FILE - President Joe Biden speaks about student loan debt at Madison College, April 8, 2024, in Madison, Wis. Relatively few Americans say they’re fans of Biden’s work on the issue of student loans, according to a new poll from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted May 16-21. The survey found that three in 10 U.S.
Asher Marshall was rooting for Biden’s first cancellation plan. It would have chipped away at his $52,000 in student loans. But in hindsight, Marshall says it’s clear Biden made a promise he couldn’t deliver without going through Congress. Melissa Mata feels let down by the president. The Houston resident has $14,000 in student loans from a program she never finished, and she could have used the help that Biden promised.“They make these promises to get votes, but they don’t deliver. So I think for me, I wouldn’t trust it,” said Mata, 34, a bookkeeper.Samantha Kempf, a social worker in Howell, Michigan, has $78,000 in federal student loans from her bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
About 4 in 10 adults think it is extremely or very important for the federal government to provide student debt relief. A similar share say it’s not too important or not important at all, with about one-quarter in the middle, saying they believe it’s somewhat important. Neil Wolf, 49, repaid his student loans for two associate degrees, including a $23,000 loan he repaid in the 1990s. No one forces students to take out loans, and taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook to repay them, said Wolf, a Republican.
But in general, he opposes cancellation, saying it doesn’t do anything to prevent students from getting buried in debt in the first place.