Where this was said
Will the New Policies Actually Fix Anything?
At 28:02 · chapter starts 27:20
Rachel Abrams asks the bottom-line question: given the long history of failed attempts to rein in the student loan system, can the Trump administration's new caps and earnings tests actually work? Lieber's answer is conditional. Schools could respond by cutting tuition directly, or by increasing grant and scholarship aid — effectively discounting without lowering list prices. Some institutions might partner with private lenders, guaranteeing loans on the back end for students who exhaust federal limits. Many students will simply migrate to cheaper institutions. And then there is the unintended consequence Lieber finds most alarming: a meaningful number of students who cannot make the math work may decide not to go to college at all. [1] — Ron Lieber "Students and parents who hit the new federal loan caps will be pushed into the private student loan market — where creditworthiness matters…" 26:30 But Lieber also wonders aloud whether some of that disruption might be warranted — whether programs that only existed because unlimited federal loans made them possible should continue to exist at all. He frames the reforms as potentially a long overdue course correction, even if the path through is painful.
Ron Lieber raises the possibility that the new policies, while disruptive, could be a long overdue correction — eliminating programs that only existed because federal loans made them financially viable, regardless of whether they served students. The question is whether the disruption is worth the correction.
