Helaine Olen writes about Elizabeth Warren’s plan for student loan debt.

Last week, Senator Elizabeth Warren debuted her inaugural legislative effort, a bill intended to stop the cost of federally subsidized student loans from doubling from 3.4% to just under 7% on 1 July. Warren’s solution? A one-year temporary fix that would allow students and their parents to borrow money for higher education at the same rate the Federal Reserve charges banks for short-term loans, which is about 0.75%.

Olen thinks that students need to be bailed out, just as the government bailed out the banks. She argues that Warren’s bill was a stunt, but it was stunt designed to call attention to the real impact that excessive student loan debt has on our economy.

While I am happy to want to see students gettting fairer terms on their student loans, I also want more attention to the roots of the high cost of education. Lower interest rates won’t solve the problem of million dollar college presidents and the lack of support for students about their educational spending.