President Joe Biden said Monday that he was considering forgiving a significant amount of the student debt held by Americans in a fulfillment of a campaign pledge to held young, debt-burdened adults, CBS News reports.
During an hour-and-a-half long meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Biden said that he is considering different options to help lighten the financial burden of education loans held by 43 million borrows, owing $1.6 trillion in debt.
“The president never mentioned an amount nor did the president say that he was going to wipe out all student debt,” California Democrat Tony Cardenas, a member of the caucus, said. “He did a dialogue with us about the differential between young people who went to public schools or private schools and we CHC members said he should focus on both. And he said, ‘Okay, good to know.'”
Biden noted in the meeting that his plan would forgive debt from students and graduates of private and public institutions. An analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York calculated that by forgiving up to $50,000 in loans per person, more than 30 million Americans would be freed of the debt, which would cost about $900 billion. (Because of accounting practices, the actual cash out would be less because some of that debt has already been paid but not taken off the books.)