Student loan discharge granted to over 21,000 more Floridians over GOP objections

107385696-17101771202024-03-11t170711z_1008233728_rc2tj6ajr73l_rtrmadp_0_usa-election-biden
The President continues forward despite GOP pushback.

President Joe Biden is announcing another round of discharges of old, underperforming, and otherwise distressed loans from the U.S. Department of Education’s student debt portfolio.

A total of 21,280 more Floridians will get forgiveness, which adds up to a total of $9.1 billion in write-offs for 180,130 people in Florida who have been suffering for years under the burden of compound interest on decisions they made while they were younger.

“Today, my Administration is cancelling student debt for 277,000 more people, bringing the total number of Americans who have been approved for debt relief so far under my Administration to 4.3 million borrowers through various actions,” Biden said in a written statement, citing the national number in this round of discharges.

“These 277,000 borrowers are enrolled in my Administration’s SAVE Plan, or were approved for relief because of fixes we made to Income-Driven Repayment Plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness.”

Florida GOP leaders oppose what they call student loan bailouts.

Attorney General Ashley Moody joined Missouri v. Biden, which targets the “SAVE” Plan. The proposal offers benefits for borrowers that include the elimination of “100% of remaining monthly interest for both subsidized and unsubsidized loans.”

“We will fight in court to make sure that hard-working Americans, who are struggling to buy groceries thanks to Biden, are not on the hook for other people’s debt,” the second-term Republican from Plant City pledged.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has said Biden’s student loan scheme is a ploy to buy votes, saying that people are getting write-offs for allegedly frivolous pursuits like sociology degrees.

On Saturday, Sen. Rick Scott raised his objection.

“This is socialism. It’s wrong & unfair to the Americans who work so hard every day to pay off their debts,” he posted to social media.

Per the White House, “the 21,280 borrowers in Florida receiving this latest round of debt relief are borrowers enrolled in the SAVE Plan who took out low balances of loans, other borrowers who enrolled in Income-Driven Repayment plans but never got the relief they were entitled to because of past administrative failures, and borrowers who received Public Service Loan Forgiveness.”

The administration “has approved $407 million in debt cancellation for 29,490 people in Florida through SAVE early loan forgiveness … $3.8 billion in debt cancellation for 70,050 people in Florida through fixes to other Income-Driven Repayment plans … $4.0 billion in debt cancellation for 48,770 public service workers in Florida … (and) $885 million in debt cancellation for 31,820 people in Florida with a total and permanent disability.”

All told, the White House “has approved $9.1 billion in debt cancellation for 180,130 people in Florida,” per Friday’s release.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. His work also can be seen in the Washington Post, the New York Post, the Washington Times, and National Review, among other publications. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


36 comments

  • Dont Say FLA

    April 12, 2024 at 11:12 am

    Students didn’t use to incur the kinds of debts they get from college today. It’s because G0P run state governments externalized the costs of operating state universities, once paid for by their respective states, onto the students almost immediately after student loans became accessible to everyone with virtually no limit.

    Today’s student debt was yesterday’s G0P scam to make state budgets look good.

    The college kids didn’t know what they were getting into, but G0P legislators sure TF knew what they were doing. And they sure hate it being undone. And they cannot stand being exposed for what they did to the middle class.

    • Impeach Biden

      April 12, 2024 at 11:33 am

      What a bunch of crap you are spewing. There are too many colleges out there. There are too many so called professors that make six figure incomes. Look at the salaries these college Presidents are making. Remember these people signed a contract and they are simply walking away from it and handing it over to the tax payers of this country. Pathetic really and I would never approve my kids of doing this. Let’s not forget these huge college endowment funds. Put them and their financial aid offices on the hook as well.

      • JD

        April 12, 2024 at 2:46 pm

        Yes, Richard Corcoran New College comes directly to mind making over $1M on tax payer dimes.

      • MH/Duuuval

        April 12, 2024 at 4:50 pm

        Richard Corcoran, who shepherds about 500 New College students, got a $220k raise this week on top of his existing $600K salary plus perks.

      • MH/Duuuval

        April 12, 2024 at 7:13 pm

        Really. The Ivy League schools and many other public and private institutions have deep pockets, which some schools have acknowledged and begun to ameliorate.

