Biden taking ‘hard look’ at student loan debt forgiveness, but less than $50,000
Millions closer to student debt forgiveness under new Biden administration changesYoung people want student debt relief. But not all want it totally canceled
Cardenas said during an interview on MSNBC on Wednesday that he asked the president to “consider forgoing at least $10,000 in debt or more to every American who has student loan debt.”
Education department cancels student loan debt en masse for former beauty school students, an unusual step
“President Biden, we agree that we shouldn’t cancel $50,000 in student loan debt. We should cancel all of it,” Cole said in a statement. “$50,000 was just the bottom line. For the Black community, who’ve accumulated debt over generations of oppression, anything less is unacceptable.”
Biden’s comments came the same day his administration announced that it was offering targeted debt relief to past students of a beauty school as part of its borrower defense program.
Students who attended Marinello Schools of Beauty from 2009 through its 2016 closure qualify for relief. The forgiveness initiative erases the debt of students who can prove they were defrauded by their schools.
The administration has canceled roughly $18.5 billion in student loan debt since Biden took office. And about $2.1 billion of that sum benefitted roughly 132,000 people in the borrower defense program.
Contributing: Chris Quintana
Reach Rebecca Morin at Twitter @RebeccaMorin_