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It’s official. President Biden announced on Wednesday a new student loan forgiveness plan that would wipe out significant amounts of debt for tens of millions of Americans. He said the long-awaited plan would erase $10,000 in debt for those earning less than $125,000 per year (or $250,000 for households) and $20,000 for recipients of Pell Grants — for students with the greatest financial need.
The debt relief — which was delivered after years of pressure and heated debates — comes just weeks before the midterm elections. "An entire generation is now saddled with unsustainable debt in exchange for an attempt, at least, at a college degree," Mr. Biden said in his remarks at the White House. "The burden is so heavy that even if you graduate, you may not have access to the middle-class life that the college degree once provided."
Immediately, the topic took over the internet with anyone and everyone offering their opinions on the matter. And a brief scroll through Twitter made one thing clear — responses to the news have been all over the place. Although the plan is a game-changer for those trapped in a cycle of staggering debt, certain people online were quick to denounce the plan.
Below, we at Bored Panda wrapped up some of the reactions people shared online to Republicans criticizing the move, from the sarcastic to the sincere. Continue scrolling and upvote the ones you agree with the most. Then let us know where you land on this topic, we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
President Biden announced on Wednesday his long-awaited student loan forgiveness plan that will wipe out up to $10,000 in debt for borrowers and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients
The internet immediately erupted with reactions, here’s what people had to say
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#1
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Boudewijn van der Mik Boudewijn van der Mik Community Member Follow
This needs more upvotes.
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#2
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Don't you wish you knew Don't you wish you knew Community Member Follow
I have a BS degree and no student loan debt but I think it's great if people who do can get some relief from it.
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#3
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Falcon Falcon Community Member Follow
Hypocrite.
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The new student loan forgiveness plan fulfilled President Joe Biden’s campaign pledge to deliver financial relief for millions of Americans. However, not everyone with debt will qualify. "Both of these targeted actions are for families who need it the most — working and middle-class people hit especially hard during the pandemic making under $125,000 a year," Biden said. "You make more than that, you don’t qualify." The debt forgiveness applies to current students as well, although future students will not be eligible for relief as it applies to those who took out their loans before July 2022. Undergraduate loan payments will also be no more than 5% of monthly income — down from the 10% available under the most recent income-driven repayment plan. Moreover, according to the Education Department, the relief is capped at the amount of a borrower’s outstanding eligible debt. "For example: If you are eligible for $20,000 in debt relief but have a balance of $15,000 remaining, you will only receive $15,000 in relief." As stated in the tweet, the president will also extend the payment pause on most federal student loans "one final time" through December 31, 2022. ADVERTIsem*nT
#4
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Sonja Sonja Community Member Follow
The fact itself that generational injustice was made on you, doesn't mean it should be repeated over and over again on next generations. Until someone tries to overstep their own shadow, no one can move forward. It is holding back of everyone
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#5
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Megan Curl Megan Curl Community Member Follow
And let’s remember that, in most cases, 10K is not nearly paying off the entire debt. It’s just making it a little less burdensome. Regardless of political affiliation, this is just a good idea.
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#6
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Laika-Mutton Laika-Mutton Community Member Follow
Had someone tell me this. I said, "Yes, I know! Because before the war, they had all this money and were just giving it away to poor Americans." I think he figured out it was sarcasm.
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In his remarks, Biden said that 95% of borrowers, or about 43 million people, would benefit from these actions. Of those, over 60% are Pell Grant recipients — that’s around 27 million people who will get $20,000 in debt relief. Altogether, nearly 45% of borrowers would have their debt fully canceled: "That’s 20 million people who can start getting on with their lives," Biden said. "All of this means people can start to finally crawl out from under that mountain of debt to get on top of their rent and their utilities, to finally think about buying a home or starting a family or starting a business."
#7
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Pirates of Zen Pants Pirates of Zen Pants Community Member
THIS. All day, all night, holidays and weekends. THIS.
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#8
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James016 James016 Community Member Follow
This one needs to be published everywhere.
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#9
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Katy McMouse Katy McMouse Community Member Follow
Leave it to that personification of a fruit fly to bring this up. He's only mentioning it to be contrary. It would be beyond helpful to be reimbursed for even a fraction of my loans, but I'm not holding my breath.
