President Joe Biden announced he has canceled $9 billion in student loan debt for 125,000 Americans. The move comes just a few days after federal student loan debt payments were scheduled to resume after being paused 3 years ago. But some critics are saying the Commander-in-Chief should have canceled even more student loan debt.
No More Student Loan Debt
President Joe Biden just revealed he is canceling $9 billion in student loan debt. The move came just a few months after the Supreme Court struck down another plan that the President had come up with to help about 43 million Americans get rid of up to $20,000 in student loan debt each or roughly $400 billion in total.
He had promised to find ways to deliver student loan debt relief to Americans, and his administration was able to deliver by leveraging programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness. It’s expected to help about 125,000 Americans eliminate student loan debt once and for all.
A Life-Changing Move for Many Americans
While announcing the cancellation of $9 billion in student loan debt, President Biden talked about the huge economic impact it’ll have on thousands of American families. “This kind of relief is life changing for individuals and their families,” he said.
Biden also touched on the Supreme Court’s decision not to allow more families to get help with student loan debt and blamed Republicans for standing in their way. “The money was literally about to go out the door, but Republican elected officials and special interests stepped up and sued us,” he said.
“The Supreme Court sided with them, snatching from the hands of millions of Americans thousands of dollars in student debt relief that was about to change their lives.”
The Biden Administration’s Shrewd Maneuvers
Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, the Biden administration was able to provide at least some student loan debt relief to Americans by taking a series of creative steps. They were able to give more than $5 billion in student loan debt aid to about 53,000 Americans who have worked in the public service sector for over a decade.
They were also able to secure almost $3 billion for around 51,000 Americans who qualify for income-driven repayment plans. Additionally, they were able to obtain over $1 billion for about 22,000 Americans diagnosed with disabilities.
How This Could Help the President on the Campaign Trail
Many experts have already weighed in on President Biden’s ability to get student loan debt relief for thousands of Americans. They believe it could benefit him in a big way when he hits the campaign trail in the months leading up to the 2024 Presidential Election.
“Biden has forgiven more student loan debt than any previous president,” one higher education expert said shortly after the news broke. “It distinguishes him from other candidates who are campaigning for the nation’s highest office.”
Not Everyone Is Happy With the President
There are at least 125,000 Americans who were thrilled to hear that President Biden would be canceling $9 billion in student loan debt. But there were also others who wished he would have pushed to do even more.
For example, Astra Taylor, who is the co-founder of an organization called Debt Collective, said she would have liked to see President Biden do away with more student loan debt overall. In fact, she wanted to see it all go. “If the Department of Education can cancel this amount, it can cancel it all —meeting and exceeding the President’s commitment to borrowers currently being crushed by the chaotic return to repayment,” she said.
Could More Assistance Be on the Way?
For now, it doesn’t sound like President Biden will be able to wipe out any more student loan debt. But he did announce he will also put a 12-month “on-ramp” to student loan debt repayment in place. It may help millions of Americans avoid becoming delinquent on student loan debt payments.
This part of his plan is also facing backlash from some Biden critics, though, as they claim he’s only establishing this “on-ramp” to skew statistics on student loan borrower hardship until after the 2024 Presidential Election.
The post “Cancel It All”: Biden Eliminates $9 Billion in Student Loan Debt, but Could He Have Done More? first appeared on The Net Worth Of.
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