The Surprising Cost Of Biden’s Free College Tuition Plan
Forbes
Rob Berger
September 4, 2020
Joe Biden wants to reshape student loans and higher education. As outlined on the Biden campaign website, his agenda includes everything from partial student loan debt forgiveness to a free college education for some. One thing missing from the website, however, is the cost of his education plan.
According to the WSJ, the Biden campaign recently said “it hasn’t calculated the cost of his plan or decided how to pay for it.” Not satisfied with that answer, I went in search of any analysis I could find estimating the cost of his plan.
The research uncovered a number of stories claiming that the Biden campaign estimated the cost at $750 billion. Each of these stories pointed to the same page on the Biden website. Most of these stories were written in 2019 or early 2020. The page they point to on the Biden website, however, makes no reference to $750 billion as cost of his education agenda. It also doesn’t indicate how he would pay for his vision.
Fortunately, a website called the Wayback Machine archives past versions of websites. It archived the Biden campaign’s education page dating back to October 9, 2019. A review of that page reveals the $750 billion estimate and how he would pay for it:
