Borrowers react to Supreme Court student loan forgiveness ruling
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With a mix of grief, disappointment and anger, student loan borrowers absorbed the impact of Friday’s Supreme Court decision striking down President Biden’s sweeping plan to cancel up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Many had anxiously waited for more than a year for Biden to lay out a plan to fulfill his campaign promise, only to have the program shelved by legal challenges. Some remained optimistic the court would side with the administration, but on Friday their hopes were dashed by a 6-3 ruling against one of Biden’s signature economic policies.
“I feel like the Supreme Court is supposed to be representing us and our best interests. Do they not care? Or is it because they’re so far removed from it, they don’t have to think about it,” said Shyra Bluminberg, a 26-year-old graduate of Eastern Illinois University. “They don’t have to understand or see from the perspectives of regular people who can’t just afford that extra expense.”
Protesters gathered outside the Supreme Court on June 30 to protest the conservative majority’s ruling that cancels President Biden’s student loan relief. (Video: Billy Tucker/The Washington Post)
Bluminberg, who works as an FMLA claims specialist, said what she earns is not enough to manage the $450 per month she has to pay on her student loans. She applied to Biden’s program in hopes of lifting the burden but now feels uncertainty and confusion about what’s next.
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“Maybe I should work harder? Maybe I should find a better job?” she said. “We go to college and we apply ourselves and we get out into the world with excitement, and the reality is that the world isn’t as welcoming to all of us. Everyone just expects you to struggle and work hard, but nobody wants to help.”
Scarlet Anderson, a 28-year-old graphic designer, said the ruling left her feeling helpless and skeptical about the choices available to people seeking higher education. At one point, Anderson diligently made payments on her student loans. But despite her efforts, she found it nearly impossible to make substantial progress in reducing her debt.
“A lot of people make it seem like you have a choice in whether to go college or not, but I don’t feel that is true. We now live in a country where most jobs require a college degree,” said Anderson, a graduate of Arizona State University with $33,000 in student loan debt.
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Anderson signed up for Biden’s program after a co-worker had all of her student loans forgiven through a different program. She says it gave her hope. “Now that the Supreme Court has rejected the student loan forgiveness, I have no hope,” she said.
Biden had proposed eliminating up to $10,000 of student debt for borrowers earning up to $125,000 annually, or up to $250,000 for married couples. Those who received Pell Grants, a form of financial aid for low- and middle-income students, would have been eligible for an additional $10,000 in forgiveness.
Within hours of the court’s ruling, Biden announced plans to pursue a debt relief program through the regulatory rulemaking process. That effort will take months and will likely face other legal challenges. Still, the effort shows the administration is unready to give up on the policy.
Speaking to reporters on June 30, President Biden rebuked the Supreme Court's decision to reject his student loan forgiveness plan (Video: The Washington Post)
Eric Tones, a 55-year-old borrower who would have qualified for $10,000 in loan forgiveness, was less upset by the ruling than the fact that Republicans haven’t appeared to offer alternative solutions.
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“They seem to care more about the culture war than everyday people,” he said. “I care more about the interest piling up on these debts.”
When the 2008 recession hit, Tones, who lives in Dallas, was worried he would lose his manufacturing job. So he went to college, graduating with roughly $80,000 in debt in 2013 and a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Phoenix. In the 10 years since, he said he’s paid back about $25,000. He still owes $112,000.
He was “disgusted” by Republican politicians saying, in his view, that only rich people benefited from the forgiveness.
“I don’t know any wealthy people that have to borrow money for college,” he said.
He added that he doesn’t think full forgiveness is “fair for anybody,” but if banks and corporations can get low-interest rates, students should, too.
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The $10,000 in forgiveness would have only marginally eased his $1,500 in monthly payments; he wishes the government would require lower interest rates on the student loans. He pays 7 percent, he said, and feels it’s hard to make a dent.
“Economic mobility is getting tougher and tougher,” Tones said. “And the cost of education is out of control. The lender and university have put all the risk on the students. If the government is going to loan money for education, they should be allowed to stipulate the loan agreement.”
Charron Elliott was “heartbroken” when he heard his last $20,000 in student loans would not be forgiven. The 30-year-old graduated from the University of Louisville with $33,000 in debt in 2016 and had been following the case closely from Indianapolis, where he lives. He knew it was a possibility that the Supreme Court would reject the Biden administration’s program, but he held out hope.
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“Terrible — I’m doing terrible,” he told The Washington Post. “It’s very devastating because I literally would have been debt free.”
If he had gotten the relief, he said he would have started looking to buy a home and have children. During the pause on payments, he married his wife in a 30-person wedding, an occasion he wasn’t sure he would have been able to pay for otherwise. He wants to pay off his remaining loans before starting a family.
He said he understood some people’s arguments that many of the borrowers had signed up for the loan willingly and should be responsible for paying it back, but he wished people across the country had more empathy for the 40 million people who would have been affected.
Elliott was raised by a single mother and said he needed a Pell Grant to be able to afford college. Without the loan, Elliot, who is Black, is not sure what he would have done. He felt his experience with loans and student debt was similar to other Black men and women.
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“In many ways, it’s harder for us,” Elliott said. “The only way for many of us to go to school is to take out some type of loan.”
As of early Friday evening, he had heard that Biden had made another announcement following the Supreme Court’s decision. He didn’t pay it too much attention.
“At this point I just take it with a grain of salt,” he said. “In my mind, it’s basically over. I hate to say it, but I’ve got to plan for what’s to come. I’ll sacrifice another year or two of my life to get out of this trap.”
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Source: The Washington Post
