In early September, officials from the Chilean Embassy in Washington, DC came to my office for advice about a political crisis wracking their country. Angry about the state of university education—including high tuition costs, predatory student loans, ineffective school vouchers, pervasive inequality, and rampant profit-taking—hundreds of thousands of Chileans have taken to the streets regularly since May of this year, participating in demonstrations and national strikes. As riot police used tear gas and water cannons on protesters in the streets of Santiago, approval ratings for President Sebastian Pinera dropped to record lows. Ongoing high-level negotiations between students and government officials have yet to produce resolution.

I was happy to talk policy with the visiting Chilean officials, but I warned them that the American experience of higher-education reform wasn’t an especially inspiring example. Indeed, I was struck by the fact that, even though the American higher education financing system is itself on the verge of catastrophe—its integrity crumbling under the weight of three decades of relentless tuition hikes by colleges and universities and fresh cuts in public aid—massive student-led protests hadn’t yet forced the hand of American policy makers.

Almost on cue, the Occupy Wall Street movement proved me wrong. The protesters in lower Manhattan and elsewhere have many grievances, but it has been impossible to overlook the prominent place given to college debt. Finally, President Obama has felt compelled to respond. On Wednesday, he’ll be unveiling a new set of initiatives designed to address the student-loan crisis. On their own, they mark a good start, but much more will need to be done. Otherwise, the growing expenses of our higher education system will continue to threaten the very underpinnings of our system of opportunity.

THE STUDENTS IN ZUCCOTTI PARK are right to focus on the injustices of student debt: Many of them are indentured to the very banks that destroyed the economy and along with it the jobs students need to pay their loans back. The banks were bailed out for their trouble, while students are left with debt that, thanks to financial industry lobbying, can’t be discharged in bankruptcy. Outstanding student loans in the United States are projected to reach $1 trillion this year, a larger sum than credit card debt.