Betsy DeVos to Newsmax: Biden Debt Forgiveness 'Vote-Getting Ploy'

The Biden administration's move to forgive $10,000 in student loan debt is not only "patently illegal" and "unfair to Americans," but it will ultimately make out-of-control costs for higher education even worse — which exposes it all as a "vote-getting ploy," according to Trump administration Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Newsmax.

"There is no incentive; there's no governor on what these higher-ed institutions can charge," DeVos said on Wednesday's "Rob Schmitt Tonight." "And if these loans are just forgiven, it changes nothing about the experience of students today and tomorrow.

"They're going to take out loans and they're going to take out loans at a higher and higher level, because colleges are going to continue to increase their prices as they have way above and beyond the rate of inflation, particularly since 2010, when the Obama administration federalized student lending and took the private sector out of the equation."

DeVos said private lenders need to be brought back into the system.

"We've got to go back to a private sector lending and really upend what is happening now with financing and funding higher education, including supporting multiple pathways beyond high school for important opportunities other than a four-year college or university experience," DeVos added to host Rob Schmitt.

President Joe Biden's maneuver is merely a "vote-getting ploy" and should be contested, according to DeVos.

"It is, first of all, patently illegal. And second of all, it's unfair to the Americans, two out of three who didn't attend college or didn't take out student loans," DeVos said. "And for those who faithfully paid, what does it say to them? And not to mention our veterans who have earned their tuition?

"This is nothing but a vote-getting ploy, and it does nothing to solve the very real issue of the runaway student debt and runaway cost of higher education. It does nothing to address that."

DeVos has proposed a radical plan to abolish the Department of Education.

"We need to go back to the drawing board. And, in fact, when you look at all the things that are coming out of the Department of Education, the Biden Department of Education, it blatantly makes the case that the Department of Education should not exist," DeVos continued.

"What they're trying to do to Title IX, what they're doing with student debt and student loans across the board, what they're trying to do to kill charter schools: There is nothing good coming out of the Department of Education, which is exactly why President Trump and I had actually introduced two budgets that would have essentially done away with the Department of Education by block-granting all the funds back to the states."

Biden moved to the student debt forgiveness plan to counter the masses of Americans who are rejecting the liberal policies that closed down schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to DeVos.

"We're seeing a lot of change already at the K-12 level after this experience that families have had this last two years, the front row seat to see what's actually going on in their children's schools — or, in many cases, not going on," she said. "And so we're seeing parents rising up and saying, 'We are not going to stand for this any longer.'5

"They're going to demand options and choices, which is exactly what I have advocated for over three decades. And I think the policies are going to follow that will also ultimately change the experience of higher education."

Parents got a firsthand look at the education system during the pandemic and that has exposed liberal indoctrination, DeVos concluded.

"Many students have had to really evaluate the value of their education the last two years when they've been sitting in an apartment somewhere, paying the full rate of tuition and not being able to go to a class in person," DeVos said. "I think there's a lot of changes coming for education from kindergarten through higher education, but we have got to continue to push as grassroots people to say it's time to change and it's time to focus on students — not on institutions and not on buildings."

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