I don't really care about the "fairness" thing. No, it isn't fair that some families saved up needlessly to help their kids escape debt only to see their responsibility invalidated. It isn't fair that some folks served in the military or did other things to pay for college rather than take out a 200,000 loan for an art degree. That's tough. Life isn't fair and if we got too caught up on everything being fair and equitable all the time, we'd never do anything.
That's not my conflict. Instead:
On the one hand, I hate the government and despise its use of predatory loans to capitalize off vulnerable college kids. I hate the idea of letting it get away with it.
On the other hand, I think loan forgiveness sends the wrong message and creates unfavorable incentives going forward. We need more students going to trade schools and fewer students seeking economically questionable liberal arts degrees like me. Not to mention that this precedent might simply incentivize colleges to raise tuition rates.
The failure of previous promises is kinda what I'm getting at. This is a nation with an unfortunate record in terms of promises made and delivered.
More often than not, the actions taken by state and federal governments have acted exactly against the interests of poor people, immigrants, and persons of color.
I simply don't see why so many still look to these broad institutions as a beacon of hope. As if to say, "Ok so trusting the government has literally never worked out before, but that doesn't mean it won't this time."
Perhaps entrusting more power to the government to fulfill arbitrary promises of equality and equity isn't the best solution to helping us achieve the utopia you seek for us.
Perhaps such things are better achieved on the ground, through bottom-up grassroots activism instead of top-down solutions that never seem to deliver.
If the system is designed to harm rather than help, why give that system more power? Why not reform it from the bottom up or disempower it all together?