Case Statement: This House would Cancel Student Loan Debt.


Proposition

Introductions:
Good morning/afternoon Your Honor! My name is <PRESIDIO_ANONYMIZED_PERSON> and I am the first speaker on side proposition of this case, proposing the notion that “This House would Cancel Student Loan Debt.” I would first like to define a few key terms, tell you what to judge the case on, state our plan, and, lastly, introduce and elaborate on my side’s claims.

Definitions:
This House - The US Federal Government
Canceling debt - debt when a lender forgives or discharges some or all of a debt that you owe.
Loan - a thing that is borrowed, especially a sum of money that is expected to be paid back with interest. 
Debt - something, typically money, that is owed or due
Default - failure to fulfill an obligation, especially to repay a loan or appear in a court of law.

Standards to Judge the Case:
Your Honor, you should be judging the case based on who benefits the most students without creating any problems in the long run

Plan: 
As proposition, we have a plan. It was conceptualized last year by a politician. 
Cancel $50,000 in student loan debt for every person with household income under $100,000.
Provide substantial debt cancellation for every person with household income between $100,000 and $250,000.
Not tax as income student loan debt that has been cancelled.
Also make private student loan debt eligible for cancellation.
Streamline the student loan debt forgiveness process using data and income information already available to the federal government.
Begin the plan in 2023.
→ Importantly, our plan offers no student loan debt cancellation to borrowers with a household income above $250,000, which she says is the Top 5% of earners. 
There would be “phase-outs” based on income. The $50,000 cancellation amount would phase out by $1 for every $3 in income above $100,000. Our proposal includes an Ultra-Millionaire Tax that would include a 2% annual tax on the 75,000 families in the U.S. who have at least $50 million in net worth. 
For example, “a person with household income of $130,000 gets $40,000 in cancellation, while a person with household income of $160,000 gets $30,000 in cancellation.”.
So how will the debt cancellation be funded?
→ Our proposal includes an Ultra-Millionaire Tax that would include a 2% annual tax on the 75,000 families in the U.S. who have at least $50 million in net worth. 
That’s right Judge! Just 2% per year taxed from the wealthiest families in the U.S. would be enough to cancel the majority of student loan debt weighing us down.



Arguments:

Claim:  Helps minorities
When centering Black voices rather than big data, it is clear that debt-contingent education is immoral and racist. Student debt is injustice at the intersection of historical racism, a racially stratified higher education system, and an underpaying, underemploying, discriminatory labor market.
Warrant: 
The inquirer.com states that “Black people, along with Latinx students, borrow more student loans to attend institutions with the lowest funding levels, endowments, and graduation rates. The groups then navigate labor markets that refuse to hire them with living wages. The result: Black and Latinx borrowers have the worst repayment and default rates across every degree level from no degree to graduate degrees. In Philadelphia, student loan borrowers in majority-minority neighborhoods are four times more likely to be delinquent. The promise of higher education simply cannot be real if student loans have become the requirement for Black and Latinx communities.”
According to theconversation.com, “Data show that low-income students, first-generation students and Black students face much greater struggles in repaying their loans. About 70% of those in default are first-generation students, and 40% come from low-income backgrounds. 
Detroit News states, “According to one study, 20 years after attending college, the median white borrower paid off 94% of their debt while the median Black borrower still owed 95% of theirs.
According to forbes.com, Student loan debt is currently around $1.6 trillion.
A much-discussed Brookings Institute report from 2016 found that on average, black students owed $7,400 more than white, Asian, and Latino students upon graduation. As if that weren’t bad enough, that figure only multiplied over time, with black students holding nearly twice as much debt as white students a scant four years following graduation. More than half of this amount was interest. Some 48% of black graduates experienced this type of growth.”
Saving For College states, “A 2018 study found that black students held as much as 85.8% more debt than white students.”
Businessinsider says, “Black student-loan borrowers default on their loans at five times the rate of white graduates.”
Americanprogress.org states, “49 percent of African American students who borrowed for their undergraduate education defaulted on a federal student loan.”
Impact: 
Let me show you a world judge. There are many times where minorities can't pay off their loans. First, minorities often have to borrow more money when they go to college. Then, minorities often struggle to get jobs when they get out of college. Then, they are asked to pay off their often massive loans, when they are either getting low wages or they are unemployed all together. When they can’t pay off their loans, they go into default. This is put on their permanent record and it makes it harder for them to buy a house, or buy a car. Throughout every stage of their lives, they are discriminated against (sometimes unintentionally). So, by voting for our side, you would be solving a major part of economic unfairness in our society.
Your honor, our country is racially divided enough. If we are able to help minorities, we should. It would be unethical of us not to. We can help minorities if we cancel student loan debt. This system isn’t fair to them, and it’s not right for us to act like it is. If we want a better country, that is more diverse and equal, then we need to take this step to get there.


