President-elect Joe Biden’s proposal to forgive $10,000 of federal student debt as COVID relief could erase loan balances for 15 million borrowers and reduce balances for millions more, according to federal data.
Broad student loan forgiveness could affect 45.3 million borrowers with federal student loan debt who owe a total of $1.54 trillion to the government. Wiping out $10,000 each — as Biden calls for — would result in up to $429 billion canceled.
Seth Frotman, executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center, says removing the student loans “albatross around their financial lives” could mean the difference for consumers who aspire to buy a house, save for retirement or start a business.
“Student loan borrowers across the spectrum — old, young, urban, rural, high-balance, low-balance, Black, white — are hurting with their student loans, and that was before COVID even hit,” Frotman says.
For now, Biden’s proposal is just an amount, with no details to answer questions about which loans might be canceled, whether forgiven amounts would be taxed and if borrowers would have defaulted loans removed from their credit history. It also faces hurdles politically.
Democratic lawmakers on Feb. 4 introduced a pair of resolutions in both houses of Congress reasserting a call made previously by Sens. Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren for Biden to cancel $50,000 in student debt per borrower. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki affirmed Biden’s support for some kind of cancellation but stopped short of promising action by executive order.
Should double the amount. Its not like we aren’t used to TRILLIONS being thrown around anyway.
End the stimulus and free up cash now for the next generation, allowing some of them to purchase anything. Need live cash flowing in the economy. Not loan debt money which over the course of 15-20 years, folks pay MORE than the original loan itself. As they are paying down that loan for 15-20 years, less is contributed into the economy since they won’t buy a house, get married, have kids, go on vacations, etc. They will probably have to move back to family, which is not good.
Need live cash now, since most baby boomers won’t exist on earth in 20 years.
Been an awful year and a half, with the holiday season on our doorstep.
This is fair? I paid for my own education and got nothing from the Government. Go figure. Get a degree in playing tennis and Government pays for it.
Maybe we need to strip the subsidiaries from colleges, stop providing them grants and regulate the living crap out of them and their fee structure. 30 years ago a degree didn’t cost 40K+.
A better idea would be to erase the loans the electrician, auto mechanic, plumber, carpenter and other tradesmen took out to start their own businesses. Their skills are more valuable than most liberal arts degrees that employers find useless.
The administration’s hesitant demeanor is because of others crying foul and asking what about them. Eliminate student and credit card debt. Roughly 3 trillion…..less than what has been charged over the last year to the US debt. Should wipe away what we owe china too.
Why not?
Ridiculous – live within your means.
Don’t exceed your paycheck with the fancy car, high end cell phone, etc.
Be responsible rather than looking for someone else to come along and financially save you. This is one of the big reasons nobody is thrilled with millenials and gen z. Bunch of whining spoiled brats that think the world owes them something.
To those who complain that they are being ‘victimized’, guess what? You are an adult. All those words on loan documents you signed clearly spelled it out for you. This is what it means to be a real grown up. If you picked a career/ profession that doesn’t pay well (and you knew that ahead of time) and your loans would certainly exceed your means, then tough crap. Once you sign on that line you own it.
Well, let me sign up for college , so my loans can be Forgiven too !!! I will go to Yale 4 years !!!!!
Why is black capitalised and white not?
Need White Colleges , White History Month , NAAWP , Whiteish show , to have EQUALITY in America !!!!