newshour, weeknights on pbs.
Geoff: It was a campaign pledge
that helped president Biden get
elected: Canceling at least
$10,000 of student loan debt per
person.
As we reported last weekend,
multiple sources say the Biden
administration is now planning
to move ahead on this, through
executive action.
The white house has not
finalized the proposal, but
plans for the relief to be tied
to income.
The president has also said he
is not planning to waive $50,000
in loan debt per person, as some
Democrats have been pushing for.
For more, I spoke with NPR's
education correspondent, Cory
turner.
And I started by asking him who
would benefit from the relief.
Cory: It's important to
remember, we're talking about 45
million federal student loan
borrowers, according to the
latest federal data.
If the president forgives
$10,000, that's going to fully
wipe out the debts for about 12
million people.
You know, the recent review by
the federal reserve bank of new
York found that this plan
without income caps would
slightly preference higher
income borrowers.
It's been reported that
president Biden is considering
pretty high income caps of
around $150,000 per individual
and between $250,000 and
$300,000 per couple.
You know, the timing is unclear.
I was speaking with a few
sources just the other day who
said they feel like this is
still a few weeks in the making
because it's still complicated
and they need to make sure they
get this right, not only
legally, but also logistically.
You know, I don't need to remind
borrowers that they've been in a
payment and interest moratorium
for more than two years.
And so, doing anything of this
scale at this point is going to
take some time.
Geoff: I want to draw you out on
that, because NPR did some
reporting recently that found
that the government's income
driven repayment plan has been
riddled with problems that have
either delayed or denied many
borrowers from getting the sort
of loan forgiveness that they
qualify for.
What more can you tell us about
that?
Cory: Yeah.
We did a lengthy months-long
investigation into these idr
plans and found that it wasn't
just one problem, it was really
a constellation of problems.
And these are big plans that
cover millions of borrowers.
We found that borrowers who were
making very small payments,
perhaps even $0 payments because
their income was so low, weren't
getting credit towards
forgiveness.
Again, the plan promises loan
forgiveness after 20 to 25
years.
We also found that just the
general record keeping for these
plans was really, really poor.
And the older the loans, the
less likely it was to have
clean, clear, understandable
records of payments for
borrowers.
Geoff: And, Cory, as we wrap up
this conversation, what about
restructuring the loan repayment
program?
I've talked to administration
officials who say that the
president might be open to
capping interest rates, either
making them low interest or no
interest.
There's also been some talk
about allowing more public
sector workers to qualify for
debt relief programs.
Have you picked up any of that
in your reporting and would any
of that really move the needle
in a sort of significant way?
Cory: I have actually spent the
past week talking with folks
about interest rates.
You know, the interest rate for
federal student loans for next
year is about to go up next
week, and it's going to go up
probably by quite a bit.
So I've been talking with folks
about the possibility of capping
interest rates, about scaling
back interest.
There's one possibility called
an income share agreement that
could work in this sort of
situation.
There are possibilities.
It's hard to know what the
education department and the
government are really taking
seriously at the same time that
they're trying to figure out
debt cancellation.
Geoff: It's still very much a
work in progress.
NPR's Cory turner.
Cory, thanks so much for sharing
your reporting and your insights
with us.
Cory: Thank you, geoff.