Women -- particularly women of color -- stand to benefit most from Biden's student loan forgiveness: report

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

65% : President Joe Biden announced a highly anticipated plan Wednesday to offer student loan relief to more than 40 million people, a move supporters hope will have life-changing ramifications for borrowers, particularly women, who hold two-thirds of student loan debt, and women of color, whose loan debt is highest.
58% : Through the end of the year, and for the final time, the president is extending the payment pause on student loans that took effect after the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.
54% : Supporters of debt forgiveness have said that slashing student loans will reinvigorate the economy by freeing up borrowers to spend their money on big purchases such as homes or cars.
53% : Carrying student loan debt for 16 years has adversely affected her mental health, especially as a single parent, but Economic Mobility Pathways, a national nonprofit based in Boston that provides support to families with low incomes, has helped her navigate her financial challenges.
52% : Progressive Democrats such as Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, both of Massachusetts, have repeatedly called on the Biden administration to forgive at least $50,000 in student debt, but each of them celebrated the president's relief plan after its announcement despite the fact that it falls short.
51% : During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden indicated that he would offer relief to the Americans disproportionately impacted by student loan debt, or sway Congress to do so, if elected.
50% : They also say that it will help end generational cycles of poverty among marginalized students who attended college in hopes of entering the middle class, only to be saddled with years of student debt.
50% : Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said in a statement that student debt blocks Americans from achieving the American dream of prosperity.
49% : Biden is forgiving $20,000 in student debt for Pell Grant recipients and $10,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers earning $125,000 or less annually.
49% : The average borrower has student loan debt of more than $30,000, but the number is much higher for women of color.
49% : Pursuing a postgraduate degree leaves women of all races with at least $55,000 in student debt.
49% : The Afro-Latina mother of four started 2022 with roughly $25,000 in student debt, but more than half of what she owed was eliminated earlier this year.
49% : The Biden administration has already forgiven an unparalleled $32 billion in student debt for about 1.6 million borrowers, including those who attended for-profit colleges, work in the public service sector or have permanent disabilities.
48% : Forty-eight percent of people who already paid off their loans and 44 percent of people who never had student loans oppose debt forgiveness.
45% : She tempered her praise for Biden's relief plan, calling on the White House to cancel a larger portion of student loans, make the process of obtaining relief easy and take additional measures to reform the student loan system.
43% : It stands out as the most ambitious proposal to date by a president to tackle a situation widely described as a crisis, as student loan debt tops $1.7 trillion.
39% : "For too many -- especially borrowers of color and Black women -- student debt makes it hard to get ahead and make ends meet," she said.
31% : In May, Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah and his colleagues introduced the Student Loan Accountability Act to stop the federal government from eliminating student loans ineligible for forgiveness under existing relief programs.
29% : During his announcement Wednesday, Biden noted that many college graduates no longer have access to the middle-class lifestyle that a college degree once provided and that young people are delaying starting families and other milestones because of student debt.

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