The student loan crisis is back in the news after presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., proposed a sweeping plan last week to forgive up to $50,000 of debt for every college graduate earning less than $100,000 per year. The plan was met with its fair share of criticism for its $640 billion initial price tag and also the fact that the savings would mostly go to the top 40% of households according to a Brookings Institution study.
Yet, one question consistently missing from any discussion of student loans is: Why? Americans owe $1.56 trillion dollars of student loan debt according to the Federal Reserve. The average borrower from the class of 2017 owes $28,650 according to the Institute for College Access and Savings. Why do they owe so much?
