With Biden's $10,000 forgiveness promise, fifteen million borrowers could have all of their student debt forgiven.
Data gathered by Senator Elizabeth Warren also showed that 36 million borrowers would be debt free if Biden was to forgive $50,000 per borrower.
As student debt is increased, pressure mounts on Biden to keep his campaign promise.
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President Joe Biden promised to cancel $10,000 of student debt per borrower during his campaign. He has not fulfilled that promise. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren was provided data by the Education Department, which shows why many borrowers have faith in him.
Warren, a prominent lawmaker who calls for broad student debt cancellation and has asked the Education Department for information in April about how many borrowers would be eligible for different levels of loan forgiveness. In August, the department provided information that showed that more than 15 million of the $1.7 trillion student debt crisis' 45 million borrowers would see their student debt completely erased if Biden kept his promise.
Warren's proposal of cancelling $50,000 per student loan borrower would mean that more than 36,000,000 students will see their balances fall to zero.
Warren stated to Insider that cancelling $50,000 of student debt would totally wipe out student loans for 84% borrowers. This includes more than 3,000,000 borrowers who have been repaying student loans for over 20 years. This is the most powerful executive action President Biden can take to boost our economy and reduce the racial wealth disparity.
Data also showed that 9.8 million of the 10.3million borrowers who were in default on their debts would have their debts forgiven completely with $50,000 cancellation.
After a nearly two-year pause, millions of student loan borrowers will need to begin making debt payments within 100 days. Although the Education Department is said to be preparing a "safety network" to help borrowers restart their payments, it doesn't seem like a broad student-debt cancellation option is being considered.
Although Biden has so far canceled $11.5 million in student debt for specific groups, such as borrowers with disabilities and those being defrauded at for-profit schools, he has yet to respond to advocates and lawmakers calling for a broad cancellation of all debt. As the February 1st pandemic freeze on student loan payments lifts, the urgency of this move increases.
Biden has been working on a review of his legal ability to cancel student loans. This review has been ongoing for more than 6 months
White House chief of staff Ron Klain said to Politico that Biden had requested Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to prepare a memo regarding the president's legal authority for student loans to be forgiven up to $50,000 per person. Jen Psaki, White House Press Secretary, stated in February that Biden would ask the Justice Department for a review of his executive authority to cancel student loans. However it is not clear when that review began.
Two weeks ago, details of the reviews were not made public by a group led by Ilhan Omar, a House Democratic leader. The Education Department was given 14 days to release the memo, due to the fact that the memo had not been released. Cardona was informed by the group of House Democrats that borrowers had been anxiously awaiting the actions of the Administration, following the February pandemic pause in student-loan payments.
They added that "The time is right to release the memo, and cancel student debt," setting a October 22 deadline.
Psaki stated that she didn't have any updates on the memos during a press conference earlier in the month, but that Biden would support legislation from Congress to cancel student loans.
Warren stated that she had previously decided not to pursue the legislative route.
Warren stated that there was a lot of work ahead, and that the president could do it. I hope he does.
Have a story about student debt that you would like to share? Reach out to Ayelet Sheffey at asheffey@insider.com.