Claim:  A burden on lives
May have to declare bankruptcy
It is too difficult for people to continue their lives when they constantly have the burden of paying off their debt over their heads.
Warrant: 
“53% of high debt student loan borrowers have experienced depression because of their debt.”
“Nine in 10 borrowers experienced significant anxiety due to their loan burden.”
“One in 15 student loan borrowers surveyed have considered suicide due to their student loans.”
Investopedia states, “It also determines which dreams you're able to pursue and which ones will become a distant memory. You may find yourself sacrificing a job that offers you more fulfillment and purpose for a career with a higher salary.”
Investopedia also explains, “Students who leave their undergraduate programs with significant amounts of debt often cannot afford to take out another massive loan. That means having to put off or—even worse—completely forgetting about going to graduate school altogether.”
According to nbcnews.com, “One 2019 study of 829 people by a student loan debt planning company even found that high loans can increase depression, anxiety and even suicidal thoughts.”
Nbcnews also states, “National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun told NPR in 2019 that student debt has people delaying homeownership by five to seven years.”
Cnbc.com states, “One survey found that 21% of borrowers have delayed getting married, 26% have pushed back having kids and 36% have put off buying a home.”
Lohert’s story, “For Lockert, and many of those she heard from, the debt load began to hold her back and she felt she could do nothing until she got completely rid of it. I just felt completely possessed by it, I wanted it to be gone,” she says of her debt. “This problem is much bigger than we give it credit; it’s something that we really need to talk about.”
Impact: 
Judge, what is the purpose of college? To teach you new things? To open your future? To give you more opportunities for a career? I’m sure we can agree that it is an immense privilege and benefit. Or at least it should be. It is extremely important that we notice what students are going through in their efforts to get a good education! It’s like they are being punished for wanting to learn more and be smarter and follow their dreams. Student loans are just too high and they create an extremely unhealthy quantity of stress. A quantity of stress that shouldn’t be there. Also, let us not forget the barrier that stops other students from going to college. If students knew that a part of their loans would be paid off, they might also give college a shot and accomplish their dreams. So by removing a significant percentage (depending on the families income) of their loans, we ensure an easier transition into a working life and we open the gateway for anyone who cannot afford prestigious colleges so that more people can get an education and America can grow intellectually and economically. 
By canceling student loans, we could SIGNIFICANTLY help so many of these students who want to continue their education but don’t have to worry about the burden that will come later of repaying their student loan. Or, they might already have this hardship laid on them and they’re just struggling to get by. There have been SO many instances where people, especially ones of low-income, have to declare bankruptcy and this can severely impact their future. This goes on their record, and they could be discriminated against when trying to get a job, buy a house, or just start a family. Why would we give up the chance to help these people have a better life, and take this HUGE burden off of them? Some people have been trying to pay their student loan debt back for over 50 years! Their lives are so impacted by this, and we need to help them.
This affects the rest of their lives, Judge. They try to delay getting married, or having kids, or achieving happiness. They are forced to live with the fact for a majority of their life, they will have to make certain things priorities, and it’s not fair to the people for them to do that. If you want it to be fair to them Judge, you have to vote for side proposition, because we don’t want this student loan debt to hang over them like a dark cloud.

