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(NewsNation) — During the fourth Republican debate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested a solution to the student loan crisis could be shifting the burden of backing loans from the government to universities.

Student debt has been a hot political topic, with the Supreme Court striking down President Joe Biden’s effort to forgive debt for students with existing loans. Democrats have advocated for loan forgiveness and free college, while Republicans have advocated for more vocational training and said the burden of paying back loans needs to fall on those who signed for them, not taxpayers.

DeSantis’ suggestion was to address the problem at the source, as he rejected the idea of people taking out loans for subjects he said do not lead to gainful employment, such as gender studies in his opinion. Shifting the burden to universities, he said it would force colleges to focus on skills directly related to employment.

NewsNation’s political panel following the debate suggested the policy could also force universities to cut down on expenses that have grown as they became used to relying on student loan money.

The panel and candidates also addressed a recent hearing on antisemitism on college campuses, where several university presidents faced questioning from Congress regarding a rise in antisemitic incidents since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said she would tackle that issue by including anti-Zionism in the definition of antisemitism and threatening to take away universities’ tax-exempt status if they did not do enough to combat antisemitic rhetoric.