Student Loan Debt Forgiveness Poll

The Biden Administration has proposed to forgive up to $10,000 in student loan debt. The current proposal is that student loan forgiveness will be available to individual borrowers who earn up to $150,000 in annual income, or married couples who file jointly and earn up to $300,000.

The Research, Policy, & Impact Center polled constituents to better understand how student loan forgiveness would impact them. Minority borrowers would see greater relief as their debt-to-income ratio is higher than white borrowers. See results to the poll in the infographic below.

Comments from Respondents:

• All Americans should have access to a quality education that’s free. Educated working people help to build a strong community. It can help with reducing crime. An educated country is a successful one.
• Anyone working in a public service for over 5 years should be forgiven regardless how many payment made
• Anything that they take off would be appreciated
• As a single mother, going back to school was imperative. The government should develop other low cost programs to assist people with obtaining their education.
• As with universal healthcare and gun control, this country seems resolute to not learn anything from the best practices of others in the area of affordable higher education. It makes no sense in an advanced economy to make k-12 education free and then do nothing for higher education despite the fact that a college degree is a necessity for many jobs and that many of those jobs are a necessity for the quality of life in our country.
• College should be free.
• Education loans are easy to get but cause hardship to repay due to low wages.
• Erase all debt for student loan borrowers
• Every African American should have all student loans forgiven and no future African American should have to pay for college ever as part of reparations for the continued negative impact of slavery, school to prison pipeline, housing disparities and inequities we experience.
• Forgiving student loan debt would alleviate a tremendous burden on a significant number of US citizens, especially those earning low-wages and those in the shrinking middle class. The additional money available to families will boost the economy by creating greater spending power. Moreover, student loan forgiveness would remove negative items on thousands of credit reports, which would allow families to qualify for better housing and employment. Additionally, forgiving student loans would be a positive step in restoring the middle class. Last, but not least, forgiving student loans for African American and indigenous/first nations people could qualify as a concrete step toward reparations for the crimes of genocide, enslavement, oppression, and exploitation by the US government and other white agencies/companies.
• I am a strong supporter of forgiveness of at least a portion of a student’s loan.
• I appreciate and could use loan forgiveness. Would make a major difference in my life.
• I do not think fees for a college degree should exceed what the workforce can pay to the average American. The monthly payments exceed the amount the average person can actually pay back and have us living in a state of lower actual wages where can barely afford to live comfortably.
• I do not think there should be loan forgiveness – tuition should be restructured
• I feel the income limit of $150,000 is fair. I also believe that every year of military service should be counted as 2 years towards forgiveness of student loans for public service. People in the military sacrifice so much more than most civilians to ensure this country’s freedoms.
• I grew up poor and my education (Duke undergraduate) changed the course of my future. I do well now, at the age of thirty six, but my loans have been an extraordinary burden and have caused me to make some really tough choices about my career and life that I wish weren’t necessary, and which many of my friends didn’t face. I hear discussion of people with high incomes or “privileged” degrees as being less deserving of sympathy, but I remember eating lentils five days a week for a couple years trying to figure out how to pay these loans right out of school, and therefore strongly support relief!
• I started out with around $30 to 40K… now I owe $61,000 and the payments are over $400/mo for 30 years. It is the only thing pulling my score down every month even though I am paying other bills on time. I am currently paying the interest every month until I can afford to pay it off.
• I think student loan forgiveness is essential for most, if not all, borrowers. Having large student loan debt prevents me and others from participating in the market like other generations. At this time, with my loans, I don’t see myself having the same milestones like my parents. Student loan forgiveness of any kind would mean that I can have a brighter outlook on my future.
• I think student loan forgiveness should consider current income, whether or not you have a public service related occupation and debit related to highest level of education.
• I think that teachers should have all their debt forgiven.
• I think this is important as we see so many schools offering free tuition and other subsidies that weren’t available in the past. As a Black person I feel all student debt being forgiven should be part of a reparation package
• I was lied to by my schools as to how much I could make. I never did get a high enough paying job to support myself or my kids as a single mom.
• In addition to loan forgiveness amount the Biden administration should halt interest accrual to allow folks to repay this debt.
• It cripples individuals and couples before they can even get started in their careers and future planning and affects minorities and first generation college students disproportionately.
• It shouldn’t take longer than 10 years for anyone to pay off student loans. They should be treated with the same stipulations as car loans. We are paying decades worth of interest and that is not right.
• It’s shameful that in such a rich country, people have to go into deep debt to get an education.
• Please do something, anything. So many of us are stressed and anxious just thinking about repayment. Cost of living is high enough as it is.
• School should be free, the amount of student debt is ridiculous.
• Something really has to change about the way state universities are funded. Student loan debt is linked to that issue, and so are low stipends/pay for grad workers and the increasing reliance on adjuncts/non-tenure track faculty who rely on semester-long contracts. Debt exacerbates worker’s vulnerability and it has to stop.
• Student loan forgiveness is necessary to help stimulate the US economy.
• Student loan forgiveness would actually better our economy. We have an entire generation that overpaid for a bachelor’s degree with the promise that one day we would make enough money to pay off these debts. However, the majority of us have not lived in a time where there were never jobs available that would pay enough to pay off, or even make the monthly payments to our student loan. Therefore, my generation decided our only option was to go to graduate school, which means taking out additional student loans. However, now we have an entire generation that is over educated, and there are not enough jobs offering the salary that use to be available for an individual with graduate level degree education. The job market has responded by now making the requirements for entry level jobs more difficult, while never raising the salary.