7 People On What Biden Canceling Student Debt Would Mean For Them

Three days after the 2020 presidential race was called for Joe Biden, Democrats are already discussing the possibility of canceling or reducing student loan debt. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer reiterated his support for a proposal to cancel up to $50,000 in student debt in a recent interview, urging Biden to make the issue a priority within his first 100 days as president.

Biden pledged to cancel $10,000 of student debt as part of a coronavirus relief effort during the campaign, and has advocated for cancelling debt for students at public colleges or Historically Black Colleges and Universities who earn up to $125,000. This decisive action feels warranted, given that our national student loan debt is currently over 1.5 trillion (for context, that’s almost twenty times more than the U.S. spends on education per year.)

As the student loan debt crisis continues to hamper the future plans and daily existences of millions of Americans, Vogue spoke to seven young people about how different levels of student debt relief would materially impact their lives, and what those lives might look like without the looming threat of unpaid loans hovering over them.

Alicia, 23: At this point, I’ll be paying off my student debt until I’m around 45, but I’ve accepted it. Everyone has student loan debt and the whole process is predatory, so why should I feel bad for paying the minimum? I just don’t see the point in scrambling to pay it off. At this rate, I’ll never be able to buy a house anyway, so what’s the point of good credit? If I didn’t have loans to pay off, I’d travel, I’d “stimulate the economy,” and I’d live in a nicer apartment. (Laughs.)

Cassie, 27: Any debt relief that would be meaningful to me would have to start at 30K and include private debt, with the higher interest rate, and without any income-based repayment option. Programs that only target federal debt leave too many people out, and miss that what is often so overwhelming about student debt is the interest rates combined with the monthly payment amounts. Private loan companies will never help you out with that without compiling interest. A major reduction in or elimination of my private student loans (and in my federal ones as well, if that were ever on the table) would mean relief from living paycheck to paycheck. That, in turn, would put all kinds of things on the table for both my partner and I, like having a child, pursuing long-term creative and professional goals, not freaking out every time the car needs a little work, and, most importantly, being able to share more wealth and resources in our communities.

The post 7 People On What Biden Canceling Student Debt Would Mean For Them appeared first on Honk Magazine.

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