Warren on People Who Worked to Pay Off Student Loans: Loan Forgiveness 'Is a Question of Fairness'
On Friday’s broadcast of ABC’s “The View,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) responded to a question on what she would say to people who worked to pay off their student loans who feel it would be unfair if other people will have their loans forgiven by stating that “about 40%” of people with loans don’t have degrees and the issue “is a question of fairness.”
Guest co-host Lindsey Granger asked, “You’ve been fiercely advocating for the president to cancel student loan debts, but really only 13% of Americans even have federal student loan debt. So, is this really the best way to reach most voters, and also, what do you say to someone like me who worked two jobs for a decade to pay off all their student loans, just finished? Where do I sign up for reimbursement?”
Warren answered, “So, let’s start out with who has student loans today, about 40% of the folks with student loans don’t have a college diploma. They’re folks who tried and life happened. Pregnancies, they were already working two jobs and lost one of them, mom got sick, family had to move somewhere else, and now they earn what a high school grad earns and they’re trying to pay off college-level debt, and it is crushing their bones. Keep in mind that, of those who have student loan debt, more than half have negative wealth. They don’t have any wealth. You know that right now there are tens of thousands of people who are living on Social Security who are having their Social Security checks garnished to pay student loans. And so, this, for me, is a question of fairness. There was a time in America when we invested in our public colleges and universities. That’s how I could go to a college that cost $50 a semester and pay for it on part-time jobs, but today, that option is not out there for our young people. So, this is about saying, look, it’s tough, we understand that. We want to invest in you. We want to invest in your getting an education.”
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