College tuition has nearly tripled over the past 40 years according to Forbes, and student debt is currently over $1.75 trillion. Student loans currently have fixed interest rates ranging from 5 to 7.5 percent, according to the Federal Student Aid office.
Carli Stevenson, a student debt activist for “We, the 45 million,” argued students are being pushed to attend college to have higher paying jobs resulting in many students taking on massive debt.
“You are pushing the cost of college onto students,” Stevenson said. “That is a public policy failure.”
LISTEN TO: The new college debt relief bill sparks mixed reactions
President of the Foundation for Economic Education, Zilvinas Silenas, said students are making these choices to go to college and there are alternatives where students can avoid debt.
However, Silenas agreed that the cost of college is at fault for the large amounts of debt.
Phil Schuman, the executive Director of Financial Wellness and Education at IU, said this student debt relief plan only mitigates the issue temporarily.
“This is a band aid,” Schuman said. “It’s not fixing the overall issue. This is just a stop gap to stop the bleeding and now we got to figure out how we’re just going to suture up that wound, or whatever you want to say, and fix this for good.”
President Biden’s student debt relief plan will not apply to students who applied for loans after July 1.
