Photo: We, the 45 Million
Cancel Student Debt signs at White House
Recently, the Biden administration made a move to forgive up to $20,000 in student loan debt, a decision which has been a long time coming and affects millions. The cancellation comes off of the pandemic pause on student loan debt and applies to anyone making less than $125,000 a year, adjusted gross income. Student Loan Debt Activist and Director of WeThe45Million Melissa Byrne provides some insight on the decision made by the Biden administration, the fight to get there and the long-term solution to student debt.
“As long as you’re ashamed of your debt, the banks have all the power,” says Byrne. “No one wants to fund work to cancel student loan debt. For the scale of the problem, the two trillion dollar problem, there is no funding available.” The cost of college can be an astronomical expense, and one many Americans are struggling to afford. After the pandemic left many without steady income, the demand for student debt cancellation was high.
Activism played a part in the fight against the large-scale crisis. “All the organizing did was show that this crisis is huge. Forty-five million people are directly impacted. This is a crisis where people don’t have to stay suffering,” says Byrne. “I think a big part was also the fact that, in March of 2020, folks could remobilize to get a pause on student debt at the start of the pandemic.”
“You can apply for cancellation. People should know that the income threshold is adjusted gross income, not gross income. It’s for either the fiscal year of 2020 or 2021. October 31 is the current deadline for people that need to get Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). Everyone should login and start that application, even if you’ve been denied previously, before October 31,” says Byrne, in regard to important, dire information related to the cancellation. “There’s going to be about eight million people that are going to get their debt automatically forgiven.”
Byrne applauds the actions of the Biden administration and feels the decision will directly impact the actions of voters when the midterm elections come around. “The presidential primary featured the cancellation of student debt as a major theme. The President was acting in good faith from Day one, because the first thing he did when he got into office was extend the pandemic pause,” Byrne remarks. “I think voters see the government helping them. This is a great way to show that the government can help people.”
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The cancellation of student loan debt is just the beginning. For Byrne and other political activists, the end goal is free, accessible college for all. “I want poor kids to become lawyers, it shouldn’t just be the children of the wealthy. It shouldn’t be your parents’ income that dictates the career you can have as an adult, it should be based on your willingness to do the work. And that goes for trade schools too, it’s not just the academic careers,” Byrne exclaims. “Cancellation helps one group of people, and we’re hoping by doing this we move on to help even more people. Really pushing for loan forgiveness helped lay the groundwork for this. Now people are actually talking about the cost of college, and how we fix it. Before the cancellation people weren’t really talking about it.”
According to Byrne, making higher education affordable is at the forefront of the current presidential administration. With millions of people directly affected by the decisions surrounding student loan debt, the issue is a top priority. “The people need a government that fights for them,” says Bryne. “Cancellation isn’t the end goal, this helps us get to free college.”
For more information on the cancellation of student loan debt, visit The Biden-Harris Administration's Student Debt Relief Plan Explained (studentaid.gov)
