"A. Wayne Johnson, a high-ranking official with the U.S. Department of Education, got a lot of attention on Thursday for his campaign proposal to forgive up to $50,000 per person in federal student-loan debt. The plan, announced as Johnson resigned his position to seek appointment to a soon-vacant U.S. Senate seat from Georgia, would also award a grant of that amount to future students to pay for various kinds of postsecondary education," The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.

"The story carried the shock value of an administration official seemingly clashing with his boss, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and siding instead with Democratic presidential candidates such as Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. In an interview, Johnson said that his plan is far different from the Democrats’ and that DeVos, who has criticized other debt-forgiveness plans, had only just been informed of the proposal.

More importantly, the news signals that the idea of forgiving student debt is moving into the mainstream and garnering some bipartisan support among politicians.

Publication Date: 10/25/2019