Can government solve this?
Short answer: yes in theory, because Congress created the loan system, but no in practice unless politics, courts, and implementation align.
Yes, it can
Under the Constitution's Article I powers, Congress can tax, spend, and regulate interstate commerce. Student loans are created by statute, chiefly the Higher Education Act (HEA), so Congress can change interest formulas, eligibility, forgiveness windows, and even authorize targeted cancellation if it writes the policy clearly enough to survive judicial review.
No, it can't easily
In Biden v. Nebraska (2023), a 6-3 Court held that the Secretary of Education lacked clear congressional authorization for a nearly half-trillion-dollar cancellation program. The decision leaned on the major questions doctrine: if an agency action is economically and politically huge, Congress must speak in reasonably specific statutory language.
For AP Gov: elections determine who appoints judges, and judges now shape whether presidents can deliver loan relief without new statutes.
What would actually work?
Senator Collins and Senator Manchin have at times embodied the swing-seat math that determines whether aid bills gain 60 votes. Here are policy buckets often discussed in bipartisan frameworks.
Policy analysts across think tanks have modeled income caps, asset tests, and phase-outs so dollars flow to borrowers with high debt-to-incomeratios rather than high lifetime earners, an approach designed to survive CBO scoring and moderate senators' fiscal concerns.