Drowning in debt is every college student’s nightmare and reality but will Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness really help? Many celebrated the student loan forgiveness that Biden announced on August 24 too soon before knowing what it really meant for alums, non-completers and college students. The loan forgiveness will help a little but it is over looking the real problem of cost to go to college.
One of the first questions that many asked was will they qualify if they are still in college, well the answer isn’t as clear as yes or no. Freshman that are starting their college journey this fall of 2022 will not qualify for the loan forgiveness. Everyone else has a chance to qualify and should see if they are automatically covered or need to apply for the loan forgiveness when the application comes out in October .
Parents who took out Parent PLUS loans have the chance of not being forgiven if their child’s loans are forgiven. Though if they have their own student debt from when they attend they could have forgiveness on those loans. Whether it’s the student or parent only up to $10,000 can be forgiven if they did not receive the Pell Grant and up to $20,000 if they received the Pell Grant. Though the income of an individual has to be less than $125,000 or married couples have to be less than $250,000 to qualify for the loan forgiveness.
Even though more 8 million people will be applying for loan forgiveness and many will receive the relief it is still not enough. Non-completers can have their loans forgiven, but that doesn’t change the fact that many dropped out because they could not afford to keep attending college. Being from communities that are over looked makes college seem like an unreachable goal because of the cost and many non-completers are from these communities.
‘”It does not go far enough in addressing the root of the problem: a postsecondary education system that has seen tuition rise three-fold in the last 30 years. That same system will put future borrowers in peril,” wrote Andre M. Perry, senior fellow at Brookings Metro, a research program within The Brookings Institution (Detroit).’
The fees to attend college been increasing throughout the years and with inflation schools are hiking up their tuition up to 5% more this year. Students are looking for cheaper and alternative ways to get the education they need to get a job that they want. With trade schools and other alternatives many are looking over the four-year schools because of their cost. Biden’s loan forgiveness isn’t going to help the future generations and help students have a more affordable education. He is putting a bandaid on a bullet wound that is going to get worse as the cost of higher education continues to increase and the Federal Student Aid not increasing to match the growing prices and being aid.
‘“Forgiving student loan debt isn’t free,” he said in a statement. “It means the 85 percent of Americans with no undergraduate debt from college will be carrying the burden for those that do. That is not a relief, it is an unfair burden to place on working families (New York Times).”’
Even with the loan forgiveness it may help some now but it will be affecting everyone whether they went to college or not or have paid off all their debt already. This will cause problems for the people who live paycheck to paycheck and will have to be taxed to make up the money that was forgiven. That’s the problem with forgiving the loans because the money has to come from somewhere and that’s why the Democrats are divided about Biden’s plan.
The loan forgiveness will help some now but in the long run it wont be looked at as successful since many will still be in debt and the newer generation will begin to be in student debt. There isn’t a clear answer on how to make higher education more affordable especially for low-income families. Though the loan forgiveness isn’t the worse step, but it not the best step for making higher education more affordable since the prices will still be high and continue to climb.