Joe Biden has announced financial aid for the payment of student loans in the United States

President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced a long-awaited plan to bring in millions of Americans can repay $ 10,000 of student loan debt and up to $ 10,000 more for those most in need. He also revealed new measures to reduce the financial burden of repaying his remaining federal student debt.

Individuals earning less than $ 125,000 annually and families earning less than $ 250,000 will have the right to forgiveness $ 10,000 in debt, Biden tweeted.

For recipients of Pell grants, reserved for the most needy graduates, the federal government will forgive up to an additional $ 10,000 of federal student debt.

In addition, Biden has extended again, until the end of 2022, the suspension of payment of student debt, although he made it clear that this would be “the last time” he does so.

If the plan survives the causes it is sure to attract, it will provide much-awaited economic relief to much of the population just before the mid-term presidential elections, which will be held in November. More than 43 million people They are burdened with student debt, which averages $ 37,667, according to federal data.

Nearly a third of those in debt have less than $ 10,000 and about half have debt of less than $ 20,000. The White House estimates that its plan will eliminate the debt of some 20 million people.

Proponents of the plan say it will narrow the racial divide, as black students are more likely to take out loans to help them study and their debts tend to be higher. Four years after graduation black borrowers have debt averaging $ 25,000 more than whites, according to data from the Brookings Institution.

However, the move is unlikely to satisfy the competing factions for influence as the government evaluates how much debt to write off and for whom.

Biden has come under pressure from the center-left sectors to provide broader relief most affected borrowers, while moderates and Republicans question the fairness of any general forgiveness.

The delay in Biden’s decision has only raised expectations, which is why his own collaborators recognize that this is a political situation with no way out.

Source: ANSA and AP

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