        Peachy hates California, yet in the 1950s CA had free tuition for all state schools.

        • MH/Duuuval

          April 13, 2024 at 10:16 am

          The six-figure professors tend to be in specialized fields, especially in medicine. They train and mentor future doctors and dentists. Worth every penny …

        • American taxpayer

          April 13, 2024 at 4:23 pm

          How about we get the elite schools to put up some of their endowments money on these students that default? Those schools have financial aid departments that made these agreements with the students. Pay up elite universities.

      • Dont Say FLA

        April 17, 2024 at 2:23 pm

        IBS, it’s not crap. It’s history. It’s factual. And a six figure salary barely pays the rent these days. $100,000/yr is barely paying rent or the mortgage, paying insurance, and putting food on the table. It might sound like a lot to ya if you’re elderly. $100,000/yr used to be a lot. Today it’s 20% above starting salary for college grads. They start around 80k/yr these days.

        The last 15-20 years have seen countless 18 year olds, too young to strip,by the way, signing up for loans that total more than you or i paid for our educations AND our homes. Too young to strip, but they can borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the reason they have to borrow for college is because state budgets mostly stopped paying for state universities the very instant state legislators realized those costs could be externalized from their state budgets, landing on the heads of naive kids who can be told it’s an investment in their future and they don’t know enough to determine whether the return on the investment is worth the investment.

        $100,000+ in loans? That’s fine, but they can’t legally decide they want to show miserable old dudes their hoo haa’s and tata’s for dollar bills!

    • Earl Pitts "RON'S OFFICIAL "UNOFFICIAL VPOTUS CAMPAIGN MANAGER" American

      April 13, 2024 at 4:04 pm

      Tuition wavers, like abortion, is also a non-vote-buying Tool for 8iden.
      Not enough voters are going to benifit to make a difference.
      Desperate Democrats are circeling “The Political Toilet Bowel” and just grasping at “Turd Ideas” desperatly as the “Political” “Pee-Pee Do-Do Water” fills their lungs with “Political Defeat” …. Cough Cough ….. Spit Spit …. Cough Cough ….. Spit Spit …. Cough Cough ….. Spit Spit.
      Thank you America,
      Earl Pitts “America’s Go-To-Political-Guru” American

  • nail

    April 12, 2024 at 11:35 am

    I hope Biden did not give DeSantis a $20,000 payoff on his college loan that he has not bothered to pay for 20 years!
    Unless he deducts it directly from the MAGAts Social Security who voted for this creep!

    • American Taxpayer

      April 12, 2024 at 11:37 am

      I’ll bet you he pays his student loans. What’s the wager lib?

      • MH/Duuuval

        April 12, 2024 at 4:54 pm

        Here’s the bet: As of mid-2023 Dee stated he had not paid off his loans. (You can google this; in fact, he was preaching at that time that the individual schools should pick up the outstanding student debt because of their presumed malpractice.)

        However, at about the same time, Dee got a $1.5 million book advance, which showed up in his annual statement of worth.

        So, MAGA, did Dee pay off the remainder of his debt or not?

  • John L

    April 12, 2024 at 12:12 pm

    GOP only wants the government to give trillions in tax cuts for Trillion dollar companies not ordinary breaks for middle class and working poor.

  • American Taxpayer

    April 12, 2024 at 12:40 pm

    I want to thank all of the people out there that have paid or are currently paying their student loans. You made a commitment and you stand by it. My hat is off to you. I also want to salute the parents that sacrificed to send their kids to college. You lived in smaller homes, drove older and less fancy cars, and skipped the elaborate vacations. Joe Biden is an enabler. Just look at his goofball son. He has bailed him out for years. What Joe is doing here is enabling as well. I have no respect for Joe or his new group of freeloaders. Pay up.

    • Rick Whitaker

      April 12, 2024 at 4:27 pm

      AT, so you love rich people and corporations getting money they don’t need, but a working-class person getting a break offends you. what a fine ahole you are.

