U.S president, Joe Biden has announced that the U.S Government will forgive $10,000 dollars off borrowers of the student loans debt including former college students.
Biden made the announcement Wednesday, relieving millions of Americans who had remained in suspense since last Saturday over the presidents’ indiciveness towards the students loan forgiveness bid which faced stiff oppositions.
Making the announcement, Biden noted that the student loans debt forgiveness running into millions of dollars was part of his administration’s “targeted actions for families that need it the most: working and middle class people hit especially hard during the pandemic making under $125,000 a year,” emphasizing that “about 90% of the eligible beneficiaries make under $75,000.”
“I understand not everything I’m announcing is going to make everybody happy, Some think it’s too much — I find it interesting how some of my Republican friends who voted for those tax cuts think we shouldn’t be helping these folks. Some think it’s too little, but I believe my plan is responsible and fair. It focuses the benefit of middle-class and working families, it helps both current and future borrowers and it’ll fix a badly broken system.”
The president, speaking at the Whitehouse also pledged that no high-income households would benefit from the students loan forgiveness, addressing a central criticism of the plan by Republicans who alleged that the loans forgiveness would only scrap the debt of privileged homes who probably had less debts to pay.
RELATED: Biden in dilema over Students loan forgiveness
According to the Department of Education however, about 8 million borrowers will be affected automatically while others need to apply for forgiveness.
The department further stated that about $20,000 in debt would also be forgiven for some 6 million students from low-income families who received federal Pell Grants, while proposing a new rule that protects some income from repayment plans and forgives some loan balances after 10 years of repayment.
The Biden administration has said it will extend a COVID-19 pandemic-linked pause on student loan repayment to year end while forgiving $10,000 in student debt for single borrowers with annual income under $125,000 a year or married couples who earn less than $250,000 annually.
The government will thus, require payment on remaining student loans that were paused during the pandemic from January 1st 2023.
Meanwhile, a study by the New York Reserve has shown that taking off $10,000 from every students’ student loan debt would amount to $321 billion and eliminate the entire balance for 11.8 million borrowers, or 31% of them.
The Federal loans forgiveness could benefit up to 43 million student borrowers, completely canceling the debt for some 20 million, a white house official said despite oppositions questioning the presidents constitutional rights to cancel loan debts.
But Biden is fulfilling a campaign promise of alleviating the large debt burdens of millions of young Americans.
READ>> Americans troll senate candidate, Dr Oz over old poop tweets
Also>> Diplomatic Immunity: Groups Fume As Diplomat Got Released After Allegedly Raping a Woman
