Is student loan forgiveness an undue taxpayer burden, a relief for struggling college graduates, or a bit of both? Manor College President Jonathan Peri, Ph.D., J.D., outlined his thoughts on the polarizing issue in a recent article for MontCo.Today.

Peri states that “while one side argues that student-loan debt forgiveness is needed because college costs are too high, the other side argues that high college costs are no reason to saddle the American people with debt they did not bargain for.”

Peri breaks the argument down into parts: Value vs. Return and What the Data Say. Net annual tuition, the average price students actually pay, averages $13K per year, and college graduates in America have median lifetime earnings of around $2.3 million, while high school graduates have medians around $1.3 million in 2009 dollars. Today, Peri says, “the bachelor’s degree value is probably closer to $2.8–$3 million, particularly in a Great Resignation/employees’ market,” or 24 times the investment.

For Peri’s full argument, you can read MontCo.Today’s article here.