Student debt relief needed in coronavirus recovery

Experts at Brookings suggest that student debt cancellation—or some other form of long-term student debt relief—is needed in the next national COVID-19 relief bill. Although the CARES Act does provide some student debt relief by temporarily suspending some payments, authors suggest a more comprehensive solution will be necessary. Even before the pandemic, “almost two-thirds of student borrowers were unable to pay down the principal or even all of the monthly interest on their loans, resulting in increasing debt balances.” Borrowers of color, especially Black borrowers, are disproportionately burdened by student debt and supportive policies can begin to address these longstanding inequalities. Brooking authors estimate the impact of various levels of student loan forgiveness ($10k, $20k, and $30k), finding that a $20k of forgiveness would provide total relief for almost half of all borrowers. #covid-19 #education