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The reelection of President Donald Trump will woefully impact students. You may not realize it, but the next president will have huge ramifications for people trying to keep their books balanced and attend university. 

Former Vice President Joe Biden, a Syracuse University law school alumnus, is proposing to increase awards and eligibility for Pell Grants, offer debt-free community college and create many avenues for student loan forgiveness. In stark contrast, Trump wants to end the use of Public Service Loan Forgiveness, as well as federal subsidized loans and loans that cover the total cost of tuition. 

In just a quick glance, we can see that Biden is running on beginnings, while Trump seems to favor endings. Biden plans on doing more for students. Even if Biden wasn’t planning anything at all, that would still be better than Trump’s plan.

Speaking of endings, let’s talk about Trump’s proposal to restrict international student visas. Under the current rule, students can stay in the United States as long as they’re students. Trump’s proposal comes as no surprise, considering how fervently he’s gone after the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The program lets thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children stay in the country.

Biden plans to dismantle many of Trump’s xenophobic policies. He intends to streamline the immigration process and protect DACA, which is especially relevant to young people, as two-thirds of DACA recipients were under 25 as of 2017.

Trump’s policies are damaging, but his words are just as impactful. The president has threatened on Twitter to remove the tax-exempt status of universities that participate in what he claims to be “radical left indoctrination.”

“You’ve seen more of an effort to stir up populous sentiment against universities,” said Steven White, an assistant professor of political science at SU.

The president’s rhetoric is impactful. People may not always have opinions on all political issues, so they follow politicians whom they trust, White said. The takeaway from this isn’t that Trump made debased threats towards academic institutions, but rather that a sizable amount of people might have believed his words.

Every president tries to leave their mark on the country. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had the New Deal. John F. Kennedy had the space program. Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson had the signage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and 1964, respectively. These presidents, though imperfect, are remembered for positive things. Trump, I predict, will not be.

The shining star of his presidency has been the economy. But while growth was steadily positive for most of Trump’s tenure, the country’s gross domestic product contracted over 30% since the beginning of the pandemic, a metric we haven’t reached since the Great Depression.

Coupling our current economic state with the fact that graduating during a recession leads to large initial losses for prospective workers, you get a recipe for Trump being the reason you don’t make enough to pay back the student loans he is trying not to forgive.

Biden isn’t perfect, but that’s not really what this election is about. Trump has consistently attacked policies that benefit students and enacted ones that harm them.

I don’t believe Biden will solve all of our problems, but I do think he will end Trump’s crusade on our nation’s future. And that starts on the college campuses he belittles.

William Ducott is a sophomore finance, business analytics and economics major. His column appears bi-weekly. He can be reached at wtducott@syr.edu.

Published on October 19, 2020 at 11:48 pm