A plan to cancel student debt and make college free should be a no-brainer. So what's the problem? : This must be a very difficult time for Americans who've invested a lot of their self esteem in their — and their children's — prestige university educations. I mean, yikes, watching the darkness and corruption of our higher ed system coming to light lately? Wondering what would happen if there were actual systemic reforms? Could all of this make you and your brilliant offspring run the risk of seeming somehow less . . . special?