this post was submitted on 27 Oct 2024
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/21841560

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[–] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Claiming Biden did "nothing" with PSLF is way off. Under Bush, PSLF was a mess—only about 7,000 people got their loans forgiven, thanks to an insane 98% rejection rate. Since Biden took office and reformed PSLF, over a million borrowers have received forgiveness, with his administration introducing temporary waivers, fixing processing errors, and expanding eligibility to previously blocked borrowers.

You're saying that he both should have used existing means to forgive debt, but also criticizing him for using existing means to forgive debt. The fact that he did both and basically brought PSLF back from the dead in order to help borrowers after his initial attempt failed speaks to his significant commitment to this issue, so it seems like an odd issue to bring up to try to support the case that Biden has done nothing, and it's all theater. Tell that to the millions helped so far.

He basically picked up an old, rusty knife in the yard, hardened the metal, cleaned it, sharpened it, polished it, honed it, replaced the hilt, and put it to work slashing student loan debt. Why throw out a busted tool if it can be fixed?

Biden’s fixes also significantly overhauled and streamlined the entire process for current and future borrowers. Comparing what PSLF was under Bush to what it’s become under Biden is like night and day—Biden’s updates turned an empty promise into an actual effective tool to deal with the unsustainable student-loan burden. And that's only to speak of what he's done with PSLF, not all the things he's tried, the other programs he's implemented, and how consistent he's been on this issue since he took office.

[–] K1nsey6@lemmy.world -1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

There would have been nobody under Bush that would have qualified for a loan forgiveness while Bush was president. It was a 10 year program. He was already well out of office before the first ones were even eligible to be dismissed.

[–] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I didn't say the forgiveness happened under bush. The program began in 2007. Until Biden took office, there was a 98% denial rate and 7,000 borrowers had completed it. By 2023, that number increased to well over a million, partially by correcting unjustified denials and allowing for the retro-application of qualifying payments. You think there was just a coincidental 14,000% increase in PSLF loans forgiven in Biden's first two years? Or maybe it's related to the $175 Billion in loan forgiveness for the 4.8 Million Americans that received it? Incidentally, PSLF is less than half of the total student-debt burden eased under Biden.

Again, there's a lot to criticize about Biden. Why you all are digging your heels in about something for which, on the whole, he's proactively done a lot about (and with relative succes despite robust opposition), I'm not sure.