Canceling student debt: The real cost of a free pass

Many Americans are discussing Sen. Elizabeth Warren's plan to cancel student loan debt if she gets elected in 2020.

With what's become a $1.5 trillion crisis, student loan debt has been a large concern-turned-swaying-factor for millennials and college students.

"One of the reasons why there's so much student loan debt in the first place is because people think, 'I have to have a college degree to be successful,'" Campus Reform media director Cabot Phillips said on FOX Business' "Varney & Co." "'I'll do whatever it takes. I'll take out hundreds of thousands of dollars on a loan even if I know I can't pay it back.'"

But the dispute on debt forgiveness could be positioned like this: If we're going to completely cancel student loan debt, then what makes other debt, like credit cards, any different?

"Owning a credit card ... isn't necessary," a college student being interviewed by Phillips said. "Sure, it's beneficial in some ways, but it's not essential in the same way a four-year college education has become."

And this is the logic behind why many of the students interviewed by Phillips said they believe it is OK for the government to erase student loan debt. If they "need it" and can't pay for it, well, then, the government should figure out the rest. But, while it may sound great to younger voters, he said, a free pass doesn't really exist.

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"Millennials are now the largest voting block in America," Phillips said. "So if you can just tell them 'I'm going to give you all these free things' without actually having to explain why oftentimes [politicians] get a free pass. I wish we could see more politicians, especially on the left, addressing why there's so much student loan debt in the first place."