President Biden announces student loan relief

President Biden announced today that he will cancel up to $20,000 in debt to Pell Grant recipients and student loan debts of up to $10,000 for  other borrowers if they earn less than $125,000 a year.

The pause on repayment of loans has also been extended, with payments resuming in January of 2023.

“President Biden believes that a post-high school education should be a ticket to a middle-class life, but for too many, the cost of borrowing for college is a lifelong burden that deprives them ofthat opportunity,” said a statement from the White House.

The cost of a four-year education has nearly tripled since 1980, according to the statement. Typically student graduate with nearly $25,000 in debt. Nearly a third of the borrowers have debt but no degree

The U.S. Department of Education also is proposing cutting the monthly student loan payments in half for undergraduate degrees and is considering forgiving the loans of borrowers who have worked at a nonprofit, enlisted in the military or have worked for a federal state, tribal or local government.