{"id":4487,"date":"2022-05-23T00:16:05","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T04:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/?p=4487"},"modified":"2022-05-23T17:07:41","modified_gmt":"2022-05-23T21:07:41","slug":"students-say-10000-is-insignificant-for-loan-forgiveness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/2022\/05\/students-say-10000-is-insignificant-for-loan-forgiveness\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Say $10,000 is Insignificant for Loan Forgiveness"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Featured photo-illustration by Dana Kaldy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When debating between colleges to attend, some students may value things like a school\u2019s prestigious faculty or bustling campus life. But Zuzanna Maziarz chose Hunter for one reason: \u201cI was looking for college based on monetary criteria,\u201d they said. \u201cI knew that I didn\u2019t wanna be in debt.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Maziarz\u2019s worries are rooted in a very real concern. The average federal debt per student borrower is $37,113 \u2014 and a typical student takes 20 years to clear this balance, according to the<\/span> Education Data Initiative<\/span><\/a>.<\/span> Even Maziarz\u2019s parents are still paying off their own student loans from when they were in college 20 years ago. \u201cI just think that\u2019s definitely money that should be going towards more essential things,\u201d the freshman said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Biden administration recently announced the <\/span>pause on student loan<\/span><\/a> payments will stay in effect until Aug. 31, making this the sixth time it\u2019s been extended since the pandemic began.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the <\/span>Pod Save America podcast<\/span><\/a>, press secretary Jen Psaki stated that <\/span>a decision will be made regarding canceling some student loan debt between now and before the pause expires in August. According to those close to the White House, the administration is considering <\/span>forgiving $10,000 in debt<\/span><\/a> per borrower.<\/span><\/p>\n

But for some, that\u2019s not enough. Maziarz calls it<\/span> \u201ca very small amount,\u201d considering how much they\u2019ve seen colleges ask for in just one semester. \u201cI would say actually \u2018crumbs\u2019 is a pretty good word for it,\u201d they joked. The freshman doesn\u2019t have any loans themself, but won\u2019t rule anything out. \u201cMaybe I will go to grad school, you never know what happens.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The median amount of federal loan debt that a Hunter College student graduates with is $12,333, according to <\/span>U.S. News<\/span><\/a>, which is more than Biden\u2019s possible $10,000 elimination. But the numbers are even worse for those who pursue graduate school. Among borrowers, the <\/span>average debt for a student<\/span><\/a> with a master\u2019s degree is $71,287.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ayesha Schmitt, the higher education coordinator at New York Public Interest Research Group, stated in an email that although the possibility of forgiving $10,000 is a step in the right direction, it is not nearly enough. \u201cPeople should not be punished with heavy debt loads for seeking higher education,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is not only an issue of economic equity, but also of racial equity as communities of color are disproportionately impacted.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The organization is working with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to advocate for $50,000 in student loan forgiveness. \u201cDebt can be debilitating, stopping graduates from opening small businesses, buying homes, or kick-starting their lives after college,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ahmed Afzal, a junior, can resonate with this. He hopes to get a scholarship that will cover his time at pharmacy school once he graduates Hunter, but is aware of the reality that he might have to take out loans instead. \u201cI\u2019d probably be spending most of my salaries \u2014 in the coming years \u2014 just paying it off,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not really gonna have the ability to spend my money for myself until like, after.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Afzal said that leaves him angry. Without a scholarship to help cover the costs, the bio-chem major predicts pharmacy school will leave him with more than $30,000 in student loans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those who take out loans from private colleges, like New York University, leave with some of the highest debts for an undergraduate, averaging $<\/span>32,029 per student, according to <\/span>U.S. News<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>Sophomore Christa Huang doesn\u2019t have loans out herself, but has friends who attend NYU that do.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She questions why recent high school graduates \u2014 who know very little about interest collection and debt \u2014 are entrusted to take out extreme-costing loans to begin with.\u00a0 An 18-year-old, \u201cwouldn\u2019t be able to get a loan for a house or a loan for a car,\u201d she said. \u201cThe government, these loan companies, they\u2019re giving so much out to students.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Some former borrowers have argued that<\/span> forgiving student loans is unfair<\/span><\/a> considering the sacrifices they made in order to pay back the debts themselves. But Huang very much disagrees with this. \u201cWhy do other people have to suffer because you suffered?\u201d she said, \u201cYou would\u2019ve loved it if it was for you, so why not for other people?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Biden administration is in talks to announce a student loan forgiveness plan, but students are still stressed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":4482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1],"tags":[81,498,496,499,497],"class_list":["post-4487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-column","category-news","tag-nypirg","tag-president-biden","tag-student-debt","tag-student-loan-forgiveness","tag-student-loans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4487"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4492,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4487\/revisions\/4492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}