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Student loan relief limited for many by US drug war’s legacy
The Associated Press ^ | August 30, 2022 | By AARON MORRISON (D-AP)

Posted on 08/30/2022 6:07:22 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

President Joe Biden says he hopes his proposal to forgive federal student loans will narrow the nation’s racial wealth gap. But a generation of Black and Hispanic Americans was disproportionately shut out of one of the keys to Biden’s plan: the Pell Grant program.

As part of the “war on drugs” — a consequential, anti-crime legislative agenda that Biden championed as a U.S. senator — an estimated hundreds of thousands of convicted drug offenders had their access to federal financial aid delayed or denied, including Pell Grants and student loans. If they wanted to go to college after their prison terms ended, these offenders had to take on larger, often predatory, private student loans.

Some were discouraged from seeking federal aid by a requirement to disclose their drug record on financial aid applications, while others put off attending college or dropped out entirely.

The people most harmed by these policies: Black and Latino men, thanks to drug laws in the 1990s with harsh punishments for crack cocaine and marijuana offenses. Incarceration rates for men of color skyrocketed. The policies remained in place for 25 years, until Congress repealed the Pell Grant ban in 2020.

There’s a generation of former drug offenders who borrowed to pay for school, but don’t have Pell Grants or federal loans, and won’t have any of their student debt forgiven. According to a Student Borrower Protection Center report on private loan debt, Black students are four times as likely as white students to struggle in repayment of private loans.

(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: inflation; loans; spending; student

1 posted on 08/30/2022 6:07:22 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

The people MOST harmed are those who worked extra jobs to pay for college, parents who did without to save for their kids college, people who studied instead of partying, kids who took real subjects and got good jobs and were able to pay off their debt, and hard-working honest people who did all the right things who get taxed more and were provided lower, fewer, or possibly no loans at all because they did the RIGHT thing!


2 posted on 08/30/2022 6:11:40 AM PDT by TexasFreeper2009
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To: TexasFreeper2009

It’s pretty obvious they are openly punishing the responsible members of society to embolden the losers. Nothing about this is supposed to help people, but to push the USA further into communism and toward revolution.


3 posted on 08/30/2022 6:14:48 AM PDT by Scarlett156 (Democrats act like they don't care about losing our votes. It's because they don't need them now.)
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To: Scarlett156
It’s pretty obvious they are openly punishing the responsible members of society to embolden the losers.

This is nothing more than a shameless vote grab, intended to motivate those who don't normally vote in midterm elections to show up for the Democrats.

4 posted on 08/30/2022 6:18:45 AM PDT by Drew68 (Ron DeSantis for President 2024)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

This type of story makes sense when we remember AP is a Deep State Media newsfeed. Their primary task is to disseminate and police the official narrative.


5 posted on 08/30/2022 6:20:43 AM PDT by Menehune56 ("Let them hate so long as they fear" (Oderint Dum Metuant), Lucius Accius (170 BC - 86 BC))
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Maybe they shouldn’t have sold drugs. Maybe they should have tried to get an education instead. I went to college. I paid all my student loans back. I do not feel sorry for these folks that took out loans and then decided they shouldn’t have to pay them back now. Not the taxpayers fault.


6 posted on 08/30/2022 6:51:08 AM PDT by JoJo354 (Pray for our nation! It needs it!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
President Joe Biden says he hopes his proposal to forgive federal student loans will narrow the nation’s racial wealth gap.

I don't think there is any wealth gap at all among Blacks and Hispanics who have their degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering.

(The vast majority of forgiven loans belong to White people, because ... arithmetic. If anything, this must widen any racial wealth gap, not narrow it.)

7 posted on 08/30/2022 6:56:54 AM PDT by Sooth2222 (“Toute nation a le gouvernement qu’elle mérite.” ("Every nation has the government it deserves.”) )
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To: Drew68

It’s weird how they expect for people to vote for them, though, isn’t it? Isn’t that weird?


8 posted on 08/30/2022 7:14:25 AM PDT by Scarlett156 (Democrats act like they don't care about losing our votes. It's because they don't need them now.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I am impressed by the unwavering social justice activism of the journalism majors. The schools have done a superb job of brain-washing them to find the right SJW angle in every story.


9 posted on 08/30/2022 7:35:00 AM PDT by nwrep
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

what is this Pell Grant forgiveness BS???

it’s a GRANT not a loan...


10 posted on 08/30/2022 8:23:25 AM PDT by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. #FJB)
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To: Chode

Thank you


11 posted on 08/30/2022 9:28:55 AM PDT by markman46 (engage brain before using keyboard!!!you)
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To: markman46

welcome... this is propaganda on top of theft on top of election tampering/vote buying


12 posted on 08/30/2022 9:59:54 AM PDT by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. #FJB)
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To: Chode

it sure is. and the leftards are lapping it up.


13 posted on 08/30/2022 1:27:14 PM PDT by markman46 (engage brain before using keyboard!!!you)
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