Joe Biden’s move comes after the Supreme Court shut down its student loan forgiveness program.
Washington:
President Joe Biden said Friday that millions of Americans are “angry” after the Supreme Court shut down its student loan forgiveness program, but he announced new measures to ease the financial burden.
“I know there are millions of Americans in this country who feel disappointed and discouraged or even a little angry,” Biden said. “I have to admit that I do too.”
Biden announced measures to “provide student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible.”
Among the measures is a 12-month hiatus for fines for defaulting on federal loans that are used by many students to fund their time in the notoriously expensive U.S. higher education system.
This will “protect the most vulnerable borrowers,” the White House said.
Another is a change in repayment plans by the Department of Education, with a reduction in the percentage of the borrower’s disposable income that must be paid each month for loans from 10 percent to 5 percent.
In addition, borrowers would see a greater portion of their income protected from being made available for repayments.
The court’s decision came as no surprise given the challenges facing the presidential authority to issue sweeping loan forgiveness orders.
However, it was still a political setback for Biden, who is trying to increase state aid for the poor.
The White House emphasized that Biden had already expanded the longstanding Pell Grant program to help fund the poorest college applicants and was also seeking to revamp existing loan forgiveness programs for groups such as public service providers.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NewsMadura staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
