Leahy: I Worry Loan Forgiveness Tells Colleges ‘Charge Whatever You Want’ and We’ll Forgive the Loan

On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said that he worries student loan forgiveness would “say to colleges, charge whatever you want, we’re going to forgive the loan.” And colleges can’t justify some of their costs.

Host Bret Baier asked, [relevant exchange begins around 2:50] “Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) tweeted out, ‘[President] Biden is telling every college in America to raise tuition by $10,000.’ That’s the number being talked about, $10,000 forgiveness. Where are you on this and the concern about inflation going forward?”

Leahy responded, “Well, I worry about this. You know, I went through college and law school. I had student loans. I paid off the last student loan a couple of months after I was sworn into the U.S. Senate. So, it was a 10-year loan, and I never could have done it without that. But, some of these costs are getting far too high, and especially in for-profit colleges. And I don’t know if you have a means test or what, but I worry that we say to colleges, charge whatever you want, we’re going to forgive the loan. The University of Vermont, in my own state, the president has kept the tuition the same for several years. It’s been a lot of work with inflation to do that, but he’s done it. And I want the colleges to look and say, can we really justify some of these costs? I don’t think they can.”

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