President Joe Biden’s long-awaited decision on student loan forgiveness in the United States is finally over. President Joe Biden’s plan will clear the debts of millions of borrowers, but with minimal impact on others.
If you have federally held student loans, $10,000 of them will be forgiven to you as long as you make less than $125,000. And if you’ve received a Pell Grant for Students from Low-Income Families, you’ll be eligible for $20,000 instead. And on top of that, student loans have come to a halt, and that has stopped interest and required payments as the pandemic hit have been extended from the August 31 end date to December 31.

The issue of student loan relief in the United States has been an open question since the 2020 Presidential Joe Biden campaign, when Biden promised relief of at least $10,000 per borrower. And since then, student borrowers, in the United States have been an open question since the 2020 Presidential Joe Biden campaign, when Biden promised relief of at least $10,000 per borrower. And since then, student borrowers, advocates, and progressive politicians have urged Biden to go further. and has either eliminated $50,000 per borrower or canceled it outright, using its executive authority to circumvent the lawmaking process, while some critics have said that no apology would be unfair. who never went to college.
How Much Student Debt Do Americans Have?
As of Q4 2021, the number of borrowers with student loans in the United States was classified by loan balance in US dollars.
$1-$5,000 | 7,284,200 |
$5,000-$10,000 | 6,757,100 |
$10,000-$25,000 | 11,524,900 |
$25,000-$50,000 | 8,669,100 |
$50,000-75,000 | 3,985,600 |
$75,000-$100,000 | 1,928,900 |
$100,000-$150,000 | 1,641,200 |
$150,000-$200,000 | 764,500 |
$200,000+ | 911,700 |
Cassie Baca, 25, of Pasadena, Calif., is among those who will see their finances improve dramatically from a $10,000 pardon. And he graduated in 2019 with more than $20,000 in debt for his economics degree and began working as a manager of business development for a company in the sports industry. And the $300-a-month payment took a significant bite out of her entry-level salary, and when payments were suspended in 2020, she found herself with space in her budget to put money into savings and retirement.
The $10,000 forgiveness means additional motivation to pay the balance, she said.
Like pouring a cup of coffee over a wildfire,
But for the heaviest borrowers, more than $10,000 won’t make a difference. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, approximately 3 million borrowers, or 7% of all borrowers, have balances in excess of $100,000, and that includes 800,000 with balances of $200,000 or more.
Lauren Schreiber, a chiropractor in Troy, Illinois, said that amount barely makes a dent in the $40,000 in interest she makes each year on her $580,000 student loan debt. And Schreiber said she wasn’t able to buy the house because of its debt-to-income ratio and then had to move back in with her parents. And she even lived in her SUV to keep her cost of living down.
Due to the predatory nature of the loans and the havoc they wreak on recent graduates, a full pardon appears to be the best and only option, Lauren Schreiber said in a social media message.
Monica Heiserman Brady, 50, a grant writer in Detroit, said she owes $200,000 for her master’s degree, plus library science degrees and professional certificates. And on top of that, her daughter, husband, and son owed another $300,000 jointly. quoting a coworker, and he compared $10,000 against this debt load to “pouring a cup of coffee over a wildfire.”
Monica Heiserman Brady said, “It won’t affect anyone in my family.”
Student debt has taken a heavy toll on Monica Heiserman Brady’s financial life. And then she’s currently spending $15,000 to repair her air conditioner and is worried she’ll be unable to replace her old car when it breaks down. And then she and her husband had to liquidate their retirement savings a few years back after her husband, a welfare entitlement specialist, lost her job. And since they’re back on their feet career-wise, and even though the loans have cast a long shadow, that won’t take away from President Biden’s pardon plan.
President Joe Biden’s administration also proposed a new plan for graduate loans and one for federal student loan repayment. And the plan will limit the monthly payment to 5% of your monthly income. And then, after 10 years, whatever balance you have will be gone, and the original loan balance was $12,000 or less.
Younger Borrowers Benefit Most
Most young borrowers benefit the most under the $10,000 forgiveness policy (but not accounting for additional funding for Pell grant recipients). And the New York Fed estimates that about 60% of the money from forgiveness under such a policy will go to people under the age of 40.
Student Loan Borrowers By Age
Number of Americans (in millions) with student debt categorized by their age as of Q4 2021.
under 30 years | 14.9 |
30-39 years | 12.1 |
40-49 years | 7.7 |
50-59 years | 5.3 |
60 years and more | 3.5 |
Student Loan Forgiveness and Inequality
Most of the money is going to low- and middle-income borrowers and 90% of eligible borrowers have household incomes of less than $75,000, President Joe Biden said.
Most of the different analyses found different racial patterns and who would benefit the most from the $10,000 pardon. And black and white borrowers would benefit almost equally, with Hispanic borrowers receiving less, researchers from Wharton and the University of Chicago found.
However, it was found in a study by researchers at Arizona State University and the University of Iowa that Latinx and white borrowers would benefit slightly more than black and Hispanic borrowers under a $10,000 waiver while having a higher forgiveness amount than black and white borrowers. The spread will skew more in favor of borrowers and become narrower. Wealth disparities between races
The Cost of Student Debt and Canceling It
In addition to the issue of how debt will affect inequality, critics say it is fundamentally unfair for people attending college to receive loan forgiveness benefits and those who are unable to attend college. and they get nothing. Wharton researchers said in a report Wednesday that the program would cost $300 billion, but that calculation did not include additional funding for Pell grant recipients.
Advocates of loan forgiveness argue that students starting in their teens have been pressured to take on debt as an essential requirement to start their careers. At the same time, government funding for colleges has been cut in recent decades, leaving students increasingly in debt. And, in his opinion, loan forgiveness is not a handout, but rather long-awaited support for education.
“I feel very fortunate to be able to get my education,” Baka said. But it certainly feels like a punishment after graduation. I look at my diploma as if it were an expensive piece of paper. “
Note: This article has been updated with details from President Biden’s speech on Aug. 24, 2022.
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