By: Jamie Harvey, Reporter
OMAHA Neb.– President Joe Biden announced a new sweeping student debt relief plan on Nov. 24. The administration has made their final extension to the pandemic-era freeze on student loan payments.
Federal borrowers will not have to make any payments through Dec. 31, 2022.The administration also proposed new rules to make student loans more manageable. Under the new plan, required payments on federal undergraduate loans would drop from 10% to 5% of a borrower’s discretionary income.
Additionally, borrowers with less than $12,000 in federal student loans after ten years could apply to have their loan balance forgiven.
Through Oct. 31, the government is waving certain eligibility criteria for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, allowing eligible federal borrowers who work for non-profits or the government to have their loans forgiven in full.
Public Service workers should go to FSLF.gov for more information and to apply before the deadline.The administration also plans to provide targeted debt forgiveness to low and middle-income families.
Starting in October, Federal borrowers making less than $125,000 individually or $250,000 as a married couple can apply for $10,000 in student debt cancellation. Pell Grant recipients who meet the income requirements will be eligible for $20,000 in debt cancellation.
Shawn Plucinski is a UNO graduate who now works as a reference associate at UNO’s Chriss library; as a Pel grant recipient, almost all of his $21,000 of student loan debt is eligible for cancellation under the Biden–Harris plan.
“I’ll have a lot more power to decide my own financial future going forward,” Plucinski said. “Not having to worry about a lone means I’ll be able to buy a car, I’ll be able to save up for a house quicker, its really a good thing.”
For some, the new debt relief means a new outlook on life, but for others, it doesn’t feel like enough.
Penelopy Flowers, a UNO Student Worker at the Chriss Library Creative Production Lab, is happy that the government is offering some form of debt relief but wishes the program went further.”I wasn’t expecting anything like this and honestly I wish it did even more,” Flowers said.
