Student-Loan Relief Plan Will Cost $24B: White House

A new analysis from the Penn Wharton Budget Model, released Friday, estimates the debt cancellation alone will cost as much as $519 billion, with loan forbearance costing $16 billion and a new income-based repayment plan $70 billion. That would bring the total cost of the program to roughly $605 billion.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonprofit that analyzes federal fiscal policy, estimates Biden’s student debt cancellation plan will cost anywhere from $440 billion to $600 billion over the next 10 years, accounting for all of the provisions.

Biden’s sweeping plan for student debt relief will forgive as much as $20,000 in loans for some recipients and allow borrowers with undergraduate loans to cap repayments at 5% of their monthly income.

The $20,000 debt-forgiveness figure applies to those who receive Pell grants, with a $10,000 limit for most student loan holders. Relief is limited to people who earned less than $125,000 in 2020 or 2021, or $250,000 for households.

Ramamurti said that the program “is going to be a one-time thing” that is “conditioned on an emergency,” the pandemic. Many liberals have pressured Biden to forgive much higher levels of student debt, such as $50,000 per borrower.

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