WhoWhatWhy -Over 42.7 million Americans are weighed down by a staggering $1.6 trillion in student debt, with more than 5 million in default. This crisis is not an accident — it’s the result of decades of conservative policies deliberately crafted to undermine public education and shift the financial burden onto the working class for a political reason.
The roots of this crisis trace back to the 1960s, when then California Gov. Ronald Reagan (R) launched a direct assault on tuition-free public colleges and student protesters for political reasons.
That legacy echoes today, as Donald Trump targets colleges and students in response to Gaza protests — a familiar pattern of using power to suppress dissent.
As students in the 1970s continued to protest the Vietnam War and for civil rights in California, Reagan escalated his attacks by slashing education funding, drastically increasing tuition, and further cracking down on dissent.
Reagan’s agenda was clear. His education adviser Roger Freeman openly stated, “We are in danger of producing an educated proletariat.”
Freeman’s statement reflected an enduring conservative belief: Reagan and the GOP saw an educated working class as a threat to their agenda — and that belief shaped his presidency.
Reagan slashed federal education funding and gutted Pell Grants, which went from covering 77 percent of college costs in 1980 to just 28 percent today. These cuts laid the foundation for today’s student debt crisis — one today’s MAGA conservatives continue to deepen.
The system disproportionately burdens Black and low-income borrowers. Black graduates owe $25,000 more than white peers and face higher default rates.
Unlike other debt, student loans are almost impossible to erase in bankruptcy because the “undue hardship clause” is almost always denied, trapping many for decades.
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