the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood N J, President Biden officially announced on Wednesday that his administration is forgiving up to $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 annually and $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients, marking the largest forgiveness of federal student loans per individual to date. In addition to forgiving up to $20,000 in student debt for Pell recipients, will also cancel up to $10,000 in student loans for individuals making less than $125,000 a year,
Biden also again extended a payment freeze on federal student loans and interest accrual, butting right up against an Aug. 31 deadline that would have kicked bills back into effect just before November’s midterm elections
If the president’s plan could potentially eliminate loan balances for around 15 million people, which accounts for about one-third of all U.S. student loan borrowers. These Americans will see their monthly payments go away and the U.S. will simultaneously lower its $1.7 trillion outstanding student loan balance.
The decision will still leave 30 million borrowers on the hook for the remainder of their balances, some potentially seeing little movement in their monthly payments when the moratorium reaches its expected end.
Progressive Democrats have argued that forgiving student debt could help their party and Biden in the midterm elections given the crushing debt facing millions of students. Yet there is also reason to think the plan carries some real political risk.
Recent polling shows a majority of Americans are worried about the impact debt forgiveness plans could have on inflation, a huge issue in the midterms.
Under the potential forgiveness plan, borrowers earning less than $125,000 per year could see at least $10,000 in cancellation of their federal student loans. The amount is much lower than many progressives aimed for but would mark the most significant forgiveness in federal student debt for borrowers ever.
The idea has drawn pushback from Republicans, who have strongly come out against Democratic-led proposals for student debt relief in recent months, denouncing them as unfair and inflationary.
“The federal government does not ‘forgive’ or ‘cancel; student loans — they take the debt and give it to every American, including those without a degree. It’s just wrong,” Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) tweeted on Tuesday.
With the average student loan debt reaching around $37,000 per borrower, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2022’s States with the Most and Least Student Debt,
To determine the states that are friendliest toward student-loan debtors, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 11 key metrics. The data set ranges from average student debt to unemployment rate among the population aged 25 to 34 to share of students with past-due loan balances.
| States with the Most Student Debt | States with the Least Student Debt |
| 1. West Virginia | 42. Nevada |
| 2. Pennsylvania | 43. Alaska |
| 3. South Dakota | 44. Colorado |
| 4. New Hampshire | 45. Wyoming |
| 5. Mississippi | 46. Florida |
| 6. Delaware | 47. New Mexico |
| 7. Kentucky | 48. Washington |
| 8. Rhode Island | 49. California |
| 9. South Carolina | 50. District of Columbia |
| 10. North Dakota | 51. Utah |
Best vs. Worst
- Utah has the lowest average student debt, $18,344, which is 2.2 times lower than in New Hampshire, the state with the highest at $39,928.
- Utah has the lowest proportion of students with debt, 39.00 percent, which is 1.9 times lower than in South Dakota, the state with the highest at 73.00 percent.
- New York has the lowest share of student loans in past-due or default status, 3.03 percent, which is 2.8 times lower than in Hawaii, the state with the highest at 8.46 percent.
To view the full report and your state or the District’s rank, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/
Why should my tax dollars have to pay for someone else’s debt? How unfair to the taxpayer. How arrogant that someone in debt feels entitled to have that debt reduced or eliminated by having someone else absorb the cost. When I went to college I paid my own way through personal savings and working.
I had the same reaction, I paid a lot for my own education and so went for a degree that would actually get me employed and earn enough money to pay off my loans. This meant all kinds of waitressing and retail jobs too. I did not make anywhere near $125k a year when I graduated and paid my loans off early with hard work that got me better and better roles. This makes me feel like such a sucker.
This scumbag rewards irresponsible borrowers.
What about those of us who worked hard, abided by the terms of our loans, and paid them on time.
FJB
People are going to use the systems.
its ridiculous. lets forgive loan payments for small business owners trying to make ends meet after 1- yrs of lockdowns. then address the $80k peer year tuition charged by private schools that hold $40bn in their pockets and receive federal funding from our government.
College is so expensive because Libtards like Pocahontas (Elizabeth Warren) are grossly over compensated for spewing their propaganda.
The fake indian was reportedly paid almost $430,000 by Harvard for teaching one class.
So what happens in another few years when the next crowd of basket weaving liberal arts grads bellyache about not being able to pay their loans?
At this point, it hardly matters. This Government has been handing out free money like drunken sailors. Between the free money and the 2.5 years of pretending to work, the concept of work has been totally lost.
What President Biden should have done was NOTHING.
HOWEVER, we all know that a president with lower ratings than President Carter (imagine that) would NEVER do the right thing.
SO…. as long as he was going to force through a Student Loan Welfare program,
he SHOULD have REQUIRED the UNIVERSITIES to pay for the loan cancelations under threat of cutting off Federal Funding (no federal grants or loans to any university not paying for the loan cancelation program).
Universities would readily agree to participate when faced with the prospect of a precipitous drop in their applicant pool.
1. If your Student loan isn’t worth it for you to pay off, it certainly isn’t worth it for me to pay off.
2. Why would anyone make a Student Loan payment ever again? Just default and wait for a handout. The system is now dead.
3. The way the Libs are trying to justify this is by comparing it to tax cuts and PPP loans. Tax cuts are completely different…that’s money NOT being collected, not redistributing one person’s wealth to another. The better comparison is the PPP loans (grants really), those are wrong too, and two wrongs don’t make a right.
This president is making chumps out of every honest person who ever paid paid back their student debt. Shame on him. Shame on all of the people flocking to support this move. Anyone of these “kids” could show you their $1,300 Iphone, BMW/Tesla/SUV, rent bill and AMEX bill to show you where the money is really going. Votes bought and paid for $10,000 a piece.
I certainly support Biden over Trump, but in my book this move is as stupid a one as anyone ever did. I agree that who in the world will ever pay a cent towards a student loan if there is a chance they will be bailed out by the government. I also agree that that money would have benefitted the small business man much more than the individuals who are making no effort to pay back any of their loan.. If the government wants to give money, only give it to individuals who have shown real effort to pay back their loan. don’t just toss it into the air and say “Catch!” And, yes, we DID pay back our loans!