- South Carolina State University, an HBCU, forgave $ 9.8 million in student debt for 2,500 students.
- This has an impact on students who had past due payments or who couldn’t afford to go back to school.
- Debt cancellation was made possible by stimulus funds from Trump and Biden.
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South Carolina State University has just become the latest school to act on the country’s $ 1.7 trillion student debt crisis.
Last week, South Carolina’s only historically black college or university (HBCU) announced it was eliminating $ 9.8 million in student debt, clearing the account balances of more than 2,500 students who previously had can’t afford to go back to college. According to the press release, the vast majority of students who received a debt cancellation notification were not yet enrolled for the next semester due to overdue account balances, or have stopped attending university altogether because that they could not afford to pay.
“Our university was founded on the principle of providing students with access to affordable and quality education,” Acting President Alexander Conyers said in a statement. “This is exactly what we intend to do. No student should have to stay home because they cannot afford to pay their outstanding debts after suffering the financial devastation caused by a pandemic. world. “
This debt cancellation was made possible by $ 4 million from President Donald Trump’s CARES Act and $ 5.8 million from President Joe Biden’s US bailout.
Even though Biden has yet to embrace broad student debt cancellation, a growing number of schools have used his money to do the work themselves. Insider reported in May that Delaware State University forgave more than $ 700,000 in student debt using Biden’s stimulus, and at least 11 HBCUs have so far done the same.
Leslie Young, a freshman at the state of South Carolina, said in the press release that without this debt cancellation, she would have had to be absent the following semester.
“Honestly, hearing this news brings tears to my eyes,” Young said. “My family has very low income. I was in a deep depression because school means everything to me. Without it, I felt like I was giving up my dreams.”
In terms of blanket debt cancellation, the pandemic pause on student loan payments is set to end in October, and many Democrats are calling on the president to extend the pause on payments and write off $ 50,000 in student debt for each. borrower.
“About 40% of people in debt couldn’t complete their degrees, so now they’re stuck trying to pay college-sized bills with salaries the size of a high school diploma.” , said Elizabeth Warren, Senator from Massachusetts. wrote on Twitter. “We are fighting for #CancelStudentDebt because people need relief. “
