Based on polling, the most-vocal opponents are older White folks who no longer have college loans of their owns who also benefited from low cost higher ed (and helped their kids pay off theirs with intergenerational wealth). https://twitter.com/Noahpinion/status/1328593922478764032

The reality is that most non-collegians don't care one way or another. The real issue is that a generation of White folks, who benefited from the Morrill Act and higher ed being cheap for them don't want the same for Black and Brown people.

That's really it. @Noahpinion

Additionally, what gets forgotten are two things. The first is that Black and Latino collegians, both because of systemic White Supremacy and employment discrimination, tend to have higher loan levels and lower-paying gigs to pay off those loans. https://twitter.com/Noahpinion/status/1328596262573248513

These are students who, by and large, didn't go to Ivy League schools (where, oddly enough, they would have gotten more aid and taken out less loans). These collegians went to the lower-resourced higher ed institutions because of the fear of taking out loans they couldn't afford.

Secondly: A lot of higher ed grads end up in the kind of public service careers that are low-paying, but require six-figure grad degrees alongside undergrad credentials. Social workers and public defenders, who serve those who lack a degree, are paid, on average $46,000/year.

Finally, trying to make policy based on what 'average Americans know' is a fool's errand. Most Americans don't even know how their healthcare is financed or how their schools are financed. Yet we do things anyway. https://twitter.com/Noahpinion/status/1328732514307850246

Politicians are elected to do what is right for the entirety of the populace. Often that means picking which policies that work for each group within the populace as part of shared benefit and shared sacrifice.

Forgiving student loans is progressive; it benefits moderate income collegians who serve our most-marginalized communities, as well as low income people who have student loan debt, but never earned their degrees.

The fact that upper income folks also get a benefit means that the move becomes universal - and that sustains support for the long run. When you consider that Black people get $1 out of every $4 of loan forgiveness, it helps Black communities in myriad ways. @Noahpinion

If you want to then give those who already repaid their student loans a gimme, then give them a $15,000 tax credit, as @TrevonDLogan has suggested. And you can provide them forgiveness for loans they take out on their children's behalf. @Noahpinion