Biden administration canceling student loans for another 160,000 borrowers ( apnews.com )

The Biden administration is canceling student loans for another 160,000 borrowers through a combination of existing programs.

The Education Department announced the latest round of cancellation on Wednesday, saying it will erase $7.7 billion in federal student loans. With the latest action, the administration said it has canceled $167 billion in student debt for nearly 5 million Americans through several programs.

…

The latest relief will go to borrowers in three categories who hit certain milestones that make them eligible for cancellation. It will go to 54,000 borrowers who are enrolled in Biden’s new income-driven repayment plan, along with 39,000 enrolled in earlier income-driven plans, and about 67,000 who are eligible through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

lightnegative ,

Sad for those who worked hard and repaid their loans and now get to watch as everyone else gets theirs written off

dan ,
@dan@upvote.au avatar

Bad take. Just because one group of people had to go through some pain, doesn't mean other groups should have to go through the same pain.

A long term strategy would still be better, but for now, this is a good move.

Aux ,

No pain - no gain.

abaddon ,

I graduated 70k in debt. Paid it all off myself. I'm fine with this.

CommanderCloon ,

Baby grinder owner pauses the baby grinder machine for a few minutes

*round of applause*

nucleative ,

It seems like government investment in education is one of the best possible ways to allocate funds, even if not every person is directly impacted by being offered more schooing or degrees.

Think about it. More educated people around you is always better than fewer educated people.

NoSuchAgency ,

Awesome, so everyone who couldn't afford to go to college now has to pay for the people who went to college making more money than the person paying off their debt. Yeah, that seems legit.

Beetlejuice001 ,

Did you hear how much was spent on the Iraq war? Maybe the 2008 debt crises? Maybe the PPP loan forgiveness? Surely you’ve heard of one that dwarfed those in comparison. Obvious troll is obvious

Zaktor ,

It's a 1 day old account with this as its only comment.

WoahWoah ,

Literally this person's only post.

ZombiFrancis ,

I think it sounds better if this were just about how Biden's plan is rolling out eligibility for 54,000 borrowers. Though it is a payment plan that results in forgiveness like the PSLF.

The thing about the PSLF is that it was supposed to erase debt for public service employees after 10 years of aervice and no missed payments. So when Bush signed it in 2007, people who came eligible for forgiveness under Trump starting in 2017 were denied over absolutely insane technicalities.

So he gets credit for those 67,000 and 39,000 borrowers only in that they were essentially denied forgiveness they already qualified for up until now. Honestly I think focusing on the new stuff and not a Bush era program hits better.

jj4211 ,

I can understand the perspective, but if the Trump administration deliberately interfered with the PSLF, then it's a fair point in the obvious goal (to contrast his approach versus Trump's). Of course, conveniently they waited for an election year, when they could have done this in 2021...

Hildegarde ,

160,000 borrowers have earned $7.7 billion of loan forgiveness under a federal program put in place under the obama administration.

This headline is incredibly misleading. Biden had little to do with this.

Fedizen ,

Education should be free. This is at least a better situation.

mydude ,

JOE BIDEN PLAYED a central role in the creation of the student debt crisis...
https://theintercept.com/2020/01/07/joe-biden-student-loans/

Feathercrown ,

Most people went to school before he was president

mydude ,

https://bigthink.com/the-present/joe-biden-student-debt/

In 1978 he co-wrote a bill that introduced the first limit on how students could use bankruptcy law to reduce their debt burden.

In 1990 he helped author the Crime Control Act, which is famous for stepping up sentencing guidelines, included an entirely unrelated clause that further lengthened the time students had to wait before they could declare bankruptcy on their student loans.

In 1998 they introduced an “undue hardship” clause to federal student loan bankruptcy proceedings; making it even more difficult to declare bankruptcy on student debt.

To top all of this off, he supported adding the undue hardship clause to private student loans in 2005.

Feathercrown ,

Damn

evatronic ,

And now, he's changed his stance in response to a changing society and pressure from voters.

Isn't that a good thing? Don't we want politicians who are demonstrably responsive to voters?

Krono ,

He hasn't changed his stance, hes doing the bare minimum to garner positive headlines in an election year.

He needs to actually change stances if he wants to prevent another Trump presidency.

hydrospanner ,

Thank you for sharing all this.

While I'm under no illusions that Biden is my friend, in the current political climate, I can't shake the feeling that he's my friendliest enemy.

Can you shed any more light on that 1990 business?

While I have no familiarity with it, the circumstances suggest that it's possible that the added clause was added as a bit of trade-off to other members of Congress to get the crime bill over the finish line. Not that that makes it any less bitter a pill for borrowers, but if that's how it happened, that's much less "Biden hates borrowers" and much more the political game in DC.

mydude ,

It's not that Biden hates borrowers or students. The problem is, that even way back then, he owed too much favours, so he drafted legislation that "the big guys" (his quote) wanted.

Results from Cca 1990 being easier to criminalize young people, and young people with records could not wipe debt/much harder to do. (if I understood it correctly).

franklin ,
@franklin@lemmy.world avatar

Imagine if someone took every mistake you ever made and magnified it as if you weren't allowed to grow or change.

That's you, that's what you sound like

mydude ,

These are the things that he's proud of. He's not ashamed of these policies. Not one bit.

https://bigthink.com/the-present/joe-biden-student-debt/

In 1978 he co-wrote a bill that introduced the first limit on how students could use bankruptcy law to reduce their debt burden.

In 1990 he helped author the Crime Control Act, which is famous for stepping up sentencing guidelines, included an entirely unrelated clause that further lengthened the time students had to wait before they could declare bankruptcy on their student loans.

