Students graduating from college in 2019 did so with an average loan amount of over $30,000. And now that a pandemic has ravaged the country for almost year, many recent graduates are finding it difficult to keep up with their payments.
Politicians, voters and advocates have called on the government to forgive at least some portion of American student debt. Over 40 million borrowers owe $1.6 trillion in federal student loans, according to NPR. The idea became more popular over the course of the 2020 presidential election cycle. Now, politicians are debating how much relief to offer.
President Biden recently made it clear that he wouldn’t forgive up to $50,000, the figure that Senators Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-M.A.), among other Democratic lawmakers, support. He did express support for forgiving up to $10,000.
Find our last conversation about the student loan debt during the pandemic here.
How much student debt should the federal government forgive, if any? What could the economic impact of student loan debt forgiveness look like?
Copyright 2021 WAMU 88.5