Claim:  Benefits our economy
When people aren’t worried about a debt, they will spend more, giving back to the economy
What I mean is that when we will be relieving the $1.57 trillion accumulated in student loans, all that money we took out to help will be paid back. Additionally, we might even help the original debt that burdens the U.S. economy.
Warrant: 
agb.org states “Colleges and universities drive economic development. Here’s how: About one million international students study at American colleges and universities over the course of a year, contributing $36.9 billion to the U.S. economy and supporting more than 450,000 jobs through expenditures on higher education, accommodations, dining, retail, and transportation.” The website also states that “Overall, U.S. colleges and universities employ 3.98 million people, or more than 2.5 percent of the population.”
The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College explains that “When you have 44 million Americans carrying student debt, that's 44 million people making monthly payments and thousands of dollars stripped out of local economies. These payments severely reduce consumer purchasing power, meaning less cash spent on nights out, or new cars, or buying homes, all the things you need people to be doing for a healthy, stable economy.”
According to theconversation.com, “The financial distress indicated by this high rate of delinquency is undermining both the physical and mental health of young adults. It prevents young adults from starting families, purchasing cars, renting or buying their own homes and even starting new businesses.
ProgressNow found that students with outstanding loan payments were 36 percent less likely to purchase a house, and other research indicates that “Those with student loan debt also are less likely to have taken out car loans.” 
[wsj.com] “Research from the Levy Economics Institute found that canceling all student debt could boost real GDP between $86 billion and $108 billion a year for 10 years and lower the unemployment rate between 0.22 to 0.36 percentage point over the decade.”
Impact: 
So although we will be spending money on helping student loan debt, we will be decreasing the trillion dollar burden (currently around 1.57 trillion dollars) from student debt hanging over students like a dark cloud. But Judge, the benefits don’t end there. Students who cannot afford going to college can now borrow money and attend college because they know that they will have support to pay back loans → our plan is that support. Additionally, the fact that students don’t need to pay back debt anymore means they can use that money - consumer spending - which will benefit the economical debt. With our plan, we are SUPPORTING those who cannot afford going to college and getting an education while also ALLEVIATING the trillion dollar burden weighing us down as a nation.
Our economy is somewhat struggling due to the pandemic and other causes as well. By canceling student loan debt, we could significantly boost it. This is essential, because it would do so many things for us. It would increase the quality of life for many people, reduce levels of poverty, and give us higher average incomes. This would benefit so many people, not only the ones who are getting their debt canceled. The proposition, by canceling student loan debt, is trying to help as many people as we can, including the people in debt, their families, companies, the economy in general, and the overall population. We aren’t focusing on one group of people, like the opposition is/is going to be. We need to help our economy, and one of the best ways to do that is to cancel student loan debt.









Block Against Opposition 
Argument Prop/Opp is likely to make
Use your best judgment and think deeply about the types of arguments the other side is reasonably going to make. 
Responses or counters to it 
Consider factors the other team didn’t mention, evidence to prove otherwise, or how this isn’t as big of a deal as the other team claims it to be.
1. Any plan that Opp makes.


Turning Warrant: 
[how can we flip the argument’s reasoning back on them?]
Turning Impact: 
[how can we flip the argument’s impacts?]
Eliminate: 
Your plan does nothing about the current debt. You are focused so much about the future that you aren’t doing anything about the present. There is no future without the present. Our side is addressing the issue of 1.7 trillion dollars of debt right now, AND addressing the fact that people are struggling to pay off their debts.
Mitigate: 
[how can we lessen the impact of side prop?] 
Outweigh
What other factors matter more? 
2. At the end of the day, someone's salary may never pick up and they will still have debt left over.
Turning Warrant: 
Normally, people have a set amount of time to pay off their loans. If they can’t pay off the loan in that time, they will be given an extension of 5 years. If they still haven’t paid it off, the government would again forgive the loans. 
Turning Impact: 
[how can we flip the argument’s impacts?]
Eliminate: 
[how can we make it a non-factor?]
Mitigate: 
[how can we lessen the impact of side prop?] 
Outweigh
What other factors matter more? 
3. The U.S. is in debt and the government cannot afford to lose that much money


