‘I still owe $123,379’: pressure grows on Biden to tackle student loan debt

theguardian.com:

In 2001, Karen Herrera of Minnesota took advice from a Sallie Mae representative to consolidate her student loan debt with her husband’s. They both worked in the public sector, but due to their type of loans, they did not qualify for public service forgiveness. Herrera lost her job in 2009 due to the economic recession, and though the couple filed for bankruptcy, their student loan debts remained.

Herrera and her husband have continued to make monthly payments throughout the pandemic, as their loans through the Federal Family Education Loan Program were not eligible for the pause on payments.

Despite paying off the amount they took out, Herrera and her husband currently owe more than $74,000. “Our original principal was $46,575. To date, we have paid $73,283. Sixty thousand, three hundred and eighty-six dollars went to interest, and $12,897 went to the principal over 21 years,” said Herrera.

She’s currently hoping for congressional legislation that would allow her and other couples to separate their loans so they are eligible for public service forgiveness waivers.

Herrera is also one of millions of Americans awaiting some form of relief for their student debt as the Biden administration is currently mulling a decision on addressing student debt relief after extending the Covid-19 pandemic pause on federal student loan payments until 1 August 2022.

During the 2020 presidential election, Biden campaigned on promises to cancel all student loan debt for individuals who attended public colleges and universities from families with less than $125,000 in annual income and canceling $10,000 in student debt for everyone else.

Organizations including the NAACP, the AFL-CIO, more than 100 Democratic legislators and eight state attorneys