What did Joe Biden say about student loans during his campaign?
DURING Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign he spoke often about student debt relief. Joe Biden is the 46th US president and was previously the VP under the Obama administration. What did Joe Biden say about student loans during his campaign? During his run for president during 2020 Joe Biden made many promises regarding student debt […]
DURING Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign he spoke often about student debt relief.
Joe Biden is the 46th US president and was previously the VP under the Obama administration.
What did Joe Biden say about student loans during his campaign?
During his run for president during 2020 Joe Biden made many promises regarding student debt relief.
During his campaign, President Biden had pledged to cancel at least $10,000 of student debt per person.
This promise is published on his Medium page where he wrote about congress moving to help with the CARES Act.
The “immediate cancellation of a minimum of $10,000 of student debt per person” was originally proposed by Senator Elizabeth Warren.
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During Biden’s speech on his economic recovery plan on November 16, 2020 he said student debt was holding people back.
“[Student debt is] holding people up,” Biden said. “They’re in real trouble. They’re having to make choices between paying their student loan and paying the rent.”
On March 22 2020, the president also tweeted about forgiving $10,000 of student debt.
“Additionally, we should forgive a minimum of $10,000/person of federal student loans, as proposed by Senator Warren and colleagues. Young people and other student debt holders bore the brunt of the last crisis. It shouldn’t happen again,” he wrote.
When do student loan payments resume?
Despite the promises Biden made during his presidential campaign student loan payments will resume in 2022.
The Federal Student Aid website currently states the following dates for student loan repayments.
“On Aug. 6, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education announced a final extension of the student loan payment pause until Jan. 31, 2022.”
Most borrowers have not had to make any payments on student loans since March 2020.
Biden has provided certain eligible borrowers with student debt relief, but the majority have not received that relief.
Who has received student debt relief?
In November 2021 Forbes reported that some people received $715 Million in student loan forgiveness under the new program expansion.
Forbes reported that in October 2021, Biden and his administration had expanded the loan forgiveness program.
“The Biden administration announced a new expansion of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which can wipe out the federal student loan debt for borrowers after 10 or more years of qualifying public service employment for nonprofit or public organizations,” they wrote.
The Education Department announced on October 6, 2021 that under the Limited PSLF Waiver program, the administration will temporarily relax some of the PSLF program requirements.