The Government Has Made College an Overpriced Scam
Thankfully, you don't need fancy dining halls or a college degree to have a good life or get a good job.
Student Loans
Federal Court Blocks $20 Billion in Student Loan Forgiveness
The injunction is the latest in a series of setbacks for the Biden administration's loan forgiveness agenda.
Of Babysitters and Major Questions
Survey data casts doubt on the textualist rationale for the major questions doctrine that I and others have advanced. But perhaps not as much doubt as it might seem.
Biden's New Student Loan Payment Plan Has Arrived. Here's What That Means.
Biden's new income-driven repayment plan is estimated to cost taxpayers $360 billion over the next decade.
Democrats Propose Eliminating Student Loan Interest
The plan's supporters say it won't push costs onto taxpayers.
Why Did Joe Biden Stop Talking About the Deficit?
The federal budget deficit has exploded under Biden's watch, and he can no longer pretend otherwise.
Biden's Latest Student Loan Scheme Has a Bigger Price Tag Than Originally Projected
The administration’s SAVE plan for student loan forgiveness is estimated to cost $475 billion.
Biden Forgives Almost $40 Billion in Student Loans
The spate of forgiveness reconciles administrative errors when carrying out changes to income-driven repayment plans.
Can Biden Still Forgive Student Debt?
Biden wants to use the Higher Education Act of 1965 to forgive student loans. But that plan has major issues.
Confidence in Higher Education Reaches New Low
According to Gallup, those with a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in higher education has declined 21 points since 2015.
Biden's Changes to Income-Based Student Loan Repayment Could Cost Billions
Biden plans to slash minimum monthly payments to just 5 percent of borrowers' income.
NYC Lawyer Dmitriy Shakhnevich Interviews Me on Wide Range of Law and Policy Issues
Topics covered include affirmative action, legacy preferences, the student loan forgiveness decision, refugee policy, indictments against Trump, Vladimir Putin, political ignorance, and more.
Three Cheers for the Supreme Court
Plus: A listener question on the potential efficacy of congressional term limits.
Despite SCOTUS Smackdown, Biden Will Still Extract Billions From Taxpayers for Student Loans
Biden's proposed income-driven repayment plan could still cost taxpayers billions. And it will likely raise tuition too.
Joe Biden's Incoherent Student Loan Logic
Plus: Fewer cops, less crime; free beer; and more....
The Irony of Department of Education v. Brown—the Other Student Loan Forgiveness Case Decided by the Supreme Court Yesterday
The Court unanimously ruled the plaintiffs in that case lacked standing. But they might end up getting what they wanted more fully than anyone else involved in the legal battle over student loan forgiveness.
My CNN Article on "Why the Supreme Court Got it Right on Student Loans"
The article goes over the main reasons why the Court's decision was justified.
Biden Says He Will try to do Student Loan Forgiveness Under the Higher Education Act of 1965
The administration will try this pathway as an alternative to the HEROES Act of 2003, which pathway was shut down by today's Supreme Court decision.
Justice Barrett's Textualist Defense of the Major Questions Doctrine
In today's student loan decision, Justice Barrett offers a textualist rationale for this controversial rule. I have made similar arguments myself.
Supreme Court Rules Against Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness Plan
The Court ruled the plan is illegal, and that at least one plaintiff (the state of Missouri) has standing.
Can Republicans Fix Student Debt?
Unlike Democrats, Senate and House Republicans have released proposals that would actually tackle the root causes of increasing student loan debt.
The Student Loan Pause Has Made Borrowers Worse Off
A new working paper finds that borrowers whose loan payments were paused actually had more debt at the end of 2021 than those whose loans were never paused.
Debt Ceiling Deal Will End The Student Loan Repayment Pause
If the debt ceiling bill passes, the Education Department will be barred from extending the student loan repayment pause yet again.
Trump's Disregard for the Rule of Law Is at Least As Bad As Biden's
The former president reminds us that claiming unbridled executive power is a bipartisan tendency.
Lawsuit: It's Time To Start Paying Off Those Student Loans Again
The lawsuit claims that the pause has cost taxpayers "$160 billion and counting."
Will Separation of Powers Doom Biden's Student Debt Plan?
Biden v. Nebraska has far-reaching implications for presidential power.
New Report on State Standing in Student Loan Case Comes Up A Few Dollars Short
A new report purporting to show that Missouri's arguments for standing in Nebraska v. Biden are based on a lie fails to deliver.
Biden's Student Loan Plan Could Cost Twice as Much as Projected
Unlike the Education Department's estimates, a CBO analysis considers how the new rules will encourage more students to take out loans they won't be able to pay back.
Fewer People Are Going to College. Here's Why That's a Good Thing.
The time and money spent on college can often be used more productively.
Biden's Student Loan Pause Overwhelmingly Benefited Wealthier Americans
Is this what equity looks like?
Heaton Fixes the Student Debt Crisis
How to—and how not to—help solve the college debt problem.
Poll: Most Americans Don't Think a College Degree Is Worth the Cost
56 percent agreed that "people often graduate without specific job skills and with a large amount of debt to pay off."
How Rising Tuition Poked a Hole in the College Bubble
While the population has grown, the number of college students has declined in the past decade.
America Needs a Better Kind of Capitalism
Big corporations and entire industries constantly use their connections in Congress to get favors, no matter which party is in power.
Fewer People Are Going To College. That Could Be a Good Thing.
"If I would have gone to college after school, I would be dead broke," one high school graduate told the A.P.
The Government Is Subsidizing Microchip Firms—While Making It More Expensive To Produce Microchips
Politicians say they want to subsidize various industries, but they sabotage themselves by weighing the policies down with rules that have nothing to do with the plans.
Thoughts on Today's Supreme Court Student Loan Forgiveness Oral Arguments
The justices seem to be clearly leaning against the Biden Administration on the merits. The procedural issue of standing is a closer call, though ultimately more likely than not to come out the same way.
Today at the Supreme Court: Biden's Student Loan Cancellation Plan on Trial
The Supreme Court considers the scope of presidential power in Biden v. Nebraska and Department of Education v. Brown.
Showdown Over Student Loan Forgiveness Hits Supreme Court Tomorrow
Plus: Texas prosecutors can't criminally charge people who help others access out-of-state abortions, food trucks fight rules banning them in 96 percent of North Carolina city, and more...
No, the HEROES Act Doesn't Let Biden Forgive Student Loans
"If it was an emergency, why wait three years to provide the forgiveness? Why present it in a political framework, as fulfilling a campaign promise?" said one higher education expert.
My New SCOTUSblog Article on the Loan Forgiveness Cases Currently Before the Supreme Court
The article explains the broader issues at stake in these cases, and why the Court would do well to rule against the administration.
"Third-Party Standing" Doctrine Shouldn't be Used to Block Lawsuits Challenging Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness Plan
Legal scholar Michael Dorf claims Supreme Court should rule on this basis. But the doctrine doesn't apply to this case, and is dubious anyway.
The Fight Over the Debt Ceiling Is Just Beginning
Legislators will increasingly argue over how to spend a diminishing discretionary budget while overall spending simultaneously explodes.
Arguments for Standing in the Student Loan Cases
A few thoughts on the states' brief and their amici
Our Amici Brief in the Student Loan Forgiveness Cases
arguing against standing, even though the program is unlawful.
Biden's Newest Student Loan Proposal Would Allow Some Borrowers To Pay Back Only a Fraction of What They Owe
New changes to income-driven repayment plans announced Tuesday would essentially turn student loans into government grants.