Pay As You Earn more or less solved this. Your repayment is capped to a percentage of your discretionary income and then after 20 years any remaining balance i

Pay As You Earn more or less solved this. Your repayment is capped to a percentage of your discretionary income and then after 20 years any remaining balance is forgiven. You can quibble about how long until the payment is forgiven or the percentage or how discretionary income is calculated, but the general idea is spot on, IMHO. The problem with blanket forgiveness is "moral hazard". Meaning if you do a blanket forgiveness now people will continue/increase taking out student loans in the hopes they might be forgiven. Also, just because someone has a lot of student loan debt doesn't mean they're in need. Early career doctors, as an example, will have a ton of debt but are going to be a top earner for the next 20-30 years.