President Joe Biden said his administration is “taking a hard look” at student loan cancellation, but that relief will be below the $50,000 in forgiveness some advocates have asked for.
“I am considering dealing with some debt reduction, I am not considering $50,000 debt reduction,” he said.
Biden said a decision would be made in the coming weeks.
Nearly 44 million people in the United States owe outstanding student loans, totaling about $1.75 billion.
During the last presidential election, Biden proposed that $10,000 in federal student loan debt should be forgiven for all borrowers. He also promised on the campaign that he would forgive all the debt of students attending public schools, historically Black colleges and universities or private minority-serving institutions, if borrowers had a yearly income of under $125,000.
The federal government has extended a moratorium on student loan payments multiple times now, since the start of the pandemic. Unless the pause is extended again, payments are expected to resume on Sept. 1.
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