Contention I Introduction
A. Paint the picture of why this debate is important and why your side is correct
Millions of Americans are crippled by debt from student loans and are left with the burden for decades after graduating from or leaving college. Because of the student debt crisis, many people are unable to carry on with life as normal adults because they are being weighed down by their debt. For a large portion of the population, going to college is not even an option because of how expensive it is, and they can’t afford it even with taking out massive amounts of debt.
B. What is the resolution?
The USFG should pass Bernie Sanders’ free college for all act and eliminate all student debt.
C. What are the key terms of the Resolution that need to be defined, if any?
There are no key terms of the Resolution that need to be defined.
Contention II. Harms
A. Piece of Evidence 1
Slug: Obtaining a college degree has become more difficult and almost unattainable to certain groups of people as they do not have the income to enroll in a college despite similar academic records. Despite universities claiming to be “affordable”, many are still not affordable to all students, highlighting how income levels can influence whether or not one can complete a college degree.
Citation: DeRuy, E. (2017, March 23). New Report Measures College Affordability. The Atlantic. Retrieved October 18, 2022, from https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/03/measuring-college- unaffordability/520476
Highlighted Card: “95 percent of colleges are completely unaffordable—and thus unavailable—for huge swaths of Americans. For many would-be college students, their choices are delimited by their socioeconomic status before they have even taken the SAT..colleges… low-income students are less likely than their wealthier peers to actually earn a degree, even if they have the same academic profiles… just how few options low-income students have on the table for them,” (DeRuy).
B. Piece of Evidence 2
Slug: Millions are leaving school with no degree and thousands of dollars in debt. Nearly forty percent of college students would consider dropping out to avoid incurring more student loan debt, highlighting how it is terrible for the nation’s budget and people are left behind in paying back their loans. Colleges and universities produce a disproportionate share of indebted dropouts, in which the high costs of attending a college/university lead many students to dropout and not fulfill their education.
Citation: “Federal Data Show 3.9 Million Students Dropped out of College with Debt …” 3.9 Million Students Dropped Out of College With Debt in 2015 and 2016, US NEWS, 7 Nov. 2017,
https:www.usnews.com/news/data-mine/articles/2017-11-07/federal-data-show-39-million-students-dropped-out- of-college-with-debt-in-2015-and-2016
Highlighted Card: “Many more indebted dropouts, almost 2.5 million of them, had attended public institutions, such as two-year community colleges and four-year state schools. But the public sector’s share of dropouts exactly matches its share of the student population: 64 percent” (USNEWS).
C. Piece of Evidence 3
Slug: The student loan forgiveness bill will be beneficial to a significant number of Americans and increase financial stability and give back the freedom of moving forward with life.
Citation:Rivera, Heidi. “The Impact of Student Loan Forgiveness.” Bankrate, 6 Sept. 2022, https://www.bankrate.com/loans/student-loans/impact-broad-student-loan-forgiveness/.
According to a Bankrate survey, roughly 60 percent of U.S. adults have put off major financial decisions, such as saving money for retirement, getting married, having children and buying a house, due to their student loan debt. Justin Draeger, president and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), says that although $10,000 in debt relief may not be enough for some, it will wipe out a significant amount — if not all — of student loan debt for a large number of borrowers. This means that they’ll be better positioned to build wealth and achieve important life milestones. Because relief is targeted toward those earning less than $125,000, student loan cancellation will only benefit low- and middle-income households. In fact, the department estimates that roughly 90 percent of relief dollars will go to borrowers who earn less than $75,000 a year. Because student debt often plays a big role in preventing borrowers from achieving important milestones, borrowers may struggle with increased levels of anxiety and depression.
Contention III. Inherency
A. Piece of Evidence 1
Slug: Forgiving student loans is a policy that has been proposed for years, but it has not been passed because a majority of the government opposes mass forgiveness in both parties.
