It would be cheaper to foster an economy with more better-paying jobs so students would be able to pay off student loans, than creating a student loan relief program.
I mean, seriously. I was stupid enough to take on the burden of student loans. At least give me the dignity of having the responsibility of paying them off.
Because your student loans can not be discharged in bankruptcy, you have personally assumed all of the risk, as such your interest rate should be zero.
Therefore the most fair and equitable solution is to retroactively set the interest rate to zero, and refund all interest payments to the borrowers.
I wouldn't even mind the interest, if 100% of the interest was used to fund future student loans for the next wave of students. Banks don't want to give out loans they won't make money from? Make it a requirement to qualify for any future bailouts. We're due for another in a couple of years
Interest rates represent the opportunity cost of investing that money elsewhere, of which lending risk is only one component. Also, the point is moot because lenders can still lose money if borrowers default, even if borrowers cannot legally discharge the debt in bankruptcy, so the lender does hold risk.