3 ways to visualize which income groups likely benefit from Biden’s debt forgiveness package
Rick Seltzer
August 30, 2022
Estimates show most loan forgiveness will go to those making between $50,796 and $82,400 per year.
It’s easy to get lost in the rhetoric as Democrats and Republicans try to use President Joe Biden’s student debt forgiveness program to score political points against each other.
One of the biggest arguments over the plan, which Biden announced last week, is whether it’s a handout to high earners who don’t need it or relief for low-income families that would otherwise be unable to repay their student debt. That’s a conversation that cuts to the heart of a key concern for higher ed leaders: college’s value proposition for different groups of students.
It’s also a matter of context. The income caps in Biden’s plan — $125,000 per year for individuals and $250,000 for married couples filing taxes jointly — look very different for someone in a high-cost area like San Francisco or Washington, D.C., than they do in a part of the country where housing and other essentials are less expensive, but incomes are lower.
