NBC News is reporting the White House is making new strides regarding the student loan assistance and forgiveness Biden promised during his presidential run.
“The Education Department plans to help millions of people budge closer to getting their student loan debts wiped out after unveiling a slate of new measures Tuesday intended to fix a federal program for low-income student borrowers. The announcement also includes immediate debt cancellation for at least 40,000 borrowers under a student loan forgiveness program for public servants.
This comes as the White House faces increased pressure to alleviate the nation’s ballooning student debt, worth about $1.75 trillion. The heads of the House and Senate education committees are urging the Education Department to overhaul the ‘broken’ system of income-driven repayment plans, which were first introduced by Congress in the 1990s and allow borrowers to pay back their federal student loans based on their income and family size.
In addition, borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment are eligible to have their remaining loans canceled if they make the required amount of payments for either 20 or 25 years.”
Another big change is that those who have loans under forbearance due to inability to pay will now have that period of time counting towards the 20/25 payment year requirement. These are all steps in the right direction, however, we still think canceling the majority (if not all) of student loan debt would lead to a much-needed rise in first time home ownership, economic growth of BIPOC communities as well as the middle-class in general, and closing the astronomical wealth gap in our country that is hindering innovation and progress for our next generation.
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