Amid terrible poll performance and controversies, the Biden administration recently canceled $5 billion worth of student loan debt for 74,000 qualified individuals.
This move brings Biden’s total student loan write-offs to about $137 billion, according to Wall Street Journal. However, this will still be seen in action, as the Supreme Court turned down his attempt to conduct a sweeping $430 billion loan forgiveness plan for violating the Constitution.
The Democratic party’s leading candidate argued that the loan cancellation was “fair” and “grows the economy,” a move which was questioned by many as shelter cities scrambled and demanded federal funding, homelessness persists, prices of basic commodities skyrocketed and border crisis plagues the country.
On top of this, it should be noted that 87 percent of American taxpaying adults do not have student loans, which means that the White House is not wiping off debt but redistributing it.
Additionally, aside from magically “clearing off” student debt, the Biden administration did nothing to lower college costs for future students or create legislation to keep student debt from rising.
The Republicans in the Senate have long criticized this plan and called this move merely a “handout for the rich.”
In a statement by Sen. Joni Ernst, he said, “Millions of Americans would get stuck with the bill for this political giveaway but would get no benefit…”
He furthered, “People who did not go to college would get nothing, and neither those who avoided loans by attending a more affordable college or working during school.”
“The same is true for people who worked and sacrificed vacations and other extra expenses so they could pay off their debt, as well as students who borrow in the future,” said Sen. Ernst.
Biden’s unilateral “wiping off” student loans doesn’t solve the main problem of the rising price of higher education in the US, including graduate programs.
The average in-state tuition for a four-year public university is $9,000 per year. However, for out-of-state students, it reaches $23,890, according to The College Board. Furthermore, a private university costs $130,000 for a four-year course. These do not include costs for food and lodging expenses.
This price is unattainable for a minimum wage-earning American family who only earns an average of $79,000 annually.
According to the Education Data initiative, the average annual cost of tuition is 23 times higher than in 1963, and every decade, it increases by more than 10 percent.
In a survey by Bloomberg/Morning Consult, many Gen Z voters are unimpressed with his stunt, with 43 percent saying that he is not doing “enough” to address the burden.
So without fundamentally resolving the root cause of looming student debt, many advocates call Biden’s “loan forgiveness” “nothing but a political stunt” and do little to none to change the problem.
Biden’s “Loan forgiveness” is what happens when a failing President attempts to “buy votes”, plain and simple.
He’s well aware the younger vote is what gave him the support needed to fraud the country as a whole.
If he meant to help young people or the country, he’d have included changes to limit or better yet, decrease the system of educations’ excessive and wasteful “money grab”!
He did nothing to protect citizens from predatory educational lending now or in the future.