President Joe Biden announced that the government will forgive $10,000 in student loans for millions of former college students. Biden is set to cancel ten grand in loan debt for millions,
Student loan forgiveness was a massive pledge that Biden made in the 2020 campaign for the White House. The long-awaited plan to provide student loan relief was a key platform.
Biden said that by forgiving student loans, millions of Americans will “finally crawl out from under that mountain of debt.”
People who took out federal student loans in order to pay for their college education, and who make less than $125,000 a year, will be off the hook for up to $10,000.
It marks the Biden administration’s latest order to curb the growing student debt crisis in America.
The announcement comes one week before the end of a moratorium on payments and interest. The pandemic-era pause on payments, which was extended seven times over the past two years, will continue through the end of 2022.
Pell grants are a government program initially meant to support lower-income students from having to pay for college but have only made a dent in tuition at many schools as higher education costs have exploded.
Recipients of these Pell grants will be eligible to have up to $20,000 in debts canceled in what administration officials described as a targeted measure meant to ensure that borrowers from lower-wealth backgrounds receive the greatest amount of relief.
At the White House, Biden said the cost of public colleges and universities has tripled in the last four decades, even as higher education has become increasingly important.
As he spoke at the White House, Biden made special mention of how his plan would give racial minorities relief from heavy debt loads.
“About a third of the borrowers have debt but no degree, the worst of both worlds, debt and no degree. The burden is especially heavy on Black and Hispanic borrowers, who on average have less family wealth to pay for it… they don’t own their homes to borrow against to be able to pay for college. And the pandemic only made things worse,” Biden said.
The move could also boost support for fellow Democrats as they come up to this year’s midterm elections.
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