Side-by-side analysis of what each approach would mean for student debt, college costs, teacher pay, Pell Grants, apprenticeships, and whether higher education should be a public good or a private purchase.
We're a policy platform with 50 researched positions on every major issue. This page compares education approaches — but there's much more to explore.
Higher education in America is simultaneously the envy of the world and the bane of the middle class. American universities lead global rankings in research and innovation. But the system that produces them has become financially predatory: $1.77 trillion in student debt, tuition that has outpaced inflation by 1,200% since 1980, and a teacher workforce that is underpaid, understaffed, and leaving the profession in record numbers. The US has gone from a world leader in college attainment to 16th among developed nations in the share of young adults with degrees.
The cost crisis is not inevitable. Public college was essentially free in many states through the 1970s. Tuition began rising as states cut higher education funding — shifting costs from taxpayers to individual students and their families. Today, a student graduating from a public university carries an average of $30,000 in debt. Students from low-income families borrow more and take longer to repay, creating a system that deepens inequality rather than reducing it.
Democrats favor targeted loan forgiveness and expanded aid. Republicans favor market solutions, school choice, and reducing government involvement. The Common Good Party proposes structural reform: free public college, doubled Pell Grants, a $60,000 teacher pay floor, expanded apprenticeships, and an end to the debt trap that has turned the American dream into a financial nightmare for an entire generation.
How the three approaches stack up on education policy.
| Issue | Democrats | Republicans | Common Good |
|---|---|---|---|
| Student debt | Targeted forgiveness, IDR reform | Oppose forgiveness, personal responsibility | Targeted forgiveness + fix root cause (free public college) |
| Free college | Free community college (proposed) | Oppose — market distortion | Free public college and university |
| Teacher pay | Increase funding, support unions | Merit-based pay, oppose mandates | $60K federal floor, adjusted for cost of living |
| Pell Grants | Increase maximum, expand eligibility | Maintain current levels | Double maximum, index to actual tuition costs |
| Community college | Free tuition (proposed, stalled) | Workforce training focus, state control | Free tuition, increased funding, transfer pathways |
| Apprenticeships | Expand registered programs | Industry-led, reduce regulation | $5B investment, 1M apprentice goal, modern industries |
| Loan forgiveness | PSLF fix, $10-20K broad forgiveness | Oppose broad forgiveness | PSLF fix, IDR completion, fraud victims, interest caps |
| University funding | Increase federal research funding | Reduce federal involvement | Federal-state partnership restoring public funding share |
| Research | Increase NSF, NIH, DOE funding | Support strategic research, private sector | Double federal R&D, focus on AI, climate, health |
| Accreditation | Strengthen outcomes-based standards | Alternative accreditation, more flexibility | Outcomes-based, crack down on predatory for-profits |
Sources: Department of Education, Federal Reserve, NCES, College Board, party platform documents. See the compact comparison view for a quick summary.
Democrats have made student debt a priority issue. The Biden administration forgave over $170 billion in student loans through PSLF fixes, IDR adjustments, and targeted relief for defrauded borrowers. Democrats proposed free community college (which stalled in Congress), supported increased Pell Grant funding, pushed for teacher pay increases through federal education funding, and expanded income-driven repayment options. The party also supports increased federal research funding and strengthened regulation of for-profit colleges.
Democrats correctly identify student debt as a systemic crisis, not an individual failing. The PSLF fixes — which had a 99% rejection rate before reform — were a genuine achievement. Targeting predatory for-profit colleges addresses real exploitation. And free community college, while it stalled, was the right idea. Democrats have been the more responsive party on higher education access and affordability.
Forgiving existing debt without fixing the system that created it is treating symptoms, not the disease. New students are borrowing at the same rates as before. Free community college was proposed but not delivered when Democrats had the votes. The party has not proposed the structural reform — free public four-year college — that would actually solve the problem. And teacher pay advocacy has not translated into the kind of concrete federal floor that would actually change the profession. Democrats propose improvements. The crisis requires transformation.
For more on education policy, see the full education explainer.
Republicans oppose broad student loan forgiveness, arguing it rewards irresponsible borrowing and shifts costs to taxpayers who didn't attend college. The party favors market-based solutions: reducing federal lending to lower tuition (the "Bennett Hypothesis" — that federal aid enables tuition increases), expanding school choice at all levels, alternative credential pathways, reducing regulatory burden on colleges, and emphasizing personal responsibility in borrowing decisions. Republicans support workforce training through private sector partnerships and merit-based teacher pay rather than across-the-board increases.
There is evidence that unlimited federal lending has enabled tuition increases — the Bennett Hypothesis has empirical support. Alternative credential pathways are valuable and should be expanded. Not every student needs or benefits from a four-year degree, and the emphasis on apprenticeships and workforce training is important. Merit-based teacher pay, properly implemented, can reward excellence. And the concern about subsidizing wealthy graduates with forgiveness is not unreasonable.
Cutting federal lending without providing an affordable alternative does not lower costs — it just shifts them to more expensive private loans with fewer borrower protections. "Personal responsibility" is a hollow argument when 18-year-olds are encouraged to take on $100,000+ in debt for degrees that may not produce adequate income, by institutions incentivized to maximize enrollment rather than outcomes. Opposing all loan forgiveness ignores the systemic failures — broken PSLF, predatory for-profits, tuition inflation far exceeding wage growth — that trapped millions through no fault of their own.
The "market" approach to higher education has produced the worst outcomes in the developed world: the highest costs, the highest debt, declining attainment, and growing inequality in access. Markets work well for consumer goods. They work poorly for credence goods where consumers cannot evaluate quality in advance and where the consequences of bad choices are irreversible.
For more on the cost crisis, see our education explainer.
The Common Good Party proposes structural education reform, not incremental adjustments. Our plan: tuition-free public college and university through a federal-state partnership; doubled Pell Grants indexed to actual costs; targeted loan forgiveness (PSLF, IDR completers, fraud victims) with interest caps; a $60,000 federal teacher pay floor adjusted for cost of living; free community college with expanded workforce programs and transfer pathways; $5 billion in apprenticeship investment targeting 1 million active apprentices; doubled federal R&D funding; and crackdown on predatory for-profit institutions with outcomes-based accreditation.
Unlike the Democratic approach, we don't just forgive existing debt — we fix the system so future students don't need to borrow. Free public college addresses the root cause. Unlike the Republican approach, we don't pretend that 18-year-olds making six-figure borrowing decisions in an opaque market is "personal responsibility." The CGP plan treats education as a public investment — which it is. Every dollar invested in higher education returns $4-$7 in economic growth, tax revenue, and reduced social costs. The countries that understand this — and invest accordingly — outperform the United States on every education metric.
Free public higher education is not radical — it's the international norm. Germany, France, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and many others provide free or near-free university education. These countries have higher college attainment rates, lower student debt, and comparable or better educational quality. The United States itself provided near-free public college through the 1970s — the GI Bill and state funding made higher education accessible to millions. We didn't abandon that model because it failed; we abandoned it because states cut funding during recessions and never restored it. The CGP plan restores the model that built the American middle class.
Education policy affects every family in America. Here's what the CGP plan means for real people.
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$1.77 trillion in student debt. Teachers earning poverty wages. Every other wealthy nation figured this out. Read the full plan and see which approach actually fixes American education.
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