Turning Warrant: 
Our plan doesn’t affect the U.S. debt, because we are being funded by the 2% Wealth Tax.
Turning Impact: 
[how can we flip the argument’s impacts?]
Eliminate: 
[how can we make it a non-factor?]
Mitigate: 
It actually wouldn’t be that much. People pay their loans back slowly (generally over 10 years). The government would not receive that money over 10 years making less of an impact.
Outweigh
Plus, Judge, investing money in education is the best place to invest money. Education will always pay back. Always. Once students finish their term in college, they can actually pay back to their country easier with better education.
4. Students and families are at fault for this crisis
Turning Warrant: 
[how can we flip the argument’s reasoning back on them?]
Turning Impact: 
[how can we flip the argument’s impacts?]
Eliminate: 
[how can we make it a non-factor?]
Mitigate: 
Judge, this is a common misconception. It is thought that families and students have created all this debt because of overborrowing, but it is actually not their fault! Higher education prices have increased while financial support has stayed the same. → “...colleges respond to expansions of financial aid by increasing tuition.” ~ From NBER Paper ‘Accounting for the Rise in College Tuition’. When colleges realize that, because of financial aid, families can pay off the current tuition, they continue increasing tuition! So if anyone can get a loan, schools start charging higher prices. 
Outweigh
What other factors matter more?
5. Your plan only targets certain people, who don’t need the cancellation as much as others do.
Turning Warrant: 
However, businessinsider says, “Biden rejected canceling $50,000 in student debt per borrower, but supports canceling $10,000. Insider broke down the math of canceling student debt at various thresholds. Experts said forgiveness could boost the economy and benefit minorities and low-income households.”
Turning Impact: 
[how can we flip the argument’s impacts?]
Eliminate: 
[how can we make it a non-factor?]
Mitigate: 
[how can we lessen the impact of side prop?] 
Outweigh
What other factors matter more? 


Questions to ask the opposition (POIs) 
What is the point of going to college, when you can’t have a future because of your debt?






Points of Crystallization 
Note: This will be difficult to plan beforehand, and it will require you to have a strong preliminary set of arguments and a good block to be able to see where the debate round is likely to land. 
Essential Questions: What does this case come down to?
[Point out a major assumption on their side and form it into a question or consider what your winning reason is and how to form a question to summarize the story of the round and why this is the deciding factor] 
Possible question: What is the best way to help students and the economy right now?

Why is this question so important to the round? 
[Explain why this question is so essential and how both sides care about it] 
Both sides want to help students succeed. Side proposition believes the best way to help students is by canceling their student loan debt and taking away a burden on their lives. Opposition believes that students should still have to take on the responsibility of student loan debt and that we should place investment in fixing the education system, not canceling debt. 
Their Best Arguments
[Explain their best argument and their attempt to answer this question. Then explain how you attacked this argument and why it isn’t valid.]





Your Best arguments 
Student loan debt impacts lives very negatively. College is supposed to help you succeed and get places, not force you to pay off debt that will hold you back. These debts cause depression, anxiety, and even suicide. Canceling this debt will be a much needed chance for students to succeed after going to college. By voting for proposition, you are providing these people the chance to succeed without being held back. 

This is something our side does that opposition clearly doesn’t. People have 1.7 trillion dollars in shared student loan debt. This is dragging down the U.S economy. People aren’t spending money due to their large amounts of debt, and the government isn’t getting the loans paid back from people because people can’t pay it. By canceling debt you are stopping the standstill of people who can’t pay their debts because it is too high, and encouraging people to spend money and continue their lives, all contributing back to the economy. 
Therefore… [Explain why your side better answers this question] 
Our side is doing what is best for these students in their futures. We are allowing people to continue their lives. We are doing what is best for the economy by getting people to start spending again and beginning to eliminate the huge amount of debt that is a burden on our economy. Our plan is actually much more system then opposition is trying to make it seem. We are simply getting rid of debt to eliminate the pressure placed on some people. On opposition we are doing nothing about the 1.7 trillion dollars of debt and trying to do for the root of the problem. 



























Opposition
Definitions:
This House is defined as The US Federal Government
Loan is defined as a thing that is borrowed, especially a sum of money that is expected to be paid back with interest. 
Debt is defined as something, typically money, that is owed or due.
Default is defined as failure to fulfill an obligation, especially to repay a loan or appear in a court of law.

