Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis slammed President Biden's student loan forgiveness, insisting that universities should be made liable rather than the taxpayers.
The Republican governor told the members of the press on Thursday that it is "very unfair to have a truck driver have to pay back a loan from somebody who got a Ph.D. in gender studies. That's not fair, that's not right."
He then asserted that colleges have reaped the most benefits from the "exorbitant" debt incurred over the last generation, with much of the increased costs going toward expanding administrative offices without a discernible improvement in educational quality, Fox News reported.
Gov. DeSantis noted: "The people that should pay for it (are) not the American taxpayers, it should be the universities (that) should be responsible for that. If they're producing people that go deep into debt and their degree is not worth anything, and they're not able to make enough money to pay it back, then that's on them."
He claimed that universities "had an incentive to get more and more loans taken out and then put it in their pocket."
Ron DeSantis argued that Biden's actions would cause more inflation and criticized his administration for not complimenting the act with meaningful reform of universities.
The Florida governor also claimed that President Biden "does not have the constitutional authority" to implement the Student loan forgiveness as Biden "is relying on emergency powers because of COVID."
Sudent Loan Forgiveness To Help Millions
President Joe Biden announced Wednesday what many have suspected for months: a proposal to cancel or decrease student loan debt for millions of borrowers, per USA Today.
He claims that if you make less than $125,000 per year, you can get up to $10,000 in federal student loan forgiveness. If you obtained a Pell Grant, you may be eligible for up to $20,000 in loan forgiveness.
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For those who are not qualified for Student Loan Forgiveness , the repayment pause will be extended until the end of the year. The Department of Education is also working on a proposal to implement a new repayment plan to help debtors.
Borrowers have not had to make a single payment on their federal student loans since the pandemic began in 2020. During this time, there was increasing pressure on the president to forgive the debt. It was one of the grounds on which Biden campaigned for president in 2020.
The Burden of Student Debt
Student debt is now the second-largest category of household debt, trailing only mortgage loans, accounting for around 10% of total household debt. According to the Federal Reserve, Americans spend an average of $222 per month on student loan payments, as reported by BBC.
In the grand scheme of things, debt limits the amount of money that people can spend on goods and services, which reduces the country's overall economy. Another debt issue is that it can damage a person's credit score, limiting their future capacity to borrow and spend money.
Before the epidemic, roughly 3% of federal student loan borrowers were behind on their payments. Loan repayments have been suspended since spring 2020, and Pres. Biden has stated that he will prolong this suspension until the end of the year as part of his debt relief plan.
One of the most important aspects of Biden's plan is his intention to limit student loan payments to 5% of a person's discretionary income. According to the White House, this will slash many loan payments in half.
