Up to $20,000 per borrower can be forgiven.
QUICK FACTS:
- Biden announced a three-part student debt forgiveness program on Wednesday that cancels up to $20,000 in student loan debt for some borrowers.
- The president released a statement from the White House website saying that the debt relief would be targeted at low-to middle-income borrowers.
- Included in his announcement was the massive increase in total cost of a four-year degree that has taken place since the 1980s.
- “According to a Department of Education analysis, the typical undergraduate student with loans now graduates with nearly $25,000 in debt,” the White House statement said.
- Included in the plan is an extension of the COVID-19 pause on debt repayment and increased forgiveness for those with a Pell Grant.
REPUBLICANS’ RESPONSE:
- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) spoke to the issue saying, “Washington Democrats have found yet another way to make inflation even worse, reward far-left activists, and achieve nothing for millions of working American families who can barely tread water. President Biden’s student loan socialism is a slap in the face to every family who sacrificed to save for college, every graduate who paid their debt, and every American who volunteered to serve in our Armed Forces in order to avoid taking on debt.”
- Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) also had choice words for the program saying, “Biden didn’t ‘forgive student debt,’ he chose to shift the burden of the well-off onto the backs of the 87 percent of Americans who chose to not go to college, already paid off their loans, or saved to not take them out in the first place.”
- “This decision is a spit in the face of Louisiana families who are struggling to get by. This spends at least $300 billion we do not have which will make inflation worse. It does nothing to get at the root problem of the high price of education while costing $2,000 per taxpayer,” the Louisiana Republican continued.
BACKGROUND:
- The president’s plan will reportedly only apply to those making less than $125,000, or couples making less than $250,000 jointly.
- According to Biden, the administration is also issuing its “final” extension for the pause on student loan repayment, which will run through Dec. 31 of 2022.
- The White House claims this move will “advance racial equity,” and that 90% of the cancelations will go to “borrowers earning less than $75,000 a year.”
