Student Loan Debt in the United States has been an ongoing issue for present generations. Year after year, students rack up substantial fees in student tuition costs with no relief, aid or knowledge of their incurring interest rates. The Biden-Harris Administration has opened up a beta application to combat student loan debt.
On January 20 of 2021, Biden started his presidency during a turbulent time. From every direction, US citizens became increasingly concerned for our economic state, public health, safety and stature of our country. Biden has made many promises coming into the 46th presidential tenure; one being that his administration would help disband millions of Americans from student debt. The first course of action taken was to halt the repayment of loan collection until this past September of 2022. A formal statement was released in early August 2021 on the White House official website, which you can read here.
With the extension of pausing student loan payments in 2022, many Americans were relieved while others were concerned for the economic stature of our country. Earlier this year while payments were still on pause, The White House and Federal Student Aid released the The Biden Administration’s Student Loan Debt Relief Plan. This three-part plan outlined how it would enable a smooth transition back to payments in January of 2023, help low to middle class income families and improve student loan system services for borrowers— while acknowledging the known increase of scams around this policy, which have been continually addressed on The White House Briefing room page.
The public began to voice their concerns for the policy. There are pros and cons to this plan as America switches to a more European-style educational process. A negative being that this plan would cost working individuals billions of dollars in tax dollars to make this affordable, but on the other hand it would incentivize more people to enroll in school and get an education to build a stronger future for the working class. A positive is that this policy would help narrow the racial wealth gap in America, where the majority of people with student debt are minorities.
On October 11, 2022, at 9 a.m. the official White House Twitter page tweeted a preview of the Beta version of the Student Loan Relief program.
The Student Loan Forgiveness Beta page officially opened on October 14, 2022, at 8 a.m. to the general public and will run through December 31 of 2023. If applying for student loan relief is something you’d be interested in, click the button down below to apply to the Beta Application.
Melissa Smith
Editor
