Paying back student loans feels like being in a wrestling match that you can’t tap out of. One where the kicks and punches aren’t choreographed, but painfully real. I graduated college with a bachelor’s in history and $40k in debt. I don’t regret getting an education, except when my monthly statement comes in the mail.
My experience isn’t uncommon. The U.S. ranks second in tuition fees worldwide, and most Americans owe at least $39k after graduation.
The reason? Decades of privatization and defunding strangled public universities, forcing tuition hikes that led borrowers like myself to take out thousands each year. Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s recent overhaul of loan repayment has rapidly accelerated this trend, putting public education in a full nelson.
Billionaire McMahon is the cofounder of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), the franchise that brought the barbaric spectacle of spandex-wearing, capitalist machismo into living rooms across the country. In this sense, McMahon is the perfect “heel” to take down the Department of Education and bring the pain to 43 million loan holders.
One of McMahon and Trump’s first targets was the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, a minor reform that resulted from Biden’s capitulation on his campaign promise of debt cancellation. SAVE provided some short-term relief for over seven million low-income borrowers. Trump smashed it with a folding chair when he took office, and it officially ended in July.
The “Big Beautiful Bill” put medical and graduate students in a sleeper hold by capping federal loans at $50k per year — a fraction of tuition costs. Parent PLUS, a program which previously allowed families to borrow up to the total cost of annual payments, is now capped at $20k. This is a giveaway for predatory private lenders, which poor people seeking higher education will now have to rely on.
The nine million who have defaulted on their payments could soon have their wages garnished by the Education Department. All of this will cause enrollment to plummet with fewer people pursuing jobs in medicine, fracturing an unstable healthcare system. Arts and DEI programs will be cut and public institutions will shutter, clearing the field for privatization.
It will take an all-out brawl led by students and borrowers to stop these attacks. Since Trump loves cage fights so much, I say it’s time we give him one: a no-holds-barred knockout match in the Rose Garden where the winner walks away with debt cancellation and free college for all. The only question for Trump is: “Whatcha gonna do when the working class runs wild on you?”
Houston is a seasoned union activist and managing editor of the Freedom Socialist. Send comments to FSnews@socialism.com.
