1y ago

Statement from President Joe Biden on Early Student Debt Cancellation for Borrowers Enrolled in SAVE | The White House

www.whitehouse.gov Statement from President Joe Biden on Early Student Debt Cancellation for Borrowers Enrolled in SAVE | The White House

From Day One of my Administration, I vowed to fix the student loan system and make sure higher education is a pathway to the middle class – not a barrier to opportunity. Already, my Administration has cancelled student debt for 3.6 million Americans through various actions – delivering lifechanging ...

Starting next month, borrowers enrolled in SAVE who took out less than $12,000 in loans and have been in repayment for 10 years will get their remaining student debt cancelled immediately.

U.S. News @beehaw.org

President Biden: student loan borrowers enrolled in SAVE “who took out less than $12,000 in loans and have been in repayment for 10 years will get their remaining student debt cancelled immediately"

www.whitehouse.gov /briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/01/12/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-early-student-debt-cancellation-for-borrowers-enrolled-in-save/

41 8

31 comments

I don’t qualify, but I’m thrilled af that some people do. See that, conservatives? I’m happy for other people even if I’m not able to take part.
- I also don’t qualify, and I’m saddled with $60k of student debt for the foreseeable future with very little idea of how to ever change that depressing fact, but sure, congrats to those who do qualify! Sucks to suck for us, eh
  
  Sure, but some progress is better than nothing. It doesn't mean we stop fighting, but it does mean that things will start to get better for some.
  We just need to make sure to fight just as hard for even more.
  
  I feel you. 🫂
  
  44k over here, down from 60. Also, SAVE raised my payments considerably since it’s still measuring on 10% of disposable income. It may save me money once it goes to the 5%, but I’m hoping to have a job that gives me a 40k raise by then so it may be moot for me.
  But I’m super happy these folks are getting it and that Biden is making progress on this front.
  
  Why tf did you take out a 60k loan on a career that won't be able to pay it back? I paid cash for college by going to a cheap community college part-time while working full-time and now I'm making 6 figures with no debt. It's not rocket science.
- I’ve had it up to here with your woke agenda.
  gestures near floor level *
- same. i only left college with about 8.5k in debt, but i want to see more people not saddled with paying fees and actually put the money into the market instead of into someones. wallets which will likely just sit there being unused because some sycophant wants more of it.

Any amount of assistance is a good thing but doesn't this seem like a pretty low impact program? I graduated from college 10 years ago and at the time I was in school $12,000 was maybe one year of tuition and book fees. I went to both a community college and an in-state public university. I imagine most people who took out loans and finished their degree borrowed more than that over 4 years. If I'm reading this announcement correctly that means most people don't qualify for assistance and those that do are either those who had some outside financial assistance or those who never finished their degree. I think we can do better than that.
- Yes, it effectively helps people who went to community college and wound up in a low-income job or disabled.
  
  For those people it'll be a pretty high impact thing, so that's really nice!
  
  As long as Democrats keep trying and this isn't a "we fixed everything forever now shut up" announcement, I'll hold my peace on this. At least until they show the first sign of letting up.
- Due to the SCOTUS ruling, any debt cancellations have to be pretty limited in scope to survive legal oversight. I honestly really respect Biden continuing to chip away at the issue where he still can instead of just giving up after the SCOTUS loss. It doesn't magically solve all problems for all people, but for the people affected, this is a massive help.
  
  Due to the incorrect, illegitimate, political SCOTUS ruling.
  Just feel a need to add that emphasis.
  The SCOTUS's entire "major questions" principle is entirely unconstitutional. They do not have the right to selectively decide when laws do and don't apply based on their own subjective judgement on the effect of those laws.
  Congress passed the HEROS act. It is and remains law. It gives the DoE full authority to modify or cancel student debts during a state of emergency, which we were in. There is absolutely no reasonable question that the Biden administration had the authority to do that cancellation that the SCOTUS ruled against. The SCOTUS was legislating their preferences from the bench. The legal backflips they did claiming the partial cancellation was neither a modification nor cancellation is absolutely absurd and shameful.
  Revive the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill.
- I used to think that as well: how does this help when it’s such a low amount. However that means it helps more people and it means proportionally more help who needed loans for even community college or public universities.
  Those of us fortunate enough to have reason for larger loans to be manageable don’t get proportionally the same benefit but that’s only fair

What are we up to now? Seems like Biden has been able to do quite a lot of debt relief after the conservatives shot down the initial sweeping attempt.

Ten years to repay a $12,000 loan? That must have been a usurious interest rate
- SAVE is an income-driven repayment plan for people who are earning too little to make a normal payment.
  
  Okay, that makes a lot more sense. Thanks!
  
  I love education and think people should have access to it without qualification or question. Even if they just want to study underwater basket weaving.
  But in a world where people have to take out actual loans to get those degrees, the loans probably shouldn't be going out to degrees that do not fairly guarantee ROI for the person receiving them. Still kind of feels like usury to me.
  Probably more of a problem with wage stagnation and society-at-large than with any particulars about the degree though.

31 comments