The Supreme Court has struck down President Joe Biden’s student debt cancellation plan, dealing a blow to many Americans who hoped for further relief from repaying their more than $1.75 trillion in student loans.
Biden is planning to announce additional relief measures Friday afternoon, but barring any drastic executive actions, the three-year payment freeze instituted during the pandemic will lift on August 30 and interest on those loans will accrue again. That could make it harder for many Americans to make progress in paying down their loans and send them deeper into debt.
Republicans have been pushing for repayments to restart for some time, and finally won their battle in the bipartisan deal to raise the national debt ceiling. To soften the potential blow payments could have for families — and the greater economy — President Joe Biden sought to cancel up to $20,000 of student debt for Americans earning less than $125,000 a year individually and $250,000 as married couples. But on Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that the Biden administration does not have the power to unilaterally cancel student debt.
Here’s what you need to know about the looming deadline to begin repayment of student loans, and what it could mean for you, in five charts.
Who will be most affected by the end of the payment freeze?
Experts believe that repayments will make life more difficult for just about every borrower, though some segments of the population — namely younger and middle-aged people of color, particularly those at lower income levels — will likely be more affected than others.
Though student loan debt is typically associated with young people, the age group with the biggest amount of student debt is people from 35 to 49. That’s because interest on their loans has accrued for more time, and they’ve reached an age where they may have taken on more loans to pursue graduate or professional school. Many of them also graduated into the Great Recession job…
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