Plan: 
The amount of debt people would need to pay off overall remains the same but the amount they have to pay each month depends on their income. They would give 5% of their income towards their debt every month, therefore when they are making more they pay more, when they make less they pay less. For example, if someone made $6000 one month, they would pay $300 towards their student loan and keep the rest of their money for other expenses. They would be allowed as much time as they need to pay off their debt to ensure that the government is still getting their money back.

Prop’s plan is to cancel student loan debt forever/make colleges free forever
Reasons why this would destroy our country:
This would hurt our economy: 
Unrealistic to pay for college for everyone 
With these proposals you aren’t really making college free, you are just asking someone else to pay for it.
The government would have to put limits 
If they issue a wealth tax It’s not fair for the wealthy to pay for FREE college forever.
30% of billionaires never even got a bachelor's degree
We should have the wealthy pay for some things, but free college forever is just outrageous.
If they increase federal taxes Why are we making EVERYONE pay for this? By making colleges free, you’re taxing everyone, which makes no sense. College has a certain tuition so that the people attending have to pay for it. Why would we make EVERYONE IN THE COUNTRY pay for it?! Many people don’t even go to college, yet you’re making everyone—from low income families to the richest people—pay for it. That just doesn’t make sense. 






Arguments: 

Claim: A temporary solution
Warrant: 
CNBC states, Student debt increased by 107% this decade and it is at an all time high.
Forbes.com states, “Ineffective: Student loan debt cancellation is short-term thinking that doesn’t address the underlying issue: the cost of higher education.”
[collegedata.org] The average tuition of public in-state college is around $27,000, and public out-of-state college is around $43,000. Additionally, the average cost of private universities is approximately $55,000. As you can see → college is expensive and people will continue to take out loans even after side proposition cancels the current debt. This means that there will simply be another student debt problem again in the future. 
Jamesgmartin.center says, “Forgiving student debt would undoubtedly increase purchasing power for the people receiving forgiveness. But the money required to pay for debt cancellation has to come out of the economy somewhere else, either through taxes or borrowing. Student debt forgiveness might provide the economy a temporary sugar high as debtors spend the windfall they’ve received from canceled loan payments, but eventually the bill has to be paid.”
Impact:
Judge, although cancelling the debt may seem like a great scenario, that only lasts for a short amount of time. It’s temporary! I can’t stress that enough! What about after it wears out? What will we do then? Our hands will be tied, and we’d have stepped into our own demise. Is that what we want our society to be? Would we want the positive things to be temporary, yet negative things to be permanent? Of course not, which is why you can’t vote for side proposition, and must vote for side proposition. We’d be able to avoid those negative circumstances, which all of us don’t want. 
Your honor, if we cancel student loan debt, it could lead to detrimental effects on the economy, on their families, on everyone. We can not let that happen. If we want to truly help this cause, we shouldn’t be canceling student loan debt, we should be doing something about the high education costs, or helping remove the burden of paying it back, which is exactly what the opposition is proposing. All the benefits that proposition are saying, those won’t last long! Those won’t be there for ever! Yet, if we do cancel all the debt, all of the negative things will be permanent!




