Congressman Carter Celebrates Presidential Action to Forgive Thousands in Federal Student Loan Debt for Millions of Americans
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Troy A. Carter, Sr. celebrated President Biden’s announcement that his administration will provide targeted debt relief for millions of federal student loan debt borrowers.
Since 1980, the full cost of both four-year public and private colleges has nearly tripled, even accounting for inflation. However, federal support has not kept up. Pell Grants previously covered almost 80 percent of the cost of a four-year public college degree for students from working families, but now cover just 33 percent. That gap and skyrocketing tuitions have left many students with no choice but to borrow if they want to get a degree. The Department of Education estimates that undergraduate students with loans now graduate with an average of $25,000 in debt.
Specifically, the President’s action today forgives $20,000 in federal student debt for Pell Gant recipients and forgives $10,000 for non-Pell recipients who make under $125,000 each year. It also extends the student loan payment pause for a final time until December 31, 2022, implements several structural changes to make the student loan system more manageable for current and future borrowers, and protects borrowers and taxpayers from steep increases in college costs. More details on the student loan forgiveness announcement are available here and in this fact sheet.
Congressman Carter has been a vocal advocate for student loan forgiveness in Congress – one of the first bills he introduced on Capitol Hill was the Student Loan Relief Act of 2021. Following the President’s announcement, Congressman Carter released the following statement:
“America regularly forgives the debt of businesses, industries, and even small countries. Today, President Biden stood with working Americans and communities of color to forgive up to $20,000 of federal student loan debt and extend to the payment pause for four more months.
“Along with helping Americans struggling with higher costs pay their bills, President Biden’s bold actions today will bring long-needed relief to student loan borrowers and allow them to seek more opportunities in the future.
“Today’s historic student debt cancellation brings possibility and new hope for the approximately 43 million Americans burdened by the heavy load of federal student loan debt – a symptom of the greater affordability crisis within our nation’s higher education system.
“In the long term, we must fix our broken higher education and workforce development system that drives people, especially people of color, into enormous debt for the degrees and education required to be successful in today’s workforce.
“Pursuing a dream today should not put a permanent shadow over the future. Education is a lifelong endeavor, key to growing and evolving – it should not come with a lifelong sentence of debt.
“As an advocate for my constituents and for student loan forgiveness, this is a great day, but we still need to do more. Congress must build on the President’s action today and pass legislation such as my Student Loan Relief Act of 2021 so that every American can pursue their dreams.”
Today’s announcement adds to the Biden Administration’s previously demonstrated commitment to equitable student loan forgiveness. Since January 2021, they have also cancelled $32 billion in student loans for public servants, disabled students, and students who experienced instances of fraud or closure.
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