‘I will not make that happen’: Joe Biden shoots down $50K student loan forgiveness plan
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Biden has resisted such calls thus far, arguing Tuesday that debt forgiveness should ideally depend “on whether or not you go to a private university or a public university.” The federal government should not forgive debt for students who went to elite schools like “Harvard and Yale and Penn,” the president said.
a move he enacted alongside a repayment freeze through September, as well as expanding student loan forgiveness for public sector workers.
Biden also said any student debt forgiveness would need to be justified against other policy priorities.
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The president’s comments were met with swift criticism from some progressives, who see student debt forgiveness as a moral imperative and economic opportunity.
“Who cares what school someone went to? Entire generations of working class kids were encouraged to go into more debt under the guise of elitism. This is wrong,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., tweeted in response to the president.
“Nowhere does it say we must trade-off early childhood education for student loan forgiveness. We can have both,” Ocasio Cortez continued.
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Schumer and Warren pushed back on Biden’s comments Wednesday, saying in a statement “Presidents Obama and Trump used their executive authority to cancel student loan debt.”
“An ocean of student loan debt is holding back 43 million borrowers and disproportionately weighing down Black and Brown Americans. Canceling $50,000 in federal student loan debt will help close the racial wealth gap, benefit the 40% of borrowers who do not have a college degree, and help stimulate the economy,” the duo contended.
campaigned on student debt forgiveness for years. A proposal of cancelling up to $50,000 in student debt was a cornerstone of both Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Warren’s 2020 presidential bids.
Critics argue that such plans are poorly targeted and regressive, mostly benefitting the already wealthy or graduates who earn more on average. Defenders say many low-income students who do not graduate maintain some debt that may be financially crippling.
According to Federal Reserve data, Americans hold about $1.7 trillion in student loan debt. Student borrowers who graduated in 2019 from public or private nonprofit colleges held on average $28,950 in debt, according to The Institute for College Access and Success.