Our Selfish Side: Exploring Support for Student Debt Forgiveness Through the Lens of Self-interest

Abstract

This study seeks to assess whether self-interest influences support for two policies to cancel student debt—one forgiving all student debt and one taking a means-tested approach to debt forgiveness. Each of these policy proposals offers a material benefit to certain groups of individuals while imposing cost or having no benefit to others, which allows for an examination of the role of self-interest in policy preference. I use original Cooperative Congressional Election Study survey data and conduct binomial logistic regression to evaluate the role of self-interest on support for these policies as indicated by family income, student debt status, and belief that funding these programs will lead to the respondent’s taxes increasing. I also consider the effects of party identification. My findings demonstrate that partisanship remains a strong predictor of policy preference and also suggests a significant role for self-interest in support and opposition of policies for student debt cancelation.