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If you’re unsure whether you need to take action to receive loan forgiveness, the U.S. Department of Education explained that nearly 8 million borrowers won’t have to lift a finger. Because the department already has relevant income data, they are eligible to receive relief automatically. If the Department of Education doesn't have your income data (or you don't know if they do), the Administration will launch a short application for people seeking debt relief in the coming weeks. It will be available before the pause on federal student loan repayments ends on December 31st. If you would like to know when the application is available, the Department of Education says borrowers can sign up to be notified here.
#10
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Pirates of Zen Pants Pirates of Zen Pants Community Member
I couldn't agree more. In the U.S., we have free education until high school graduation. You used to be able to become a lawyer, say, with a high school diploma or less. (Think Abraham Lincoln.) Now the number of good jobs you can get with a high school diploma is small. A college education is required for most jobs, and the costs of that are generally all on the individual worker. I already paid off my loans, but I would rather young people not have to go through what I did.
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#11
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E B E B Community Member Follow
Poor people are not "too big to fail" apparently.
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#12
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TheQueenZ TheQueenZ Community Member Follow
It's #3 that makes me smile. I'm happy there are still good, unselfish people in this country.
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Recently, the term "student loan crisis" has become familiar across the U.S. Over 40 million Americans are in debt for their education, owing a cumulative $1.7 trillion. Skyrocketing higher education costs coupled with stagnant wages have historically outpaced inflation in recent decades, as well as caused the amount of student debt to soar. The mean average balance today is over $30,000, up from around $12,000 in 1980. ADVERTIsem*nT
#13
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Katy McMouse Katy McMouse Community Member Follow
This infuriates me. Every one of these asss wipes deserves to have their name, face and amount forgiven, on billboards throughout their constituency and all over their state.
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#14
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Pirates of Zen Pants Pirates of Zen Pants Community Member
I've got a dumptruck full of YES, and I'm driving it down to this guy's house.
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#15
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Shane S Shane S Community Member Follow
This seems a bit excessive. $10k is a drop in the bucket- even for community college. It will help people, no doubt, but I don’t think it is affecting the future that much…
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Although the president had been pushed by Democrats and advocates to deliver deeper relief and cancel $50,000 or more per person as up to $20,000 won’t please everyone, he had repeatedly expressed reluctance to wipe out that much debt. That amount of relief would add up to more than $900 billion and would leave 80% of student loan borrowers no longer owing anything. But that large amount is more likely to be met with political attacks and legal challenges, higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz told CNBC. "The biggest criticism of forgiving $50,000 is that it provides forgiveness for borrowers who are capable of repaying their own student loans," Kantrowitz said and added it’s usually people with multiple degrees who owe the most. "Republicans, who largely oppose student debt forgiveness, are also less likely to challenge a lower amount of forgiveness simply on the cost factor," he explained.
#16
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Pirates of Zen Pants Pirates of Zen Pants Community Member
“If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him." Who said that? Oh, right: the Biblical God. Exodus 22:25, y'all.
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#17
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Dumpsterbaby Dumpsterbaby Community Member Follow
Good
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#18
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censorshipsucks censorshipsucks Community Member Follow
*"ghoul" is too kind, the word you are looking for is "republican".
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But as it turns out, the amount of forgiveness does not matter, as the plan still received backlash from Republicans and certain people who already paid their loans or never even borrowed because they saved up in advance, worked their way through college, or simply didn’t go there. In the past few days, Biden’s plan has triggered an avalanche of criticism from Republican lawmakers, the GOP, and a handful of Democratic moderates. The plan "would unnecessarily provide tens of thousands of dollars to many high-income households in a way that goes well beyond even what he promised in the heat of a Democratic primary when the problem facing the country was low inflation — not high inflation," Jason Furman, a Harvard economist and former top economist for President Barack Obama, told The New York Times. And the Republican National Committee even released a statement blasting the program as "Biden’s bailout for the wealthy."
#19
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Andi Andi Community Member Follow
Wasn't that the Christ that turned out the moneylenders ? asking for a friend .....
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#20
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Pirates of Zen Pants Pirates of Zen Pants Community Member
Good for her! Who knows what she'll do once she has financial freedom? Once all her cash is not being diverted to loans, she may be able to find a better housing situation, get a car, have a kid. Wouldn't it be better for all of us if our neighbors were able to pursue their life goals without chains around their ankles?
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#21
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Pirates of Zen Pants Pirates of Zen Pants Community Member
Yes, by all means, STFU.
