Biden plan to cancel student loans is bad policy, critics say

As President Biden weighs whether to cancel student loans for a broad swath of borrowers, critics say it wouldn't provide financial relief to the Americans who need it the most while also potentially hurting the economy. 

Americans with school debt generally have higher income because a college degree tends to lead to a more lucrative career. As a result, erasing those loans would chiefly benefit college-educated people.

"If you look at who has student loans, it largely reflects who goes to college and graduate school in the U.S., and college and graduate school are overwhelmingly composed of people who are from upper middle class or high-income families," said Adam Looney, a senior fellow at centrist think tank The Brookings Institution and an expert on student loan debt.