Biden's Debt Relief Is The Biggest Break For Student Debtors In Decades
Huff PostLOADING ERROR LOADING President Joe Biden’s announcement Wednesday that the federal government would cancel a big chunk of student loan debt represents the biggest break student debtors have had in decades. Under the student loan cancellation Biden announced Wednesday, the federal government will cancel as much as $20,000 in debt for current or former student borrowers who also received need-based Pell Grants. “Democrats are literally using working Americans’ money to try to buy themselves some enthusiasm from their political base.” Antipathy toward college grads might help explain why federal law makes student debt almost as permanent as child support obligations or civil liability for injuries caused by drunk driving. That year, according to the Congressional Research Service, lawmakers said they feared student borrowers filing for bankruptcy right after graduation “and then enjoying a lifetime of income that education provides, but without the expense of paying back the loans.” Bankruptcy filers could still discharge student loan debt if repayment presented an “undue hardship” and the loan had come due five years prior to the bankruptcy filing, but Congress got rid of that option in 1998, essentially making student loan debt permanent.