It cannot, and should not come before free public university tuition. The problem with student loan forgiveness, by itself, is that is not universal and also regressive. No one who has already paid their student loans benefits, but more importantly, no one who has yet to go to school received any benefits. Every high school senior in this country will be in the same position that current student loan debt holders are currently in. It is far more sensible to pay forward the next generation. Free college also benefits those people who elected not to go to college because they could not afford it . It can also benefit people who currently have student loan debt, because they could also go back to school. It is a truly universal benefit, as opposed to a bail out of college educated millennials and Gen Xers.