Student loan forgiveness is a good idea - economically and socially | PennLive letters pennlive.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pennlive.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Forgiving student loans wouldn’t boost the economy | Opinion
Updated Dec 13, 2020;
By Michael A. MacDowell
The call for forgiving student debt was heard often during the last presidential campaign. Both Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren called for partial or total forgiveness of the $1.6 billion in student loans. About 8% of those loans are carried by students’ parents. Now that the election is over, Sen. Chuck Schumer is pressing President-elect Joe Biden to move aggressively on a plan to forgive up to $50,000 in federal student-loan debt for every graduate.
While the total outstanding student debt surpasses the amount of credit card debt for all Americans, about 55% of all undergraduates complete college with no student loans or owe $20,000 or less. The horror stories about $100,000 in loans represents only 6% of all graduates and most of this debt is incurred by graduate students.