Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden has officially become the President-Elect of the United States of America. I couldn’t be happier for the students that grace our campus today.
The 2020 presidential election brought upon itself some of the most divisive, vulgar rhetoric and anger I’ve seen in my life. The constant reverberation of hatred from party to party was not only drastically draining but cumbersome on our mental health. And now, a light appears at the end of the tunnel.
For simplicity’s sake, and a lack of jurisdiction of knowledge, I’m not here to argue whether or not Joe Biden “stole the election” with mail-in ballots. Or whatever the argument claims to be.
And say all remains the same, and on Jan. 20, Biden becomes the 46th president of the U.S., what’s next? What does all this mean for me? For us college students?
I attend the University of Idaho completely on government funding. I have two student loans, a Pell Grant and outside scholarships. My mother is a retired elementary school teacher who now lives out-of-state. My father is a soon-to-be retired photographer who lives out-of-state. My financial situation allows me the opportunity for decent government assistance, but I will be $25,000 in debt by the time I leave college. And that number is not even that bad comparatively.
It is daunting to face the world head on with a ball and chain on your ankle. Leaving college feels like an uphill battle when it should feel like the entrance to an endless road of opportunities. As far as I’m concerned, something needs to change, and it needs to happen fast.
Luckily, Biden has a comprehensive plan to make college more affordable, and, in a perfect world, potentially free.
Across the board, student debt has accumulated more than $1.54 trillion, according to the U.S. Department of Education. It has increased by 72% from 2010. Luckily for the 44 million Americans who have student debt, as reported by CNBC, Biden has policy plans to cancel $10,000 of student debt.
There have been calls across the Democratic board for varying levels of cancellation. Forbes reported that Senator Elizabeth Warren called for a $50,000 cancellation and Senator Bernie Sanders called for a one-time complete cancellation. As nice as that sounds, both seem unlikely with a gridlocked Senate and House of Representatives. Biden’s preliminary plans offer a steppingstone to further progress.
This first steppingstone will one day, hopefully, lead to free tuition for public colleges and universities. This policy has consistently been argued against. Opposers claim that it would not “technically” be free—someone will have to pay for it. As reported by Forbes, Biden’s free college plan would pay for itself.
Biden’s plan would make public colleges and universities free for individuals with a family income less than $125,000 and make community colleges free for all students, no matter their income. The entire policy would roughly cost $49.6 billion in its first year, reported by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce.
The argument claims making college and university free would provide substantial societal benefits that would result in $371.4 billion in tax revenue and $866.7 billion private after-tax earnings gains, reported by Forbes. The outcome outweighs the initial cost.
This is the next step in higher education. It is the most logical step in progression. With these plans, and with Vice President Biden as our President-Elect, these goals seem within reach.
I understand the election was contentious, and the debate between the two candidates was tumultuous. However, these plans will benefit everyone, no matter political preference. Be excited that it is a real possibility.
Carter Kolpitke can be reached at [email protected].