This article may be of interest:
A Market-Driven Solution to the Student-Loan Debt Spiral
by John Tamny
Real Clear Markets
December 2, 2021



The article discusses that Smith has retired the college debt of some Morehouse graduates and briefly describes the plan going forward:

Any thoughts...?

Interesting approach. (And, conceptually, somewhat related to the federal loan forgiveness programs that view student loans as an investment in providers of needed skills to underserved populations, and to the NIH/NSF grants to graduate students for which payback stipulations consist of continuing to work in the field of study.)

It's an open question, of course, whether it will work as hoped. What is clear, though, is that our current system is not working, so I'm certainly in agreement that something new needs to be considered, and Mr. Smith, to his credit, is doing more than just talking about it.

Not the first time this was tried

Here's a previously failed attempt

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MyRichUncle

Indeed. At the individual level, also in science, and in policy, much of life is a reiterative process: analyzing what worked, what did not work, and making adjustments to test a variety of theories regarding why something worked or did not work... which may lead to success on a future attempt.

Famous saying: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

There are many lists encouraging perseverance after setbacks, rejection, failure. For example, FailureBeforeSuccess.com

Somewhat similar, Carol Dweck's book, mindset, encourages overcoming a fixed mindset and developing a growth mindset approach to problem solving.