Claim:  Unaffordable and unfair
Benefits the wealthy disproportionately
Warrant: 
According to forbes.com “According to a new working paper from the University of Chicago, cancelling student loans would disproportionately benefit wealthier Americans. The authors say that student loan forgiveness — which many believe would help student loan borrowers who are struggling financially — would be a regressive policy that would benefit the top 10%...”
Inquirer.com states, “The vast majority of Americans do not currently hold bachelor’s degrees...Whatever the reason may be, those two-thirds of Americans have nothing to do with the student loan debt of those who did complete their degrees (and are presumably higher-earners). Yet, some are suggesting that they, as American taxpayers, should pay off student loans taken out by others.”
The total amount of student loan debt is 1.6 TRILLION. How are we supposed to pay for all that?! That’s a substantial amount of money and it wouldn't be fair to make others pay for it. 
Forbes states, “Biden has lofty goals for student loans and improving the financial status of working class Americans—and he says that the cost of his plans will be covered in part by raising taxes on corporations and the wealthiest households (those who make $400,000 or more per year).”
Investopedia.com states, “Critics argue against canceling any amount of student loan debt, in part because it would unduly benefit a relatively privileged class of people—college graduates. While over 40 million Americans have at least some student loan debt, they represent only an eighth of the U.S. population.﻿﻿﻿﻿ Some people who did not attend college, or who already struggled to pay off their student loan debt, may also object. What's more, forgiveness or cancellation of student loan debt does nothing to address the overall high cost of a college education today.”
In washingtonpost.com, Allan Sloan writes, “Let me start by saying the one thing we should not do is to forgive all student debt, or even a major portion of it. Why? Because that’s just not fair, and it would be terribly divisive. It would enrage millions of people like my wife and me who made serious financial sacrifices to pay our kids’ private-college costs for undergraduate degrees without us or our kids having to incur debt.”
Forbes.com also says, “One principal argument against student loan cancellation is that it’s fundamentally unfair. The argument goes something like this: 
“I paid off my student loans. Why do I have to pay off your student loans?” 
“I worked to pay off my student loans and made other financial sacrifices. Why can’t you do the same?” 
“If you borrowed student loan debt, it’s your responsibility to pay it back.”
You may believe these arguments are reasonable. You may find them spiteful. The underlying sentiment, however, is based on personal responsibility and sacrifice.”
Impact: 									
Your Honor,  By canceling this debt, that money doesn’t just disappear. It still has to be paid for, just not by the ones in debt. There is no way our government could pay for all of it with the money they have now, because they need to use that on other things. But here’s the thing—most of this money comes from taxes. And the same thing will happen with student loan debt. All these taxpayers who had nothing to do with these students’ education now are giving their money to help them pay back their own debt. How is this fair?! It’s practically like paying someone else’s bills—it makes no sense.
Proposition is only thinking about the current situation, not the future, where the same thing will happen. Proposition is proposing to cancel student loan debt now. But can I ask you something? Why do people take out loans for college in the first place? Because it is so expensive. Unreasonably expensive. A LOT of kids have to take out loans just to get an education, and that affects them for the rest of their life. But if we cancel it now, what about the kids in the future? Is it fair for future generations that we do it this year but never again? Is it fair for the people who already paid back their whole student loan? No—it’s not. Proposition is only thinking about the now, not the future generations who will have to struggle just as much, if not more. And in fact, if we do this now, future generations will think the same will happen to them, and they won’t have to pay back their whole student loan because it will get canceled again.
Judge, this argument may seem “selfish” to you and side proposition. But is it really? Is it really selfish, to the people that had to work countless days and nights? Is it selfish to the people who sometimes did not have dinner on the table for them and/or their families? Is it really selfish, to the people who spent years trying to pay off the debt? Of course it isn’t! Not to mention who expensive this will be! We simply can not cancel student loan debt.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Claim: It will ruin the economy
It is all just a negative cycle of money.
Warrant:
According to crfb.org “Student debt cancellation will increase cash flow by only $90 billion per year, at a cost of $1.5 trillion.”
According to finaid.org “A good rule of thumb is that tuition rates will increase at about twice the general inflation rate. On average, tuition tends to increase about 8% per year. An 8% college inflation rate means that the cost of college doubles every nine years.”
According to investopedia.com “One of the Federal Reserve’s chief responsibilities is to monitor and control inflation. The Fed aims to keep to the inflation rate around 2%.”
Also, usinflationcalculator.com says, “The annual inflation rate for the United States is 1.7% for the 12 months ended February 2021 after climbing 1.4% previously, according to U.S. Labor Department data published on March 10.‘
If they have a Wealth Tax on assets:
According to the New York Times (nytimes.com) “When a country begins to fall into economic and political difficulty, wealthy people are often the first to ship their money to safer havens abroad. The rich don’t always emigrate along with their money, but when they do, it is an even more telling sign of trouble.”
According to the New York Times (nytimes.com) “Since 2013, New World Wealth, a research outfit based in South Africa, has been tracking millionaire migrations by culling property records, visa programs, news media reports and information from travel agents and others who cater to the wealthy. In a global population of 15 million people each worth more than $1 million in net assets, nearly 100,000 changed their country of residence last year.”
Impact
 Your honor, if we cancel student loan debt, we are hurting our nation. Because of inflation, and how to fund this at all, this simply makes no sense, because we will hurt our economy! It costs 1.5 trillion dollars. Money doesn’t grow on trees, judge. You cannot vote for side proposition, because if you do, you’re voting to hurt our nation. And these taxes hurt us even more! People will have less spending money, therefore less money actually going into the economy.
Judge, what I’m trying to say here, is that we’d obviously need some way to fund this. And since, as my partner previously stated, it’d cost 1.5 trillion dollars, meaning that it’d take a lot of money. Inflation rates would definitely increase, and if it’s at 1.7% right now, do we really expect it to stay or be less at 2%? Of course not, which is why we must not cancel student loan debt.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Claim: Infeasible
(ONLY SAY IF THEY MENTION THIS IN THEIR PLAN) This would be canceling all student loan debt in America. This is quite impractical.
Warrant: 
Studentloanhero.com states, “But all these plans require years of service or repayment before canceling your debt. (they give an example) The Teacher Loan Forgiveness program has the shortest service requirement at five years, but it only offers either up to $5,000 or $17,500 toward your debt, depending on the subject you teach.”
Usstdentloancenter.org says, “With so much talk and chaos in today’s administration, some student loan forgiveness programs may be in jeopardy. One can never be too sure about these programs anymore. While they do offer comfort, they are still at the mercy of legislative actions.”
Forbes.com says, “Poorly Targeted: Student loan debt cancellation disproportionately benefits graduate school students, who earn higher income.”
Forbes.com also writes, “the evolution of student loan debt cancellation proposals have become narrower over the past two years. It’s possible that policymakers will narrow eligibility requirements further.”
Impact:
Your honor, this is completely impractical. The way that we will power this and all, it won’t work! If we even achieve being able to give this forgiveness to these people, how will we be able to give so much money to so many people? We can’t, judge. If you vote for side proposition, you’re voting for us to unknowingly try to pass out billions of dollars to American citizens, having never done this before! However, if you vote for side opposition, then you are accepting that although this is an issue, this isn’t the way to solve it.
If we narrow the eligibility requirements further, would it really be benefiting all of those people? Or would it just be resources being used to something that we don’t know will work? Proposition could bring up the point on how “so we just don’t try?” But I don’t think that they understand that in this case, it hurts to try! That’s time and money being used, used to a place that we don’t know will even be worth it? This is infeasible and impractical, Judge.
Block Against Proposition 
Argument Prop/Opp is likely to make
Use your best judgment and think deeply about the types of arguments the other side is reasonably going to make. 
Responses or counters to it 
Consider factors the other team didn’t mention, evidence to prove otherwise, or how this isn’t as big of a deal as the other team claims it to be.
1. Places a burden on people’s lives


