A Republican-led effort to block one of President Joe Biden’s student loan debt relief programs in court has succeeded just days before it was set to go into effect.
Decisions by U.S. District Judges John Ross in Missouri and Daniel Crabtree in Kansas, both appointees of former President Barack Obama, on Monday sided with GOP state attorneys general in thwarting Biden’s Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, according to Reuters.
The SAVE plan, which was set to go into effect on July 1, was initially announced by Biden in 2022 alongside a since-canceled larger plan that would have erased up to $20,000 in student loan debt for tens of millions of borrowers.
2.5 million people qualified for this plan, one of 5 that were put in place.
The plan was largely targeting dropouts, because they tend to be most trapped by loans. They don’t get any income benefit from a college degree, and tend to have lower paying jobs. If you’re doing income based repayment at minimum wage, it’s possible for your loan principle to grow continuously.
I’m not saying it’s perfect, but it definitely would have helped people.
They claim 2.5 million but I doubt the real numbers would have been that high or, after 10 years of payments, that the outstanding debt would have been anything significant.
The federal government tracks all student loans, they know very explicitly how many people qualify.
If you’re making income based payments, and you have low income, the debt grows over time because the payments aren’t even enough to cover interest on the debt.
This comment displays a privileged, ignorant position
It’s basic math… you have to have borrowed less than 12K and not missed a monthly payment for 10 years.
There’s no way, given those two conditions, that there’s any significant balance left.
Some people can only pay the minimum, and in certain loans that gets you no closer to paying it off.
This type of principle based trap is a very common issue
Income based repayments such as SAVE calculate your payments as a percentage of your disposable income. This means it can be as low as $0 per month if you happen to be unemployed for even a short time. Interest still accrues, but doesn’t capitalize with SAVE. This can result in a “significant” balance.
You are underestimating the amount of people who make very low payments based on their income. My SO can pay off their loan in 5-6 years based on our income, but if they didn’t have a proper job they could make minimum payments and pay off the loan in 25 years. You obviously will pay a lot in interest but people do that if they don’t earn a lot of money or make bad financial decisions.