In today's US political climate, a big talking point for some of the Democratic Party candidates is the forgiveness of student loans. Whenever I hear this discussed among my peers, the consensus is that it can't happen because there would be no way to pay for it.
Today, I saw this article that states
Republican tax cuts cost more than forgiving student debt
The article references .gov sources regarding the tax cuts cost, so it seems at least somewhat legit. On the other hand, I don't see any sources referenced regarding the student loan balance, and even if that balance is correct, is the cost of "forgiveness" really the same as the total student loan debt?
In general, is the claim that forgiving student loans would be less expensive than the 2017 tax cuts accurate?