SUSSEX COUNTY, Del.- College students past and present who were loaned money to go to school have a little less to worry about thanks to President Biden's loan forgiveness measure.
Under the plan, borrowers that make under $125,000 or couples that file taxes together that make under $250,000 will be eligible to be forgiven of $10,000 for federal loans. That can be increased to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients.
Tatiana Poladko of TeenSHARP says this is a huge win for African Americans.
"A half a million African American borrowers are going to finally get out of negative net worth," Poladko said. "You know this is something we talk about to our families about the really disturbing trend around wealth accumulation in our country for people of color and families of color."
Keirstyn Carroll who works in Irish Eyes in Milton goes to Delaware Tech. She says this forgiveness will help her tremendously.
"I myself have like a car payment, insurance that I pay $500 a month, and I serve at a restaurant where winter time is coming," Carroll said. "Delaware is not very big when tourist season is over so we don't make that much money during the winter time. So it would be one less payment I need to make."
While Carroll will will be able to pay other expenses now, she also understands that as a taxpayer, she will have to pay into that debt going forward.
"It's not just gonna disappear," Carroll said. "The money's got to come from somewhere and it will end up coming from taxpayers. So, while I do think it's beneficial they are giving us extensions on it, I also understand it's not gonna completely be like 'Oh, student loan forgiveness, you don't have to pay it anymore.'"
Poladko says that while she applauds this step by the President, financial aid is still a major concern as the organization only works with about sixty colleges and universities right now.
"These are the institutions that we can predict financial aid policies and we work really hard with the families to make sure that we get in," Poladko said. "But it should not be 60 right, we have 7,500 institutions of higher education in America."
Burdens eased to some, but others say it is being pushed on them.
