US student debt has increased for decades, but this year, lawmakers have been talking more about student debt forgiveness than ever before.
House and Senate Democrats have repeatedly urged President Biden to “largely” forgive up to $ 50,000 of federal debt by executive decree, an approach that Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer reiterated that Biden should take during his first 100 days in office.
The Biden administration has suggested that the president will ask Congress to forgive $ 10,000 in student debts for all borrowers – a downgrade from what his own party leaders have asked for, but still a popular proposal. A January Morning Consult survey found that 56% of all US adults and 62% of Generation Z (who voted disproportionately for Biden) support $ 10,000 in federal student loan forgiveness.
But the faith that student debt forgiveness will happen appears to be low.
A recent survey of 3,649 current university students through the OneClass study guide platform found that only 13% of students expect to see a student debt forgiveness policy implemented by the new administration.
“Student loan forgiveness was one of the most important issues for voters in the last presidential election. In previous years, politicians from both parties made many promises about how to deal with this problem. With college costs continuing to rise, even during o With the Covid-19 pandemic, it is not surprising that 87% of participants in our community think that loan forgiveness will not happen or was simply a tool to vote, “said Richard DeCapua, vice president for academic affairs at OneClass.
“The federal government has had a disappointing record of providing relief to students who take out loans under the previous administration. While there are influential Democrats asking for the loan to be forgiven, students in general still don’t believe that relief will be in the near future.”
There are serious doubts about whether lawmakers will actually approve student debt forgiveness.
“Democrats generally support forgiveness of loans, while Republicans do not,” says higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz. “President Biden is likely to wait until late summer or early fall to propose student loan forgiveness legislation to prevent it from interfering with legislative proposals for which there are points in common. A $ 10,000 forgiveness proposal for student loans can get some republican support because it is modest in cost. “
Even former President Donald Trump was enthusiastic about forgiving student debt during his unsuccessful re-election campaign. But without broad bipartisan support, many believe that the most likely way to obtain student debt relief is through executive action.
“I would like to see Administrator Biden do this administratively – they have a busy legislative agenda and that is one of the things they can do with the executive branch,” said Josh Bivens, economist and research director at the Institute for Economic Policy. “So anything they can do themselves and clear the legislative bottleneck is something I think they should be doing.”
“These ideas for student loan forgiveness and free college seemed out of reach years ago, but are definitely becoming more and more part of the national conversation,” says Rebecca Safier, a student loan specialist on the Student Loan Student Loan Management website. Hero. “I can certainly see that happening.”
“But that is yet to be seen.”
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