous career. However, the faults of the government and those that controlled it are more subtle. 

The government created a dysfunctional society that deformed the labor market through mass migration and offshoring of work, pushed these kids into universities when they had no business there, and then allowed those universities to charge them exorbitant fees for subjects such as LGBT Studies, Golf Management, and various other “political” subjects. While there, these students were forced to regurgitate a belief system counter to basic America values or be denied the very degree they so desperately sought. 

The system is allowed to continue because the system is doing what those in charge of the government want it to do. Politicians point to high numbers of degree recipients as proof of a successful education system while those meritless university departments continue to churn out students who are hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, completely indoctrinated into the mindset that the government desire, and then blame the market for the government’s actions. 

What should be done?

The problem with the solutions proposed by Democrats is that it assumes that the only choices are to do nothing to help these students or to transfer all of the debt to the taxpayer. This is a false dichotomy. 

The first step is to deny the federal guarantee on these loans and allow students who received worthless or overpriced degrees to be absolved of a percentage of their debt. The portions of those loans that were taken to pay for room and board will not be dismissed as those services were indeed provided (within reason). However, debt accrued to pay for an education which was not provided will be passed to the Universities that failed those students and not the taxpayer.

The 100 wealthiest universities have well over $400 Billion in endowments. If a University cannot remain in operation after the dismissal of debt from educational programs that provide nothing to the students, then their merit as educational institutions simply does not warrant their continued existence.

With both students and universities accepting their fault and being financially held to account, the second step is to return the labor and education markets to a state where the next generation is not pushed into this situation. This means drastic changes to immigration, trade, and other policies, and it means that we hold those in control of the government accountable for the failed education system they created.

The expectation would be that universities pay the highest percentage of this debt because their actions were the most intentional and the most malicious. The percentage that a student would be asked to pay would vary greatly from student to student. The taxpayer’s portion of the debt would be by far the smallest, and that portion must be at least partially offset through a reduction in government waste.

The third and primary action is to ensure that these practices are not carried over to subsequent generations of American students. Federal guarantees of student loans should not be given to university departments that provide degrees in subjects that provide no benefit to the student or work against the interests of the student, the university, or the nation. Any university official that has been in place while these departments have extorted students must be removed from their offices prior to reinstatement of loan guarantees to the STEM fields at that university. The government should consider ending any and all degree programs at state institutions that do not serve the student’s and the nation’s interests. 

This problem was created by government intervention in the market. The nation should seriously consider completely ending government guarantees on education loans  -- even for STEM fields.

This process will be an admission by the universities that they were corrupted and lost sight of their purpose. It will be an admission by the students that they were duped by an education system and a government that did not have their best interests at heart. It will be an admission by the American people that we should not have allowed our government to create and perpetuate this situation.