Citation: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2022/03/08/4-reasons-why-congress-hasnt-cancelled-your-student-loans/?sh=735f24e655e7
Highlighted Card
Democrats may control Congress, but the Senate is split 50-50. Vice President Kamala Harris can break a tie vote, but passing legislation on wide-scale student loan cancellation generally would require 60 votes. This means that Republicans support would be necessary. Republicans generally don’t support mass student loan cancellation for all or most student loan borrowers….While many progressive members of Congress support wide-scale student loan cancellation, the policy isn’t universally popular among Democrats.
B. Piece of Evidence 2
Slug: Many people believe federal student debt cancellation is not a wise policy to implement because mass cancellation will lead to great disparities in lifetime earnings, regressive costs, a huge cost to taxpayers whether they like it or not, even worse price inflation and that it is unconstitutional.
Citation: McCluskey, N. (2022, August 23). Top Five Reasons Federal Student Debt Cancellation Is a Bad Idea. CATO Institute. Retrieved October 16, 2022, from https://www.cato.org/blog/top-five-reasons-federal-student-debt-cancellation-bad-ideaies
Highlighted Card “The $10,000 plan discussed in reason number two would cost taxpayers – the people who funded all these student loans whether they liked it or not – an estimated $260 billion. $50,000 per borrower with no cap would cost taxpayers around $1 trillion. And forgiving the whole amount would cost taxpayers more than $1.6 trillion.” (McCluskey).
Contention IV. Plan
A. What is the Plan?
The USFG will forgive all current student loan debt, and subsidize future students making college free for everyone that wants to go.
B. Who funds the plan? Where does the money come from?
The funding for this plan will come from taxes paid by the American people, and any government surplus at the end of each fiscal year.
C. Who or what is the Enforcement?
The plan will be enforced by the Office of Federal Student Aid as well as the Internal Revenue Service.
Contention V. Solvency
A. Piece of Evidence 1
Slug: The federally funded cancellation of all outstanding student debt will bring positive macroeconomic impacts. This includes the creation of 1.5 million new jobs each year and a $1 trillion boost to the economy over the next ten years. With passing the Free College for All act, less people will drop out which will open more job opportunities for graduates.
Citation: Fullwiler, Scott, et al. “The Macroeconomic Effects of Student Debt Cancellation.” THE MACROECONOMIC EFFECTS OF STUDENT DEBT CANCELLATION, Levy Economics Institute , Feb. 2018, https://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/rpr_2_6.pdf.
Highlighted Card: Peak job creation in the first few years following the elimination of student loan debt adds roughly 1.2 million to 1.5 million new jobs per year… The policy of debt cancellation could boost real GDP by an average of $86 billion to $108 billion per year. Over the 10-year forecast, the policy generates between $861 billion and $1,083 billion in real GDP (Fullwiler, Kelton, Reutschlin, Steinbaum)
B. Piece of Evidence 2
Slug: Canceling student debt will open up opportunities for people to carry on with their lives and achieve the major goals their loans are holding them back from.
Citation:“What Are the Pros and Cons of Student Loan Forgiveness?” Peter G. Peterson Foundation, https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2022/06/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-student-loan-forgiveness.
Highlighted Card: Currently, more Americans owe a greater average amount of student debt than at any time in U.S. history. In 2019, 21 percent of households owed student debt at an average amount of about $42,000; by comparison, only 8 percent of households held student debt 30 years before, and the average amount was just $11,500 (after adjusting for inflation). Proponents of student loan forgiveness argue that the elimination of some or all of such debt would mitigate the harmful effects it has on the economy, including reduced home ownership, lower borrower net worth, and hampered small business formation.
Contention VI. Neg Pre-empts
This is optional but could be a strategic choice if have time.
A. We know they are going to say
But they are wrong because (Insert slug)
Citation
Highlighted Evidence:
B. We know they are going to say
But they are wrong because (Insert slug)
Citation
Highlighted Evidence
