Most folks see others succeed and wish them well, for winning recognition, getting a promotion or receiving benefits from Medicare or the VA. Some, though, feel jealous: “Hey! What about me?”

So it seems with federal efforts to ease the student-debt burden in general, and in particular President Biden’s new plan, SAVE (Save on A Valuable Education).

Created using authority from the Higher Education Act that first enacted income-based repayment reforms 30 years ago, SAVE would provide lower monthly payments for millions of borrowers who qualify based on their family size, current income, and its relation to the federal poverty line. SAVE provides a faster path to zero balances.

Already, student-debt relief has cleared balances of more than 400,000 enrollees who’d borrowed less than $12,000 and had been paying for at least 10 years. Overall, about 8 million Americans are enrolled in government repayment plans.

SAVE is an amended version of the existing Revised Pay as You Earn plan (REPAYE). All income-driven plans promise to forgive borrowers balances after 20 or 25 years of payments, but SAVE cuts the time for those who took out smaller loans.

Now, however, several Republican states’ attorneys general want to block SAVE, and — regardless of their arguments — it’s political.

After suits by Kansas and Missouri blocked SAVE in federal District courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit last month granted the administration’s request that the Education Department be allowed to proceed with lowering payments under SAVE. Days later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit ruled with Missouri and once more blocked SAVE. (Alaska, South Carolina and Texas also are part of the attempt to kill SAVE, and asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in.)

So, SAVE hasn’t been saved.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on July 18 said borrowers enrolled in SAVE will be placed in interest-free forbearance while the administration continues to defend the plan in court. “Today’s ruling from the 8th Circuit blocking President Biden’s SAVE plan could have devastating consequences for millions of student loan borrowers crushed by unaffordable monthly payments if it remains in effect,” he said. “It’s shameful that politically motivated lawsuits waged by Republican elected officials are once again standing in the way of lower payments for millions of borrowers.”

The GOP lawsuits pander to those who resent what they consider a handout hurting society or who complain of the unfairness since they paid off their own student loans.

That ignores how much more expensive it is to attend college, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Accounting for inflation, today’s average annual tuition is more than $14,000; 60 years ago, it was about $4,600. The total yearly cost (including books, room & board, and required fees) is $27,000, NCES says; in 1983 it was $11,400, a 57% increase.

“Across all types of schools, the cost of college has increased more than 135%, or about 2.3 times, between 1963 and 2021,” NCES shows.

Others object to helping borrowers because it’s against the American ideal of “meritocracy.” But meritocracy is hardly applied uniformly; wealth passes to families and privileges to the “connected,” deserving or not, and other “legacy” benefits.

Concerning student loans, meritocracy mythmakers contrast the GI Bill because that benefit was earned (an “entitlement”), and critics complain that SAVE offers free money to irresponsible borrowers and taxpayers will pick up the tab.

First, it won’t cost the public. The Congressional Budget Office said the financial effect would be $230 billion over the next 10 years, true, but the relief is for money that doesn’t really exist.

Consider a little logic and math. Say a student’s savings and part-time job weren’t enough and it was necessary to get a $20,000 loan to finish college. Borrowing from Sallie Mae, one of the country’s main student lenders, the borrower pays 9.9% interest on a 20-year loan. An amortization schedule means the monthly payments would be $191.68. After 10 years, the borrower has paid $23,001.60 — $3,000 more than the loan value. So, even if the balance is forgiven outright, the lender’s recovered its loan amount plus thousands of dollars.

No one is really losing or spending any money. SAVE and similar relief changes monthly obligations and “erases” money that didn’t exist — the original loan amount is paid.

Next, many 20-year-olds may not appreciate the decades-long implications of high-interest loans or changing job markets, so it’s not unreasonable to help those trapped in circumstances beyond their control — and let the monthly payments instead be put toward a better furnace, reliable car, house or everyday expenses, contributing to their communities and country.

SAVE would let people use their previous monthly payments to plow into local economies as new consumers, and such grassroots financial assistance would be far cheaper than the $700 billion bank bailout of 2008.

By the way, in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Norway, Scotland and Sweden, college is free. Also, 76 countries worldwide have universal health care.

Seeing all that, it’s understandable to think:

“Hey! What about US?”