EDUCATION PROFILE – CUNY NEWS
Your Future is Here!
COURIER L 22 IFE, DECEMBER 11-17, 2020
Student loan forgiveness of up to
$50k is possible, says Schumer
BY MARK HALLUM
Senator Charles Schumer and a
number of soon-to-be Congress members
have a plan to cancel up to $50,000
in student loan relief for Americans already
burdened with debt before the
pandemic, which has only magnifi ed
their hardships.
Congressmen-elect Jamaal Bowman,
Mondaire Jones, and Ritchie Torres
say they plan to make this proposal
a priority upon taking offi ce which will
mean those who took out loans from
the federal government could cancel a
substantial amount of debt through the
Higher Education Act.
“Millions of young Americans, including
so many New Yorkers we represent—
and their families—have been
crushed by student loan debt, greatly impeding
their ability to begin careers and
build the fi nancial resources needed to
rent apartments, buy homes, start families
or just simply build their futures,”
Schumer said. “Even worse, the debt
load average across New York is actually
higher than it is across the country,
and this holds down our entire local
economy, which we cannot afford to suppress
after dealing with COVID.”
The legislation will hinge on President
elect Joe Biden using executive authority,
essentially creating another avenue
of COVID-19 relief apart from any
stimulus bills that are presented over
the course of the pandemic that lasts
under Biden’s administration.
“It’s fl at-out wrong that people in this
country hold more than $1.6 trillion in
student debt,” Bowman said. “But the
Biden administration has the power to
do something about that, and can act
even if Republicans in the Senate choose
to ignore the problem. Forgiving $50,000
in student debt will change young people’s
lives, particularly for Black young
people, who hold far more student loan
debt than their white peers.”
According to Schumer, student debt
relief was promised in the $2 trillion
HEROES Act which was passed by Congress
in May but did help up in the Republican
led senate under the thumb of
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Would $50,000 be enough to level the
playing for the 58 percent of Americans
who walk away from school with student
loans to justify?
City residents on average hold about
$38,000 in student loan debt while the
national average runs at around $32,700
leaving many with little choice but to
postpone their dreams of buying homes,
cars, or starting families.
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