Student loan debt is in the trillions and people are struggling. Now, according to the Washington Post, White House officials are planning to help alleviate some of the burden with a cancellation of up to $10,000 in loans per borrower.
Reportedly, for those who earned less than $150,000 in the previous year, or less than $300,000 for married couples filing jointly, the cancellation would apply. Although it wasn’t confirmed whether the administration would require borrowers interest and payments to resume at the end of August, when the current pause on payments would be lifted.
This comes months after Biden’s disappointing response to debt cancellation caused a significant decrease in approval ratings among young voters.
The White House also said there has been no final determination yet, but President Biden would likely come to a decision on student debt in the “next couple of weeks” on April 28, nearly a month ago, the Washington Post reported.
The outstanding Federal Loan total is standing at $1.606 trillion and makes up 91.2% of all student loan debt. 43.4 million borrowers have federal student loan debt.
Former Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer have encouraged the administration to cancel at least $50,000 per borrower, if not all outstanding federal education loans due to the crippling effects of the enormous student loan debt over the course of a lifetime. They tout that reducing the student loan balances would ultimately stimulate the economy and help achieve racial wealth parity, as Black borrowers bear the brunt of a disproportionate amount of student loan debt. The Washington Post pointed out that before a rally at the White House earlier this month, Wisdom Cole, of the NAACP’s youth and college division, stated that the “The Black community continues to be shackled by student debt, and $10,000 in cancellation will not break the chains.”