Turning Warrant: 
[how can we flip the argument’s reasoning back on them?]
Turning Impact: 
[how can we flip the argument’s impacts?]
Eliminate: 
[how can we make it a non-factor?]
Mitigate: 
[how can we lessen the impact of side prop?] 
Outweigh
Yes, it does. What this really comes down to is who’s plan addresses this situation better? The answer is ours. We are making it easier for the people who are struggling and yet aren’t making it unfair to the people who already paid their debt. Proposition on the other hand, is proposing we cancel the student loan debt and completely forget about the people who already paid their debt and the people in the future who will still have to pay their debt. See the unfairness in proposition’s plan, judge? Opposition doesn’t have any of these unjust solutions.
2. Helps minorities


Turning Warrant: 
[how can we flip the argument’s reasoning back on them?]
Turning Impact: 
This actually helps the rich more than the minorities because they don’t need their tuition to be paid off yet they are getting so much help from the government. Is it really fair to help the wealthy pay of their debt when they can pay it off themselves?
Eliminate: 
Census.gov writes, “43% of the 70% of minorities who do not have a bachelor degree, don’t attend college.” So Judge, would it really be affecting and helping all of these minorities? Of course it wouldn’t, we’d just be using resources to a cause that won’t work!
Mitigate: 
[how can we lessen the impact of side prop?] 
Outweigh
What other factors matter more? 
3. Helps the economy


