Obama's student loan forgiveness plan... the debate begins

Conservative bloggers took President Barack Obama to school Thursday for his new student loan program, criticizing him for circumventing Congress to push an ill-conceived plan, while liberals online accused the right of driving students into “debt bondage.”
The plan that Obama announced on Wednesday caps student loan payments at 10 percent of discretionary income and forgives debt after 20 years, compared to the previous program, in which the cap stood at 15 percent and debt forgiveness was granted after 25 years.

In terms of the policy itself, Lindsey Burke at the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Foundry blog wrote that the costs of forgiving student loans would be unfairly shouldered by those who pay taxes but never had the chance to go to college.

“It is unfair to forgive student loans on the backs of waitresses and construction workers and the nearly three-quarters of Americans who didn’t graduate college. Increases in federal subsidies or student loan bailouts shift the burden of paying for college from the student—the person directly benefiting from college—to the millions of Americans who did not graduate from college,” writes Burke.
This led to an aggressive response from the progressive group ThinkProgress’ blog.
“If those on the right were to have their way, Americans would be forced into even further debt bondage, unable to make ends meet and lead productive and prosperous lives under the weight of student loan debt,” writes Zaid Jilani. “Without subsidized federal loans and grants that many on the far-right seek to undermine, students would be pushed into the arms of private lenders, whose rates tend to be far more suffocating.”
Conservatives argued, on the other hand, that the practice of allowing debt forgiveness allows irresponsible students to choose degrees in fields that allow no prospect of paying back the debt.
“One of the failings of our public school systems is the lack of basic economic literacy of so many of our students,” writes RedState’s Kevin Holtsberry. “If you are a bright student who wants to go into engineering or science education or nursing (or some other field with a clear need and a career path) but can’t afford it, I am open to scholarships and incentives. But if you want to get an advanced degree with no plan or idea on what type of career you want and no plan to ever be able to pay back your gargantuan debt, then no, you can’t borrow money.”
Another concern was that Obama was acting on the issue of student loans without consulting Congress.“This time, the Emperor — excuse me, President — has focused on student loans to ease our economic suffering, relaxing repayment regulations,” wrote HotAir’s Ed Morrissey.

Some of those credited Obama with a smart political play.

“Looking at these awful youth [polling] numbers, it is not at all surprising that the Obama administration has decided to unveil a new initiative to help young people with student loans,” writes Jon Walker at FireDogLake.
“Overall, it’s a small but relatively sensible program to reduce student loan debt. And given that student loan debt is one of the signature laments of the 99% movement, it’s probably decent politics,” added the blog’s David Dayden.
To be sure, much of the 99 percent movement involved concerns about student debt. The 99 percent website, a collection of stories from those with unfortunate circumstances, references student debt frequently.
Meanwhile, at the University of Colorado - Denver, where the president made his announcement Wednesday, at least one columnist praised the changes to the student loans program.
“With the job market as tough as it is today, it is nice to see that someone has students’ best interests in mind. This could be an important step in making it easier for more Americans to get their college degrees, and ease the stress about how to repay their student loans. Thanks for looking out for us, Mr. President,” writes Daniel Alvarez of the university’s newspaper,
[Politico]