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In response, The White House caused a stir on Twitter when they used Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness to clap back at criticism, with Biden saying, "No one complained that those loans caused inflation." This program was created in March 2020 and aimed to keep employees of small businesses’ payrolls during the early days of the pandemic.
#22
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Inigo Montoya Inigo Montoya Community Member Follow
I'm not the biggest fan of the guy, but I do like that he says things like this publicly. Plus, I honestly would have voted for a trained monkey to be president over the orange fűćkboy.
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#23
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Pirates of Zen Pants Pirates of Zen Pants Community Member
This is true. If you accept public aid as a poor person (think "grocery money to feed your kids during a rough patch"), you're treated like a parasite. If you get infinitely more public aid as a rich person (think "having your bank bailed out"), you're treated like a genius businessman. It's got to stop.
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#24
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Mama Penguin Mama Penguin Community Member Follow
Got 'em.
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For example, The White House Twitter account reminded Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a frequent Biden critic, that she was once a recipient of the PPP and was forgiven $183,504 in loans. Each Republican who criticized Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan felt the heat from the White House. "I will never apologize for helping America’s middle class — especially not to the same folks who voted for a $2 trillion tax cut for the wealthy and giant corporations that racked up the deficit," Biden wrote on Twitter Thursday. Our team here at Bored Panda is curious — what do you think of this long-awaited plan? Has it changed your life in any way? Or do you believe there's much more that still needs to be done? Be sure to tell us where you stand on the matter in the comments, we’d love to hear from you.
#25
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Mama Penguin Mama Penguin Community Member Follow
The lack of self awareness is astounding, isn't it?
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#26
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censorshipsucks censorshipsucks Community Member Follow
*apart from war.
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#27
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James016 James016 Community Member Follow
It’s a travesty that people feel they have to starve themselves to pay these loans
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#28
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Bender Bending Rodríguez Bender Bending Rodríguez Community Member Follow
That's the normal Jesus you're talking about. American Conservative Jesus would take the bread and fish, make tiny pieces of it, slap a brand "Blessed", and sell it to hungry for more than the price of whole loaf/fish.
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#29
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Jerry Mathers Jerry Mathers Community Member Follow
I don't mind if my taxes go up to pay for student debt, food and shelter programs, healthcare for all, roads, anything that benefits society. What I do mind my taxes going for is filling shortages in government income due to tax cuts /.under taxing the wealthy and businesses, legal fees that states use to defend dumb laws like "in god we trust" signs, subsidies to oil companies, and helping Texas every couple of years because those dummies keep doing stupid stuff like cutting government services, unhooking from the national power grid, and legislating the stupid religious beliefs.
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#30
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YourSecretSanta YourSecretSanta Community Member Follow
Is this the official WH twitter? If so, good for them!
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Laika-Mutton Laika-Mutton Community Member Follow
There's a difference between investing money and spending it. If people have affordable healthcare and affordable education they will be healthier, more productive, less stressed, and more educated to get higher-paying jobs. They will have income to spend back into the economy, and make the economy stronger. How is this a difficult concept?? A strong middle-class benefits the entire country!
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Louloubelle Louloubelle Community Member Follow
This quote is sometimes attributed to Thomas Jefferson "An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people." And I think it goes to what you've said here. Our people are our investment in the future. But the fat, cat, old rich white guys don't want educated people. God forbid we have citizens thinking for themselves.
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Aaron W Aaron W Community Member Follow
Wanting things to be hard for the next generation, because they were hard for you, is a miserable and selfish way of looking at the world.
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Nikki Sevven Nikki Sevven Community Member Follow
Now, on to free public college, because I'd like to live in a country of educated people.
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Laika-Mutton Laika-Mutton Community Member Follow
There's a difference between investing money and spending it. If people have affordable healthcare and affordable education they will be healthier, more productive, less stressed, and more educated to get higher-paying jobs. They will have income to spend back into the economy, and make the economy stronger. How is this a difficult concept?? A strong middle-class benefits the entire country!
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Louloubelle Louloubelle Community Member Follow
This quote is sometimes attributed to Thomas Jefferson "An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people." And I think it goes to what you've said here. Our people are our investment in the future. But the fat, cat, old rich white guys don't want educated people. God forbid we have citizens thinking for themselves.
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Aaron W Aaron W Community Member Follow
Wanting things to be hard for the next generation, because they were hard for you, is a miserable and selfish way of looking at the world.
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Nikki Sevven Nikki Sevven Community Member Follow
Now, on to free public college, because I'd like to live in a country of educated people.
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