Posted on 08/19/2021 8:38:38 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
The Biden administration announced Thursday it will automatically erase student loan debt for more than 300,000 Americans with severe disabilities that leave them unable to earn significant incomes.
The move will wipe out more than $5.8 billion in debt, according to the Education Department, and it marks the start of a broader overhaul of a program that has been criticized for having overly burdensome rules.
“We’ve heard loud and clear from borrowers with disabilities and advocates about the need for this change and we are excited to follow through on it,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement.
The federal government offers student debt relief for people who are “totally and permanently disabled” and have limited incomes. But the current rules require them to submit documentation of their disability and undergo a three-year monitoring period to prove they’re earning little pay.
Tens of thousands of people have been dropped from the program and had their loans reinstated simply because they failed to submit proof of their earnings, however, and critics say the complex rules deter some from applying.
Biden has asked the Education and Justice departments to assess the legality of mass debt cancellation. Cardona said Thursday that those conversations are “still under way.” Meanwhile, he said, his agency is working to improve other debt forgiveness programs that target specific groups of borrowers.
“It’s an effort to show that we are working to improve targeted loan relief and help our borrowers,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Getting their nose under the tent.
Great. So every dang leftist gets a free ride!
How does the US expect to erase its massive debt?
..And then suddenly, as if by magic, almost 90% of Loan Applicants self diagnosed and declared themselves as ‘Disabled’!!
How can this be? How did this happen?
Oh boy!
My wife is considered 100% disabled by the government. She got a degree and 2 masters on student loans and paid them off in 5 years. She also got them in a field that pays well. Son of a b***h thats not right.
My neighbor is a nurse and she said most of people she has seen are either trying to get pain medication or qualify for disability.
Look for the cases to skyrocket and for those smarmy attorney commercials to inundate the airways.
I identify as someone with severe disabilities, does that count?
OK, I am old and that is considered a disability.
I want my student loan retroactively forgiven.
For the sake of argument, let’s set aside the small number of student loan debtors who, after incurring debt, contract unusual illnesses or are mangled in accidents, shot up by gang members, etc.
To run up student loan debt, an individual would have had to be physically and mentally capable of attending college. If capable of attending college, they are capable of working at something, especially with many jobs being compatible with “work from home”. “Becoming a crack addict like Hunter” is not a valid reason to receive taxpayer subsidies.
Biden’s “policy” is nothing but a scam and gateway to cancelling all student debt.
Can they deny student loans to the disabled?
If they’re unable to make a monthly payment on the debt how do they expect them to come up with these huge lump sums all at once? Nevermind.
If a student is able to do the work to obtain a college degree, he is able to hold down a job.
If a person becomes severely disabled and unemployable after graduation, that is very sad. It’s rare but it happens. We are all in principle one car accident or bad encounter with stairs from this outcome. But such people should discharge their debts through bankruptcy, not have them cancelled by executive fiat. Bankruptcy judges can sort this kind of thing out, and creditors will often be understanding in the case of catastrophic injury. Going this route provides a check against abuse. Going the Biden route is an open invitation to abuse.
Which I presume is the point.
Totally and permanently disabled means they qualify for SSI all their lives. They are designated as “cannot work.” Why do they get free college?
Like being Tranny, Homo, black, Muslim, Marxist or Feminist.
(This is just another attempt to get people to take their eye off the ball -- or off the Afghan flying through the air.)
Not today in Bimerica...everyone gets a trophy, everyone gets an A, everyone gets a check. Oh, you are a producer, you get the bill.
happy times.
I am fairly certain that lot of these “disabilities” are thinks like chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, depression, anxiety, addiction, low back pain etc.
“Erase debt? No, this passes it on to taxpayers.”
It’s noble to help the weak but it’s a disaster to suck the strength from the strong (via taxation in this case).
What about all of the front liners of doctors and nurses who’ve had to work in hospitals and nursing homes during the pandemic?
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