Originally published at: Biden announces up to $10k student debt cancelation, $20k for Pell Grant recipients | Boing Boing
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Good. Now we need a bigger Senate majority so we don’t have to cater to Manchin’s appetites and can pass at least free community college.
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A good start. Here’s hoping they can get more done after the midterms, but I’m pleasantly surprised at the moves the administration and Democratic party have managed to make in the past few weeks. We’re not getting everything we need, but it’s progress, and that’s a hell of a lot better than we expected earlier this year.
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There is a lot of grousing and sabre rattling by conservatives about how this is bad on the Washington Post comments section concerning this news story. I say if you’re so upset about getting $10K forgiven from your student loan debt, please feel free to donate that amount to your alma mater!
I highly doubt, just like the covid relief funds, that a lot of these people who are freaking out about it won’t take the money. They’re going to STILL complain about the president, and run all the way to the bank, however.
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It is always funny that conservatives will complain about someone getting $300 in food stamps but doesn’t care about corporations skipping paying taxes. I remember an interview with some republican asshat who claimed the greatest evil was the free lunch program for school kids.
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He campaigned on $10,000 student loan debt relief. A promise he needed to keep if he wanted young voters to show up as hugely as they did in the Pres election.
Good on you, Joe!
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This is good but I tried finding out what authority he can do this under.
Does this get challenged in court?
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Cool.
(As I sit here, having already been screwed over taking out - and paying back - a loan from one of these predatory schools that don’t exist anymore, and not getting any help in doing it.)
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I’m glad something is being done, even if it’s just a nibble, but I really hope they start working more on the source of the issue, and not just the results. Work out a way to cap student debt, and/or create interest-free loans for students.
As it is, we’ll be in the exact same problem in three years, and then in six years. People are still taking out student loans, and will tomorrow. Debt relief today doesn’t help them.
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ROEVEMBER IS COMING!!! Can’t wait.
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The PPP program was 3 trillion dollars that disappeared in a week and 99% of it will never be paid back. It certainly hit the economy but it didn’t do much to the average person.
If they zeroed every loan out there it’s half that and helps people instead of companies and celebrities.
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Also, give freakin’ scholarships on the front end instead of loans that get forgiven later! If everyone gets $10k anyway it’s a much better, more efficient idea to give it to them up front rather than do the paperwork-intensive government-guaranteed loan that creates stress and enriches the loan servicer for no reason.
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My wife and I are among those poor saps who did a spousal consolidation loan back in the early 2000s and now we’re stuck in student loan limbo. Hopefully this will help us but I’m not holding out hope.
None of the pandemic benefits like the pause on payments and interest applied to us. I would actually be eligible for PSLF if it wasn’t for this. There’s currently a bill (H.R.2064) stuck in committee that would allow us and similar borrowers to separate the loan. This would not only help with PSLF, etc. but also in the cases where, for example, a divorced/separated person is stuck paying for a deadbeat former spouse. Fingers crossed.
[Edited to add in stuff that got cut off when my wifi connection dropped]
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I have to quibble with this. DH’s shop has 2 employees and got the loan; the PPP loan kept them from foundering during COVID, and DH is already planning how to pay it back.
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The plan is fantastic and does SO MUCH MORE than the 10k.
- The means testing is sufficiently high most should qualify (though I wish it had none)
- Up to $20k in cancellation for Pell grant recipients
- Income that can be taken is capped at 5% (old rules were 10%)
- No borrower earning under $15 an hour has to pay back anything
- Automatically covers unpaid interest if your payment (at the cap) doesn’t pay it all, so it’s not accumulating.
Really, about as good as they could do without taking the step of just zeroing out all student loans. I’m just thrilled for the people who will benefit from this and what this will do to help so many families who are struggling.
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Yeah, loan forgiveness was the point of PPP. A key stipulation was that employee numbers had to remain constant through the coverage period so no one lost their job. “Companies” aren’t all Amazon.
ETA: The pandemic stimulus that people should be upset about is the $1.5 trillion that was dumped into the stock market and literally disappeared overnight. Before a dime was spent on helping people or small businesses.
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One of the few advantages of the Republicans’ slavish devotion to whatever happens to be aggrieving Trump on any given day is that they’ve been taking their eyes off the ball when it comes to obstructing the Democrats.
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