Lower tuition instead of "forgiving" loans

As the senator representing Washington State University-Pullman, tuition costs have always been of particular interest to me.

The Biden Administration’s controversial plan to “forgive” hundreds of billions of dollars in student-loan debt has brought new attention to the rise in college tuition, and that had me reflecting on debates we’ve had in the Legislature regarding the cost of higher education.

In 2007, I led a successful effort to cap annual tuition increases at our state-run colleges and universities. Democrats undid the cap just two years later, and soon the annual tuition increases we...