Turning Warrant: 
[how can we flip the argument’s reasoning back on them?]
Turning Impact: 
It will cost taxpayers money as well. The debt will also pile up again. And since you power it by a wealth tax, that means that the wealthy, the people who contribute to our economy a lot won’t be spending as much to be able to cancel ALL OF THIS DEBT, so it wouldn’t really actually help the economy.
Eliminate: 
[how can we make it a non-factor?]
Mitigate: 
While this is an economic stimulus → it will cost the government a lot of money, a government that is already in debt.
Outweigh
What other factors matter more? 


Questions to ask the opposition (POIs) 
What about the people who already paid their debt, and the people in the future who will have to as well?







Points of Crystallization 
Note: This will be difficult to plan beforehand, and it will require you to have a strong preliminary set of arguments and a good block to be able to see where the debate round is likely to land. 
Essential Questions: What does this case come down to?
[Point out a major assumption on their side and form it into a question or consider what your winning reason is and how to form a question to summarize the story of the round and why this is the deciding factor] 
What is going to help the economy and work the best?

Why is this question so important to the round? 
[Explain why this question is so essential and how both sides care about it] 
Side proposition believes that the people should be forgiven and that this is going to help people the best. However, side opposition knows that people need to be held responsible for their debts and that proposition isn’t actually solving the problem. 

There are a few things that I will cover in my speech, regarding the fact that this plan is not going to work, nor is it what needs to be done, as well as how this is not a burden that the government should have to address. 


Their Best Arguments
[Explain their best argument and their attempt to answer this question. Then explain how you attacked this argument and why it isn’t valid.]












Your Best arguments 
[Explain your best argument to answer this question. Then explain how the other side tried to attack this argument, but why you’re still coming out on top.]
Why should the government pay for everyone else's debt? People have so many issues regarding debt. Credit Card debt, business debt, housing debts. Does that mean the government should pay off every single debt that people are burdened with? No. Everyone has things that they need to pay for in adulthood, student loan debt among them. 

Student loan debt is a temporary solution. It isn’t where we should be spending our money. Sure we might address the current debt for now, but the debt will just come back right after this. Why should we spend 1.7 trillion dollars of our money on this? This money could be redirected to more valuable causes that are able to be more long term and beneficial. It isn’t reasonable to do this judge. 
Therefore… [Explain why your side better answers this question] 
On side proposition there are some possibilities of paying off some student loan debt and helping the economy in the future 





OLD PLAN
We would adopt President elect Biden’s plan which is simply to cancel $10,000 off of everyone’s federal loan debt as a part of Covid - 19 relief. 
That could wipe out debt entirely for about 15 million borrowers who owe $10,000 or less. 
In addition to the $10,000 he would further forgive loans for those who attended Public College or University and if you earn less than $125,000 per year.
For workers that provide public service; public school teachers, protection services, firefighters, police officers, community helpers, ect. Biden would provide up to $10,000 a year for up to 5 years meaning they could make up to $50,000.
To fund this plan we would take away some of the Tax cuts made in 2017 by Donald Trump. Without the 40% reduction in taxes that Trump made → we were supposed to get 275 billion dollars. 
In the future, after the current debt is canceled, we would have a system called Income Contingent Repayment. This makes it so that the amount of your debt that you have to pay off per month is based ons the income you are making during that time. People would pay 5% of their income per month, if THEY WANTED TO. When you aren’t earning a lot, you don’t have to pay a lot. When you are, you do.  Both Australia and Germany have already put this in place.



















Pro: Cancel student loan debt

1st pro: 
-Good evidence and reasoning
-Look up more 

2nd pro: 
-Speak more loudly/clearly

3rd pro:

4th pro:
-Speak more loudly and clearly
-Summarized well

_ Pro:
-have more evidence

_ pro 
-Louder









Con: Don’t cancel student loan debt

1st con: 
-Made good refutes while also helping your side

2nd con:
-Plan out what you’re going to say

3rd con:
-Did well at reinforcing con claims

4th con:
-Good pace

_ Con:
Speak more confidently


make this a argument only using this data