Some relief for students drowning in student loans
6th September 2022 · 0 Comments
Naysayers in the two major political parties didn’t stop the Biden Administration from forging ahead to provide $500 billion in loan forgiveness to relieve low to moderate Americans struggling with student loans.
“That’s not enough,” some Democrats said about Biden’s $10,000 student debt forgiveness proposal and the $20,000 debt relief for students who received Pell Grants. Meanwhile, Republicans are proposing to challenge Biden’s bid in court.
To be eligible for the loan forgiveness, student debtors must have earned less than $125,000 (or $250,000 for a married couple) in the 2020 or 2021 tax years), Vox News reported on The “fairness” debate over student loan forgiveness.
Pell Grants are designed to help low-income students attend college. U.S. News reported that the maximum Pell Grant award for 2021-2022 is $6,495, and the minimum is $650. Clearly, the grant doesn’t begin to pay for the total costs of a college education.
So students who received Pell Grants and earned less than the median income could qualify for up to $20,000 in loan forgiveness. And if they attended state colleges and universities, their entire loan debt might be forgiven.
Louisiana’s state colleges’ and universities’ can cost up to an estimated $22,000, including tuition and fees and living expenses for an off-campus student without dependents. Factor in the on-campus room and board and/or out-of-state student tuition, and the cost increases.
For many of the 43 million Americans with federal student loan debt, President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness proposal is a welcome relief. The debt cancellation could help them afford a mortgage on a home.
According to VOX, “The proposal would entirely wipe out student debt for 20 million people — nearly half of the 43 million Americans who borrowed to pay for college and are still paying the loans back. An analysis from the Education Department found that almost 90 percent of the benefits would go to people earning less than $75,000 per year, though because any loans taken out before July 2022 are eligible for forgiveness, that figure includes current students and very recent graduates whose salaries could rise in the near future.”
But of course, there are those crying foul. Words like inflation and unfairness are being tossed about. “Is this the right time to offer student loan forgiveness,’ some wonder?
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who purports to speak on behalf of blue-collar workers, said Biden’s student loan forgiveness program 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 chose a certain career path or volunteered to serve in our Armed Forces in order to avoid taking on debt.”
First of all, McConnell’s opinion is irrelevant, as are those of economists crying about the policy’s impact on inflation—which to the layperson is just a euphemism for price-gouging.
The hateration for anything and everything Biden proposes for everyday people is a slap in the face. McConnell has the nerve to knock Biden for doing something, however minimal for Americans when he continues the Republican obstructionist policies he began when President Barack Obama took office.
The hypocrisy of those who criticize the student loan forgiveness program is insulting at best and ludicrous at the very least.
Did we hear such protestations when former President Donald J. Trump Sr. and McConnell’s Republican-dominated Senate passed the most significant permanent tax cut in history that only benefited the wealthy? Nope. Not a peep.
Heavens forbid if Biden would have passed an executive order making college tuition free at state colleges. That’s what Senator Bernie Sanders called for during his presidential bid.
Biden’s critics have already said that’s socialism. So what? College should be free for all Americans that want to get a higher education. And socialism is already a part of the fabric of America. What is Medicare? What is public school education? What are SNAP benefits?
Maybe if colleges and universities were free, Americans would be able to compete on a global stage in many industries.
This article originally published in the September 5, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
