Biden To Forgive $7.4 Billion More For 277,000 Borrowers

[TTL News 308]

Quote

 

The Biden administration said Friday that is using existing student loan forgiveness programs to cancel another round of student debt, totaling $7.4 billion for 277,000 borrowers.

Under President Joe Biden, the Department of Education has made it easier for some specific groups of borrowers, like public sector workers, to qualify for loan forgiveness. It also launched a new repayment plan that creates a shorter pathway to loan forgiveness for many low-income borrowers – and is at issue in at least two legal challenges from Republican-led states.

In total, the Biden administration has authorized the cancellation of $153 billion in student loan debt for nearly 4.3 million people. That’s more than 9% of all outstanding federal student loan debt.

 

Read the rest here.

[MsKreed 1,182]

1 hour ago, TTL News said:

Under President Joe Biden, the Department of Education has made it easier for some specific groups of borrowers, like public sector workers, to qualify for loan forgiveness.

Rather than action to “reinvent” the concept at the whim of the Executive branch, the existing program for public sector workers should have been made permanent and advertised as an option to invite and encourage more participants.

All of the pearl-clutching that vital, essential jobs like teachers, healthcare professionals, social workers, etc are unable to escape “forever debt” from student loans was a myth.  Any of those people willing to dedicate 10 years to public sector or non-profit employment while keeping up 120 payments (even income contingent reduced payments) had the choice to have the remainder of their loans “forgiven”.

In addition.....even borrowers with incomplete or unrelated degrees could have their debt “forgiven”. Instead of  working at Starbuck’s and whining about “forever debt”, an Art Studies major could have debt forgiven after working in a school cafeteria or food bank for 10 years.  

I am very familiar with the details of that existing Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program - that was passed by Congress during the GW Bush administration.

It was a good premise, but flaws in the intent/interpretation of eligibility requirements were not discovered until the 10 year mark (2017) when the earliest borrowers qualified to have their remaining debt ‘forgiven’.....and found that many banks and loan servicers had not counted their 120+ payments as "eligible". 

Congress and Trump acted to introduce the Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness (TEPSLF), which clarified and corrected much of the program’s failings. It took a few years for the corrected data to be processed.....but by 2021, most of the erroneously rejected borrowers were in the clear. Their remaining debt was erased, and any overage beyond 120 payments that they'd paid during the 2017-2021 "correction" interval was refunded (I was one of those people).

Instead of continuing the program in its amended format....the “temporary” correction was allowed to expire and Biden went full force on his plan to “forgive everyone” without Congressional action.

Edited April 12 by MsKreed

[Ann 264]

4 hours ago, MsKreed said:

Instead of continuing the program in its amended format....the “temporary” correction was allowed to expire and Biden went full force on his plan to “forgive everyone” without Congressional action.

Politics at work again.  Was the “temporary” correction allowed to expire because of Trump’s involvement? Probably.  Biden’s “forgive everyone” is a ploy to garner votes this November.  Just my opinion of course.

Thank you for the explanation MsKreed.

[Chris 2,162]

On 4/12/2024 at 11:01 AM, MsKreed said:

forgiven”. Instead of  working at Starbuck’s and whining about “forever debt”, an Art Studies major could have debt forgiven after working in a school cafeteria or food bank for 10 years.

Or perhaps they could have pursued a trade or a field of study that they could actually put to practical use in the job market in the first place.

[MsKreed 1,182]

34 minutes ago, Chris said:

Or perhaps they could have pursued a trade or a field of study that they could actually put to practical use in the job market in the first place.

Good point!

But, unlike the current “forgive everyone by EO” policy, at least the PSLF required them to find some sort of worthwhile public service employment to be considered.

In my case, my degree was incomplete, but still had student loans.  My state employment during the PSLF repayment wasn’t related to my educational work, but were public service jobs. I started as a mail clerk in prison, and then I transferred to IT work for 10+ years.

However -- According to this statement on the official White House Page, pursuing a trade or a field of study that has no practical use in the job market is a specific reason for someone to have their loans discharged:

 

[Ann 264]

How about eliminating all Federal monies to these Colleges and Universities.  I’m not sure how much money is paid to these institutions but until it starts costing them something nothing will change.

[Adam 373]

56 minutes ago, Ann said:

How about eliminating all Federal monies to these Colleges and Universities.  I’m not sure how much money is paid to these institutions but until it starts costing them something nothing will change.

well who on earth would the Teacher's Unions vote for then?