Maura Healey’s Solution To High College Costs: Let The Federal Government Handle It

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2022/06/16/maura-healeys-solution-to-high-college-costs-let-the-federal-government-handle-it/

Maura Healey could be the next governor of Massachusetts.

The Democratic attorney general announced her run for governor in January and started putting out her policy agenda in late May. Polls say she’s the frontrunner, not only in the Democratic primary but in the general election, too.

So what does Healey plan to combat the rising cost of higher education?

She says that she’ll use her platform to tell the federal government to do something about it.

She wants the federal government to cancel up to $50,000 of people’s student loan debt. 

It’s one of the three main policy points mentioned on her campaign web site on the issue of higher education:

 

  • Continue to urge President Biden to cancel up to $50,000 in federal student debt per borrower;
  • Invest in our community colleges, which are an important driver of economic mobility;
  • Increase investment  into our public colleges and universities, update school facilities, and better support students and staff at these critical institutions.

 

Healey’s web site touts her advocacy for cancelling $50,000 in student loan debt — something which has not happened and is not currently supported by the current president of the United States, Joe Biden, who is also a Democrat.

Here is what Healey’s campaign web site says on the issue of cancelling student loan debt:

 

She led the call with Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley for President Biden to cancel up to $50,000 in federal debt per borrower. For Maura, tackling our student debt crisis is a matter of basic economics and racial justice. Too many borrowers can’t buy a home, start a family, or get ahead because of their debt. And Black and brown borrowers bear a disproportionate debt burden. As Governor, Maura would continue her focus on improving access to affordable public higher education and reducing student debt.

 

While Biden does not support cancelling $50,000 in student loan debt per student, he has expressed interest in forgiving $10,000 per student in student loan debt — but has not done so in the more than 16 months that he has been president.

Biden has said that he thinks a higher number would be regressive, disproportionately benefiting wealthy students who attended Ivy League schools. 

“It depends on whether or not you go to a private university or public university,” Biden said in February 2021. “It depends on the idea that I say to a community, ‘I’m going to forgive the debt, the billions of dollars of debt, for people who have gone to Harvard and Yale and Penn.’ ”

Healey’s education plan does not offer any plans to cut the overhead costs at public colleges to lower the cost of attendance.

Healey’s campaign could not be reached for comment on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday this week.

 

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