If He Becomes President, Joe Biden May Use Executive Action to Relieve Student Debt — Here’s What Experts Say Could Happen

[So-called] President-elect Joe Biden, who promised to relieve some student loan debt on the campaign trail, is facing growing calls from fellow Democrats and activists to do so via executive order soon after taking office.

Biden’s campaign plan called for the elimination of $10,000 in student loan debt for any American who had it, with further reductions for graduates of public colleges or historically black colleges and universities making less than $125,000 per year, per CNBC. . .

Matt Bruenig, president of the left-leaning People’s Policy Project, told The Hill that a student debt relief package may be Biden’s best way to pass a stimulus without needing congressional approval. However, Bruenig has also recently written “if we are being honest about things, student debt forgiveness is possibly the least effective stimulus imaginable on a dollar-for-dollar basis. Normal stimulus measures try to put money in people’s pockets so that they can spend it. But student debt forgiveness does not do this.”

Others, like Beth Akers of the conservative Manhattan Institute, say that a middling approach makes the most sense. In a recent WSJ op-ed, she points out that borrowers owing less than $5,000 are the most likely to default because they may not have finished their degree, and those with the most debt often have the highest-paying jobs as a result. For this reason, she says, Biden should aim for debt relief that caps at $5,000.

Of course, there are also those who oppose any kind of federal student loan debt elimination. Allison Schrager, also of the Manhattan Institute, writes that there are “better, cheaper ways to stimulate the economy.” Preston Cooper, who studies the economics of higher education and is formerly of the Manhattan Institute and the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, says in Forbes that those with the most debt are people with graduate degrees, which grant higher earning power. (Read more from “Joe Biden May Use Executive Action to Relieve Student Debt — Here’s What Experts Say Could Happen” HERE)

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