TSR Politics: Donald Trump is calling for an end to a popular student loan forgiveness program, a very questionable move considering the presidential election is not that far away.
Many Americans struggle with their student loan debt, which has become a crisis for the nation. Trump’s new annual budget calls for several changes to student loans, which are actually part of a $5.6 billion cut in funding to the nation’s Education Department, according to Forbes.
Trump’s position on this is actually nothing new, Roomies. As in previous years, Trump has repeatedly called to end public service loan forgiveness. Under Trump’s proposed budget, if passed by Congress, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program would be completely eliminated.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program is a federal program that was created back in 2007 that forgives federal student loans for borrowers who are employed full-time (more than 30 hours per week) in an eligible federal, state or local public service job or nonprofit job who make 120 eligible on-time payments over ten years. The program was established under the George W. Bush administration.
As far as his position on the issue, Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have stated that they want to balance the needs of both student loan borrowers and federal taxpayers.
Trump and DeVos claim that eliminating this program would save the federal government money from not having to forgive potentially billions of dollars of federal student loans.
Others believe that the program is vital to attract and retain individuals to enter public service and non-profit jobs, many of which pay lower salaries than private sector jobs.
Those who support the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program believe that ending it could deter student loan borrowers from entering public service jobs.
The proposal would impact future borrowers, not existing borrowers who already work in public service and are currently paying off student loans.
Roommates, we plan to keep you posted on any updates.
