Those with various forms of student loans may soon find relief through a bill designed to alleviate the growing burdens attached to student debt.
The Student Loans and Forgiveness Act of 2012, introduced by Rep. Hansen Clarke (D-Mich) in March, is designed to help current students and recent graduates by forgiving or eliminating the remaining balance of their loans after they’ve paid 10 percent of their income for 10 years toward student loan debt.
Robert Applebaum, founder of ForgiveStudentLoanDebt.com, and the United States Student Association are some of the bill’s biggest proponents.
“The whole purpose of the bill is to restore balance and fairness to obtaining a higher education,” Applebaum said. “I do not believe that pricing the middle and working classes out of higher education [will] rebuild the economy.”
Although it may help many students pay off their loans, the bill doesn’t explain the economic repercussions or benefits for the federal government, which is responsible for forgiving the remainder of the loans.
Section 3 of Clarke’s proposed bill states that the “Secretary shall forgive … the balance of principal and fees … not to exceed $45,520.”
Whether or not the federal government will be fully recompensed for the money it loans remains a concern. It’s unclear if higher taxes would be used to compensate for any money the government may lose.
“I believe there is some good and some danger in this bill,” President F. King Alexander said.
King said the bill’s requirement of paying 10 percent of a yearly salary to students loans may more greatly affect lower income individuals.
“What about lower paying salaries like school teachers … where 10 percent of their salary is needed for day-to-day living?” Alexander said.
Some students with loans like Megan Porter, a sophomore economics major, support the bill.
“It is important that we solve the [student] debt crisis,” Porter said. “This act would be a promising option for paying back my debt in an efficient manner.”
Sophomore mathematics major Ranil Weerackoon also shared support of the legislation.
“I believe it will help students long-term,” Weerackoon said. “One would be free from the burdens [of loans] after 10 years.”
The federal government currently offers loan forgiveness to some graduates who work in public service or education sectors.
The bill is currently in committee, according to Applebaum. He said the chair of the committee has not scheduled debate on the bill yet.
“Colleges and universities have been enriching themselves off of the backs of students for too long,” Applebaum said. “It’s time for them to take a haircut too.”
I am so glad that I just happened to stumble upon this article tonight. Just last week I was consoling a friend of mine who was upset because he had lent a mutual friend of ours $400. You see, this mutual friend needed the money to go to a music festival across the country. He being one of the “lower income individuals” was attending a very expensive law school and was low on cash. He stated that he would pay back my friend next month when he got more loan money. Reading this article I see a lot of blame going on. The rotten lenders for giving loans out that the students can’t pay. The greedy colleges raising tuition on these poor students. Yet no mention at all of the students or the parents of the students. You see someone must have instilled the importance of continuing their education. It seems though that the same person failed to mention that it actually costs real money. But fear not we have elected great leaders to come up with brilliant solutions for this complex issue. Forgive the student loans and just raise taxes on those that had caring grandparents, worked through college, or took an honest hardworking manual labor job that didn’t require a 6 year, six figure tuition “higher education”.
I will admit that not everyone takes advantage of these loans if you admit that there are PLENTY of people out there that do. I will teach you a great lesson I was taught when I was younger. Life is not easy and it is definitely not fair. Don’t blame other people for your own bad decisions and don’t punish people for their fortunes or hard work. Most important of all…don’t vote for a democrat.