Part of Joe Biden’s campaign platform was focused on promoting higher education and student loan forgiveness. On his first day in office as president, he extended the student loan forbearance. Shortly following that, his administration proposed that $10,000 of student loans would be forgiven for anyone earning less than $125,000. Despite the fact that Biden has already shown that he is serious about student debt, others in the Democratic Party, namely Sens. Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren, are calling for Biden to cancel $50,000 in student debt per qualifying individual.
There are currently 43 million people in the United States with student debt meaning that about 13 percent of the U.S. population have student debt. Out of the 50 states, New Hampshire and South Dakota have the highest percentage of students graduating with debt.
Why should these individuals be forgiven of their debt? Some say that it is unfair that so much can be given away in bailouts for corporations who take on loans they can’t pay, but the same advantage isn’t given to real people. It is also believed that forgiving these debts might increase spending and stimulate the economy.
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Although the idea of not having to pay student loans is appealing to many, there are others who are concerned with the amount of money that President Biden has been giving away already during his presidency. In addition to student loan forgiveness, Biden has also proposed to spend $1.9 trillion in his newest recovery package. This has people asking how much money the government can give away before we start seeing the consequences.
Forgiving student loans of any amount is a risky move and there is no way to tell for certain whether or not it would pay off.