Q&A of the Day – How Much Student Loan Debt Has Been Forgiven?
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
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Today’s Entry: Brian, as I am watching radical far-left progressive Kamala Harris pander to Randi Weingarten’s AFT, I have another question for you: has the Biden/Harris administration been able to actually deliver our taxpayer dollars to students (current and former) who seek to default on their promise to pay back money they borrowed, and force others to pay their bills? Or have the courts stopped any actual payment?
Bottom Line: President Biden’s relentless efforts to erase student loan debt for tens of millions of borrowers, having taxpayers pick up the tab instead, has created more confusion than it has actual results to date. But despite courts blocking most of Biden’s efforts for widespread student loan debt forgiveness, his efforts have also resulted in millions of loans being forgiven as well.
Biden’s original plan, that targeted loan forgiveness for 43 million Americans, was stopped by the United States Supreme Court last year. Similarly, it was just a couple of weeks ago that the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the Biden administration's plan to lower payments or eliminate debt for over 20 million Americans under the so called SAVE, or Saving on a Valuable Education plan. With that said, there are a small percentage of targeted borrowers who have had loans forgiven under the administration's many efforts to find a legal angle to eliminate student loan debt.
According to government records there have been 4.76 million borrowers, or about 11% of those targeted for forgiveness by President Biden, that have received free taxpayer rides. The breakout looks like this:
- 1.6 million loans forgiven under the borrower defense or closed school discharge program
- 1+ million loans forgiven under the Income-Driven Repayment Account Adjustment program
- 946,000 loans forgiven under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program
- 548,000 loans forgiven under the permanent disability program
- 414,000 loans forgiven under the SAVE program
The total dollar amount of taxpayer funded student loan relief to the 4.76 million students receiving it, is about $165.5 billion, or nearly $35,000 per student. There were 271.4 million federal tax returns processed by the IRS last year – meaning that the average federal tax filer paid $610 in federal taxes to account for the forgiveness of these loans.
Polling has consistently showed mixed views over the issue of student loan debt forgiveness with most Democrats (58%) supporting the Biden administration's plans, with most Independents against it (44% support) and Republicans overwhelmingly opposing the administration's effort to wipe away student loans (15% support). What probably isn’t mixed is the impact on taxpayers. While it’s a safe bet to assume that the greater than 4.76 million borrowers who have had loan forgiveness are happy with what’s happened, it’s also safe to assume how the survey would go if you asked the remaining 266.6 million federal tax filers if they’d rather pay $610 less in federal taxes or if they’d prefer to pay $610 more to payoff student loans for other people. But that number pales in comparison to what it would have been if President Biden had been successful in implementing his original plan.
Student loans are no different than Obama phones. There is no such thing as government freebies. Someone’s always paying for them and that someone is you if you’re taxpayer.