When Barack Obama couldn't push his economic plans through Congress, he was unfazed:

We're not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we're providing Americans the kind of help they need. I've got a pen and I've got a phone.

Elizabeth Warren likes that idea.  She's therefore announced that, on her first day in the White House, she will take unilateral action to cancel student loan debt:

[T]he Department of Education already has broad legal authority to cancel student debt, and we can't afford to wait for Congress to act. So I will start to use existing laws on day one of my presidency to implement my student loan debt cancellation plan that offers relief to 42 million Americans — in addition to using all available tools to address racial disparities in higher education, crack down on for-profit institutions, and eliminate predatory lending.

[snip]

Here's how it will work: 

• I'll direct the Secretary of Education to use their authority to begin to compromise and modify federal student loans consistent with my plan to cancel up to $50,000 in debt for 95% of student loan borrowers (about 42 million people).
• I'll also direct the Secretary of Education to use every existing authority available to rein in the for-profit college industry, crack down on predatory student lending, and combat the racial disparities in our higher education system. 

[snip]

America needs that safety valve now more than ever. Only 43% of public two-year college students, and 34% of for-profit college students who entered repayment on their loans in 2011 had paid even a dollar toward their loan principal after five years. Even among four-year college students, a third of borrowers hadn't made any payment toward principal in the same time period. According to a September 2019 study, one quarter of all student loan borrowers defaulted on their loans over a 20-year period. Student debt is reducing home ownership rates for young adults and contributing to rural "brain drain," leading to fewer people starting businesses, particularly small businesses, and forcing students to drop out of school. 

The worrisome thing is that Warren is probably correct that she can indeed use Department of Education powers to achieve that outcome.  So let's see what she's promising:

The cost of  higher education soared when the federal government got into the business of student loans.  For colleges and universities, this was free money.  Whenever there's free money available, prices increase.

Higher fees did not lead to more faculty members who made education available to more students.  Instead, it went to new departments for Queer, Race, Gender, and Womyn's Studies.  Academia also increased the number of administrative jobs, creating new, high-paying positions, while actual academic positions lagged in pay and number.

Those young people who got degrees in those new fields, especially during the sludgy economic years of the Obama administration, discovered to their surprise that they were job market poison:

According to the Fed, college graduates — defined as ages 22 to 27 years old, holding a bachelor's degree or higher — are  more likely to be unemployed and underemployed compared to overall workers. This is the first time it's happened in almost 30 years. Statistics show that the unemployment rate for recent college graduates has been steadily moving upward, while the general unemployment rate for all other workers has been rapidly declining over the last 10 years.

The underemployment rate, which reflects the amount of people accepting jobs lower than their academic or experience level, is at an all-time high. These people are stuck in gig economy roles, temporary work or lower-end positions.

It's bizarre how obsessing over victim status isn't a job-getter, but there you have it.

Still, from the Democrat point of view, college is valuable because it offers four years in which to marinate young people in Leftist ideology, everything from hardcore Marxism to softcore trigger warnings and cancel culture.  You can't put a price tag on that.

Remember that students voluntarily agreed to take on this debt.  A minute's research could have told them that studying Transgender Prejudice among Pre-Columbian Spanish Invaders wouldn't lead to jobs to pay those loans.  But they said "yes" anyway, and he took classes about cultural appropriation, systemic racism, and toxic masculinity.

Now, Elizabeth Warren is promising to bypass Congress — the keeper of the American purse — to say to those same self-centered young ones, "Never mind.  The hardworking American taxpayers, most of whom never had the chance to party through four years of college but, instead, worked and raised families, will pay for you."

For this proposal alone, Warren's candidacy ought to be kicked to the curb where it belongs.