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United States Education Government

How $138B in US Student Loans Were Cancelled - Roughly One-Third of Planned Amount (cnn.com) 162

Roughly $138 billion in U.S. student loan debt has now been cancelled, reports CNN. "That's about one-third of the $430 billion that would've been canceled under the president's one-time forgiveness plan, which was struck down by the Supreme Court last year."

It's 9% of all outstanding federal student loan debt, according to the article, "wiping out debts for about 3.9 million borrowers — by using a number of existing programs that aim to offer debt relief for certain groups of struggling borrowers..." What President Biden has been doing — before and after the Supreme Court ruling — is using existing student loan forgiveness programs to deliver relief to certain groups of borrowers, like public-sector workers (through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program) and borrowers who were defrauded by their college (through the borrower defense to repayment program). His administration also made discharges for borrowers who are totally and permanently disabled. None of these programs expire, meaning they will help qualifying borrowers now and in the future. In some cases, Biden's administration has expanded the reach of these programs, making more borrowers eligible.

And in other cases, it has made an effort to correct past administrative errors made to borrowers' student loan accounts by conducting a one-time recount of borrowers' past payments. This effort helps make sure people receive the loan forgiveness they may already qualify for by having made at least 20 years of payments in an income-driven plan, which calculates monthly payment amounts based on a borrower's income and family size, rather than the amount owed. The recount is expected to be completed by July...

Last year, the administration created a new income-driven repayment plan. Known as SAVE, the new plan offers the most generous terms for low-income borrowers. Those who originally borrowed $12,000 or less will see their remaining debt canceled after making payments for at least 10 years... [The administration] is working on implementing another path toward a broad student loan forgiveness program, this time relying on a different legal authority in hopes that this attempt holds up in court. This proposal is currently making its way through a lengthy rulemaking process and has yet to be finalized.

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How $138B in US Student Loans Were Cancelled - Roughly One-Third of Planned Amount

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  • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Saturday March 09, 2024 @01:47PM (#64302737)
    that's how. The terms of the loans were such that they were due to be forgiven, the principal and lots of interest had long since been paid too. The loan companies were still (illegally) collecting on the loans.

    The Biden admin basically reviewed loan terms and contacted loan officers on behalf of people, resulting in the forgiveness.

    The take away is that at *least* 1/3 of the student loans were fraudulent.

    Also if you like having a job you can thank this program. It's putting a ton of money into the bottom end of the economy, which keeps everything going. Will Rogers said it years ago. [wiredpen.com]
    • by burtosis ( 1124179 ) on Saturday March 09, 2024 @02:17PM (#64302807)

      that's how. The terms of the loans were such that they were due to be forgiven, the principal and lots of interest had long since been paid too. The loan companies were still (illegally) collecting on the loans. The Biden admin basically reviewed loan terms and contacted loan officers on behalf of people, resulting in the forgiveness. The take away is that at *least* 1/3 of the student loans were fraudulent.

      Came here to say this. The loans weren’t forgiven, the original terms were finally adhered to after sometimes decades of unilateral acations against the contract and thus illegal fraud on the part of the lenders. The whole idea this is loan forgiveness and the perpetrators aren’t being forced to divest of all illegal gains including all the interest thereof and paying restitution while they are being sentenced to prison says quite a lot about this country.

    • This sounds like BS. Why doesn't the loan taker just stop pay and let the loan giver go to court (and lose) if the loan giver isn't following the contract/conditions?

    • There was also the agreement to forgive teacher loans. However, that forgiveness was almost never seen. This is a contract teachers entered into with the clear, contractual, expectation that the loans would be forgiven as a part of their teacher compensation.

      Yet the loan holders simply chose not to honour those contracts. As a teacher (computers and robotics) I am still waiting to see if my teacher loan forgiveness will ever be honoured.
    • It's putting a ton of money into the bottom end of the economy

      No it is not putting "a ton of money" into the bottom end of the economy. It is helping people like you to have more money to pay other bills. This is doing NOTHING to effect me in a positive way.

      I despise people like you who take a free ride on labor like mine. I saw the terms and conditions and declined, not that I ever actually had a chance anyways since I could not even afford the application and admission fees.

      You are a whiney weak child who has made bad decisions in life in the hopes of coming out on

  • The fix for this is to make student loan debt cancellable in bankruptcy after n years. I don't understand why that's such a difficult thing to get pushed through.

    Making 20-year loans to 18-year-olds with no income, no job, and intentions to spend the next four years in some state of inebriation should not be a business plan underwritten by the US government.

  • They should limit universities to the final two- or three-year capstone on a bachelors degree and leave High Schools and Community Colleges to get students up to the increased entry level - let's call it "Associates Degree" for want of a better term.

    Then encourage employers to open up a lot more positions to people with Associates degrees.

  • ...if you don't have to pay it back.
  • And will spend the rest of their lives competing against people who also could not afford college, but went anyway , there is a word for you folks

    SUCKERS!!!!

    Bwahahahahahah! Take your personal responsibility and stick it squarely in your hamster hole, looo hoooo hoooo hoooozers!

    Nah, just kidding, I am sure that Biden has something for you too, you know, for having had to make that heartbreaking decision about your future. He is not going to allow you to be punished for doing the right thing. Chances are, yo

  • When a person takes out a loan (ANY loan for ANY purpose) with a promise to pay interest, the lender must provide the money and this is often only done with an agreed upon interest for a reason: Money left sitting in a mattress loses value (due to inflation) and therefore is a loss to the investor if simply stored in a "safe" place. The only way the money keeps its value is if it is invested in productive activities so that it grows at a rate faster than inflation. If money is lent to somebody at a lower ra

  • by mpercy ( 1085347 ) on Sunday March 10, 2024 @07:17AM (#64303929)

    A teacher paid $135,901 last year who had student debt forgiven was the “honored” guest of U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley at the State of the Union address.

    That teacher, who also owns a home in Dedham with her husband assessed in Zillow online records at about $1 million, was given $117,000 in student debt relief, Pressley says in a press release.

    “Priscilla is a first generation American, a proud union educator with Boston Public Schools and the Boston Teachers Union, and the daughter of a Colombian immigrant, who has received over $117,000 in student debt relief under the Biden-Harris Administration’s improved Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program,” Pressley writes.

    City payroll records posted by the Herald show that teacher, Priscilla Higuera Valentine, earned $135,901 in 2023; $116,595 in 2022; and $114,112 in 2021.

    She is listed as a school teacher at the Conley Elementary School in Roslindale.

  • I know plenty of folk with college debt, and precisely zero of them have had it forgiven.
  • History. I take it that many of these loans were sold off to private concerns for a steep discount - to hedge and vulture funds. Not only did they get tax deduction, but in a windfall more paid out in full at 7% odd when the time to do it would be at the lows of 1-2% a while back. Means tested would at the lowest income bracket would have been fairer. Whatever, is still smells of vote buying.

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