How Trump’s and Biden’s plans for educational reform could affect college students
President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden at the first presidential debate on September 29, 2020 (ABC News)
With the presidential election on Tuesday, it’s critical for voters to know how each candidate’s plans could affect their lives. As voters continue to make their way to the polls, there are a variety of different reasons why they’re voting for a certain candidate. One of these reasons should include each candidate’s educational reform plans.
President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden both have their own opinions on what higher education should look like in the next few years. Let’s start with student loan forgiveness.
President Trump has proposed that people can have their student loans forgiven after participation in an income-based repayment plan. After 15 years, your student loans would be forgiven. In response to the pandemic, he signed an executive order that paused payments on federal student loans as well as its interest through December 31. Last year, he also signed an executive order that forgives student debt for permanently disabled veterans.
Biden, on the other hand, has a broader initiation about student debt. In his education plan, he proposed to forgive all undergraduate debt for individuals earning up to $125,000. He has also proposed to have no interest deferral of student loans for individuals making less than $25,000. Because of the pandemic, he has also proposed to cancel $10,000 of student debt for every American.
One of Biden’s most prominent proposals would be how he wanted to make college free for students with family incomes who make under $125,000. This includes public colleges and universities, private historically Black colleges and universities, and minority-serving institutions. This is an updated plan from Vermont Senator Bernie Sander’s 2017 bill that called for the same thing.
He also promised to make community colleges and training programs tuition-free for two years of attendance.
Both candidates also address Pell grants as well. President Trump has proposed to have a $2 billion rescission from the Pell Grant reserve funds and distribute Pell grants year-round instead of just in the spring and fall. Biden’s plan on the other hand calls for expanding Pell grant eligibility to undocumented students and doubling the maximum value of the Pell Grant award.
There are supporters from each side that support these plans but there is also criticism that these plans aren’t perfect.
Even though both candidates have proposed ways to help reduce or stop student loans during the pandemic, some of their proposals could be halted because of the uncertainty around how long the pandemic will affect the economy. And according to an article by EducationDive, experts say that state budgets could stop Biden’s plan.
Jason Delisle, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, was one of these experts. He, along with others, argued that states are struggling with their budgets and some higher educational institutes can’t afford to have Biden’s plan implemented right now. They said that without increasing state budgets, free college isn’t possible.
On the other hand, President Trump has been accused of not focusing a lot of his educational reform on higher education and not making it more affordable to the extent that Democrats have proposed. He has also proposed a 2021 budget that could potentially make significant cuts and restrictions to federal student loan programs.
Both candidates have extremely different views on how they want higher education to be handled in terms of money. Some might agree more with Biden’s progressive view of higher education while others prefer President Trump’s limited views. But whoever you vote for, be sure to understand each candidate’s plan and consider how it may change higher education for years to come.