Biden administration forgives more student loan debt
GOP vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance has long opposed helping families facing student loan burdens, even though he received financial aid in obtaining his elite education.
The Department of Education announced on July 18 that it has approved student loan relief for 35,000 public service workers. The department estimated that 35,000 borrowers would benefit from the decision, which was made through the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.
The program allows people employed by the government or nonprofit organizations to apply for loan forgiveness after making the equivalent of 120 monthly payments on their loans. Among the careers eligible for the program are nurses, firefighters, and teachers.
“Today’s announcement comes on top of the significant progress we’ve made for students and borrowers over the past three years. That includes providing the largest increases to the maximum Pell Grant in over a decade; fixing Income-Driven Repayment so borrowers get the relief they are entitled to under the law; and holding colleges accountable for taking advantage of students and families,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.
According to the department, more than 4.76 million Americans have been granted $168 billion in student loan relief since Biden took office. As of April, over $4.1 billion in relief for 87,680 people in Michigan had been approved. As of April, over $710 million in relief for 14,920 people in Nebraska had been approved. As of April, over $4.9 billion in relief for 101,550 people in Pennsylvania had been approved. As of April, over $1.8 billion in relief for 40,380 people in Wisconsin had been approved.
The announcement came a day after Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio was officially nominated by the Republican Party as former President Donald Trump’s running mate. Vance has vehemently opposed efforts by the Biden administration to forgive debt.
“Forgiving student debt is a massive windfall to the rich, to the college educated, and most of all to the corrupt university administrators of America. No bailouts for a corrupt system. Republicans must fight this with every ounce of our energy and power,” Vance wrote on his X account in April 2022. Vance himself was the beneficiary of a scholarship from the Yale Law School that paid for almost all of his tuition, and he earned thousands in speaking fees from colleges while promoting his book “Hillbilly Elegy.”
Vance’s stance is in line with the Republican Party’s opposition to debt relief.
After the Biden administration announced plans in 2022 to relieve up to $400 billion in loans, congressional Republicans filed an amicus brief siding with Republican attorneys general who opposed the plan in the Supreme Court case Biden v. Nebraska.
In a 6-3 decision in June 2023, the court ruled against the administration’s plan.
At a rally in June, Trump praised the decision by the court’s Republican-appointed majority.
“[Biden] did that with the tuition and that didn’t work out too well, he got rebuked, and then he did it again, it’s going to get rebuked again, even more so, it’s an even more vile attack, but he did that with tuition just to get publicity with the election,” Trump said.
Since the decision, the administration has sought alternative methods of alleviating debt, using a phased approach that complies with the court’s ruling.Polling shows support for debt relief. A March poll from SocialSphere on behalf of debt relief advocacy group Protect Borrowers Action found that 73% of voters supported some government action to assist borrowers, with only 22% favoring no action at all.
