Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - It was announced on Wednesday by President Joe Biden a plan that will cancel $10,000 of student loan debt for borrowers.
The Biden administration's student loan debt plan will also include $20,000 in forgiveness for students who went to school on Pell grants. Anyone who didn't will receive $10,000 in relief.
Americans who make under $125,000 a year will qualify for the relief, along with married couples who make less than $250,000
While there are those who are happy to get some relief with their student loan debt, there seem to be more people who are angry with the plan that Biden has announced in an attempt to help Americans.
"The people that are benefiting, I think they're staying kind of quiet and saying, 'Wow, this is great for me.' But there are a lot of people who have done their proper planning, or they've sacrificed in order to pick a school that is more realistic financially, or they've paid back the loans by working another job and they feel cheated," said Jeff Boron from Send Your Kids To College during an appearance on "A New Morning" on WBEN.
While the student loan forgiveness plan was just announced Wednesday by President Biden, Boron details the plan that will likely be out by the end of the year, at the same time when the pause on student loan payments ends.
"Those borrowers that are on something like an Income Based Repayment Plan, already have to submit their tax data to the Department of Education to qualify for those plans. That's about 8 million borrowers that will automatically be forgiven. The rest, which is probably somewhere between another 30-40 million people, will need to submit an application which is not available yet," Boron explained with Susan Rose.
"We haven't had a mandatory student loan repayment since March of 2020, and we just keep kicking this can down the road. The White House is essentially saying that for inflation, which is our big concern, because anytime you float free money into the economy you have a risk of inflation, that the payback starting Jan. 1 or the loans that have been put on pause is going to offset that. I'd say I'll wait and see that."
Boron says this plan will apply to students that are currently in school with student loans that were done before July of 2022. For students that are still in school, they're classified until the age of 24 as a dependent, so the forgiveness rate will be based on their parents' income.
As of right now, the average total debt a graduating college student faces is somewhere around $35,000-$37,000. So when looking at the large price tag the average person faces for student debt, Boron feels this student loan forgiveness plan is a bit of a band aid approach.
"The real problem has been the federal government has taken over a lot of the student loan processing since 2010, and we've seen escalation of tuition as a direct result of that. We have to really address the real problem, which is the cost of higher education, as opposed to this is more of a band aid," Boron said. "Most people are looking at this as kind of an election ploy prior to the midterms to get some votes. This is certainly not the solution to our big problem."
More of our conversations with Boron is available in the player below:
