Biden has forgiven billions in student loans. Voters may not have noticed.

"Micah Burkey, a 38-year-old urban planner from Chicago, had an older brother, Adam, who had a learning disability and had been unable to finish college, but still had more than $100,000 in student debt."

"Trump backed her, vetoing legislation that would have reversed her policy."

""So, there's a little bit of extra tinge for me when it comes to what the debt was, what [an] anchor around my neck it felt like."
anchor around my neck it felt like." floatkey="2" ]

"Shaeffer, and many others, said the issue remained important to them as voters, too, and they'd like to see the rising cost of higher education addressed more broadly."

""It is my belief that if we had different bankruptcy laws around student loans, that he'd still be alive today," he said."

""That's part of the reason Burkey would like to see the Biden administration do more to relieve student loan debt."

"President Barack Obama, under a task force chaired by then-Vice President Biden, made changes to some existing programs that made loan repayments and forgiveness easier for some, increased Pell Grant funding, and increased tax credits and funding for some colleges."

"Fifty-five percent of respondents in a Feb. 8-11 YouGov poll said that student loan debt was somewhat or very important to them, but a plurality, 44 percent, thought borrowers should have to repay them while only 40 percent said the government should forgive them."

"Eighty-four percent of registered voters had heard about Biden's plan to forgive $10,000 in student loan debt in a November survey from YouGov/Blueprint, and only a narrow majority, 52 percent, supported it."

""There were batches of forgiveness, and so I logged in one day, and [my balance] was zero," he said."
was zero," he said." floatkey="9" ]

"The pandemic student loan payment pause was a historic reset, and in 2023, the total amount of student debt dipped substantially."

"Forgiveness further ground to a halt under the Trump administration."

This is a negative sentiment.

"But a portion of the dip can also be explained by the Biden administration correcting some of the well-known problems with debt relief programs."

This is a negative sentiment.

"In February, Biden aounced that those whose original loans totaled less than $12,000 and who had been in repayment for 10 years would also have their debts erased as long as they were enrolled in the SAVE plan."

This is a negative sentiment.

"Education Secretary Betsy DeVos derided a forgiveness program that allowed students defrauded by their schools to obtain forgiveness as too easy and "free money," and approvals slowed under her direction."

This is a negative sentiment.

"Trump backed her, vetoing legislation that would have reversed her policy.nn"

This is a negative sentiment.

""That's part of the reason Burkey would like to see the Biden administration do more to relieve student loan debt."

This is a negative sentiment.

"The question for Biden's reelection campaign is whether enough voters know about his efforts and are willing to give him credit for fulfilling his 2020 campaign promise to deal with the country's $1.7 trillion student debt problem."

This is a negative sentiment.

"Also during the Obama administration, the first wave of borrowers became eligible to apply for forgiveness under a 2007 law that erased the remaining balances for people working in public service jobs -- teachers, government employees, nonprofit service providers -- after 10 years of repayment, or 120 payments."

This is a negative sentiment.

""Biden's new plan for broader forgiveness will have to go through the federal rulemaking process, including a public comment period."

This is a negative sentiment.

"Before loan repayment resumed in October, the Biden administration started a new repayment plan called SAVE (Saving on a Valuable Education) that capped monthly payments at 5 to 10 percent of borrowers' incomes and allowed borrowers with low incomes to pay nothing each month."

This is a positive sentiment.

""Bronstein was right: In June, the U.S. Supreme Court did strike down President Joe Biden's sweeping plan for COVID-19 student loan forgiveness, which would have erased $10,000 or $20,000 for as many as 31 million borrowers across the board."

This is a negative sentiment.

"President Barack Obama, under a task force chaired by then-Vice President Biden, made changes to some existing programs that made loan repayments and forgiveness easier for some, increased Pell Grant funding, and increased tax credits and funding for some colleges."

This is a negative sentiment.

"President Barack Obama, under a task force chaired by then-Vice President Biden, made changes to some existing programs that made loan repayments and forgiveness easier for some, increased Pell Grant funding, and increased tax credits and funding for some colleges."

This is a negative sentiment.

""I almost think Joe Biden has to keep it a secret, because there's that jealousy factor out there," she said."

This is a negative sentiment.

"When Biden changed the program, the years he spent not making payments while on forbearance were suddenly credited."

This is a negative sentiment.

"He first learned about public service loan forgiveness when his mom heard Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer talking about it on TV, and he started to read everything he could about it."

This is a positive sentiment.

"And this week, Biden aounced a new plan that could forgive at least $5,000 for as many as 10 million borrowers, but that forgiveness is months away and unlikely to take place before Election Day."

This is a negative sentiment.

"Eligibility was determined by the number of monthly payments made, and the Biden administration made more people eligible by crediting more types of past payments toward total payment counts."

This is a positive sentiment.

"Eighty-four percent of registered voters had heard about Biden's plan to forgive $10,000 in student loan debt in a November survey from YouGov/Blueprint, and only a narrow majority, 52 percent, supported it."

This is a positive sentiment.

"The Biden administration did something similar with public service loan forgiveness: making sure more borrowers' payments counted toward the total required by relaxing rigid paperwork rules and including more types of payment plans into the total count."

This is a positive sentiment.