In 1998 they introduced an “undue hardship” clause to federal student loan bankruptcy proceedings; making it even more difficult to declare bankruptcy on student debt.

To top all of this off, he supported adding the undue hardship clause to private student loans in 2005.

AA5B ,

1978 is reaching way back. Were you even alive then? Do you know what our society was like, what the options were? Have you changed at all over the last 46 years?

mydude ,

He didn't vote on this, he co-wrote it. Wake up man...

AA5B ,

In 1978 I stole a free battery from Radio Shack. Does that make me a lifelong thief?

mydude ,

He stole the battery in 1978, 1990, 1998 , 2005. If you can't see the pattern, then I can't help you.

gastationsushi ,

The problem with this debt forgiveness by a thousand cuts is spending hours researching it then finding out you arbitrarily don't qualify because some highly technical reason.

This technocrated BS isn't helping any but the lucky few that end up qualifying.

jo3jo3 ,

So just stop paying 🤷 I have over 80k and I haven't paid anything in over a decade. I just don't care. They can cancel it, or not, makes no difference to me, I'll never pay anything.

Kalkaline ,
@Kalkaline@leminal.space avatar

They'll take your social security money

ShunkW ,

More than that, they'll garnish your wages eventually. It happened to me once when I was barely getting by. I had to go to court and show my finances on public record and be humiliated to get them to back off.

jo3jo3 ,

I live and work outside the US, they can't touch my wages

confused_code_monkey ,

So your advice is: 1) don't pay it and 2) work and live in a different country. Super reasonable! /s

jo3jo3 ,

What social security money? I've pretty much never worked in the US, never paid in. I've lived outside the US for 16 years now.

partial_accumen ,

The problem with this debt forgiveness by a thousand cuts is spending hours researching it then finding out you arbitrarily don’t qualify because some highly technical reason.

Are you saying because this doesn't help everybody then it shouldn't be allowed to help anybody?

Feathercrown ,

I hate that logic so much, it's taking over this whole platform

eran_morad ,

BoTh SiDeS!!1!

machinin ,

What would it cost him to cancel the genocide too, right?

FenrirIII ,
@FenrirIII@lemmy.world avatar

As if he's the president of Israel. Where have you people been while Yemen, Myanmar, Sudan, etc. all experience genocide?

crusa187 ,

He’s president of US and has circumvented Congress over 100 times to send 10s of billions worth of bombs to be dropped on Palestinian children’s heads.

We’re not asking that Biden rule over Israel, simply that he acknowledge the genocide and stop spending our taxpayer dollars to fund it. Why is this considered unreasonable?

Cornelius_Wangenheim ,

Where exactly do you think the funding for Israel came from if not from Congress? And since you apparently haven't been paying attention, Biden did stop the delivery of offensive weapons to Israel. In return, Republicans have been pushing a bill that will force delivery.

I swear you tankies are just as intellectually dishonest as the fascists.

steal_your_face ,
@steal_your_face@lemmy.ml avatar

Did we supply those countries with weapons to commit genocide?

I personally think it’s stupid to not vote for Biden but your argument doesn’t really make sense.

Sgn ,

Yes, the USA literally sent weapons to the Saudis to bomb Yemen,

Also if you don't supply weapons to a country, they shouldn't have sympathy??? You are the one who doesn't make sense

juicy ,

You're right. That's another reason not to support Butcher Biden:

In response to the recent escalation, the Biden administration apparently has doubled down on support to the coalition, announcing the sale of additional fighter aircraft to the UAE. Biden said the administration is considering redesignating the Houthis a “Foreign Terrorist Organization.” Biden had reversed this designation, imposed in the waning days of the Trump administration and opposed by humanitarian and human rights groups on the grounds that it threatens humanitarian aid on which millions of Yemenis rely to survive.

In addition to potentially violating U.S. law, continuing arms sales to the coalition puts the U.S. at risk of complicity in possible war crimes. The sales also fly in the face of justice and accountability for previous violations given the coalition’s dreadfully flawed investigations of its own strikes.

juicy ,

You're right. That's another reason not to support Butcher Biden:

In response to the recent escalation, the Biden administration apparently has doubled down on support to the coalition, announcing the sale of additional fighter aircraft to the UAE. Biden said the administration is considering redesignating the Houthis a “Foreign Terrorist Organization.” Biden had reversed this designation, imposed in the waning days of the Trump administration and opposed by humanitarian and human rights groups on the grounds that it threatens humanitarian aid on which millions of Yemenis rely to survive.

In addition to potentially violating U.S. law, continuing arms sales to the coalition puts the U.S. at risk of complicity in possible war crimes. The sales also fly in the face of justice and accountability for previous violations given the coalition’s dreadfully flawed investigations of its own strikes.

Psychodelic ,

I honestly care about high income inequality and campaign finance reform. Can we talk about those instead of what you care about?

No, this is actually a really effective way of communicating with other people and convincing them what I have to say is worth listening to. This absolutely does not alienate people or make me come off as an insensitive bot that doesn't know hot treat people like humans before I unload my personal interests on them

Free Palestine, btw! 🍉

Daft_ish ,

⚠️ Warning Comment May Contain Satire ⚠️

Satire

How can you support Palestine while at the same time not making it your sole priority by doing nothing but being shitty online!?!

Aux ,

One small good deed doesn't not redeem that little fucker from genocide support.

FaizalR ,

He must go.

FartsWithAnAccent ,
@FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.world avatar

Don't worry, he will right after he beats Trump's obese ass in the next election and completes a second term <3

themeatbridge ,

Next do mortgages

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