      • Earl Pitts "RON'S OFFICIAL "UNOFFICIAL VPOTUS CAMPAIGN MANAGER" American

        April 13, 2024 at 4:06 pm

        Quick Rick,
        Check my, Earl Pitts American’s post of Sage Wisdom above.
        Thanks Rick,
        Earl

    • MH/Duuuval

      April 14, 2024 at 10:02 am

      What’d you do?

  • No Country for Old Presidents

    April 12, 2024 at 12:47 pm

    Look at that picture of Slo Joe on Air Force One. He no longer enters and exits from the passenger entry point. They have to get him on through the lower level. Now does he and our country project strength by having this feeble old man enter at the “handicap” entrance?

    • MH/Duuuval

      April 12, 2024 at 4:56 pm

      Old story: Brains beats muscles.

      • Impeach Biden

        April 13, 2024 at 1:59 pm

        Are you saying Joe has brains? I am LMFAO. You might be mentally gone too

        • MH/Duuuval

          April 13, 2024 at 3:48 pm

          Your repertoire Is primarily invective and innuendo, which I assume you absorb from Fox each day. This requires no brains, just a pair of ears and repeated doses of MAGA boilerplate.

          • Impeach Biden

            April 13, 2024 at 4:38 pm

            Remember MH, you are the one that says Slo Joe has brains. I’m still laughing my azz off of that one. Are they telling you that on NPR, MSNBC, and CNN?

          • MH/Duuuval

            April 13, 2024 at 7:14 pm

            Peachy: “Remember MH, you are the one that says Slo Joe has brains.”

            No, what I said — if you would read my post — is that YOU have no brains.

          • Michael K

            April 14, 2024 at 8:46 am

            They think that because they are tuned to Newsmax and Fox, everyone else is tuned to cable news too – hence the incessant “whatabouts” and puerile nicknames. The overwhelming majority of Americans 40 years old and younger do not subscribe to cable.

        • rick whitaker

          April 14, 2024 at 7:42 pm

          IM, boy, MH sure does know you for the moron you are. read a book for god damn sakes. you need education BAD.

        • rick whitaker

          April 15, 2024 at 5:59 am

          IM, ha ha, you don’t even know the media channels that us lefty’s use. cnn ,npr, msnbc, you got to be kidding. you don’t know what your enemy is watching, how neglegent of you.

  • Michael K

    April 12, 2024 at 1:05 pm

    Did people even read the article, or bother to look at the criteria and details for debt relief assistance?

    “Borrowers can receive relief after at least 10 years of payments if they originally borrowed $12,000 or less for college. Each additional $1,000 in borrowing adds 12 more months until forgiveness. All borrowers on SAVE receive forgiveness after 20 or 25 years, depending on whether they have loans for graduate school.” US Dept of Education.

  • ScienceBLVR

    April 12, 2024 at 2:05 pm

    I can understand the frustration of some that point out either they didn’t get a loan, didn’t go to college, got loans but paid them off, etc. Legitimate points. In the 90’s I myself had a student loan, about 5K I think.
    I started paying it back, but was then offered “loan forgiveness” for teaching in a Title 1(high poverty) school. 5 years later, debt was repaid. The concept of student college debt forgiveness, might be more palatable to others if there was some process for community service attached. Just saying..

  • MH/Duuuval

    April 13, 2024 at 10:17 am

    No word yet from American Taxpayer as to Dee’s repayment of student loans. Give Dee a call, AT, when you get the chance.

    • American Taxpayer

      April 13, 2024 at 3:01 pm

      Here’s the word MH. I’ll bet whatever wage you would like that our excellent Governor of Florida will repay and thousands of deadbeat future Democrat students will not. What’s the bet?

      • MH/Duuuval

        April 13, 2024 at 3:53 pm

        “Governor of Florida will repay”

        Typical MAGA — wants to change the terms of the bet to improve her odds. The bet is, Has your boy Dee paid off his loan yet, since we know he got a $1.5 million advance for the epic story of Himself. (Nothing online indicated he has done so, but you probably have MAGA insider sources.)

        • Impeach Biden

          April 13, 2024 at 4:40 pm

          So there is no bet then? Just MH hot air and BS. Not surprised.

          • MH/Duuuval

            April 13, 2024 at 6:52 pm

            What, you want to hold the money? Please.

            Dee received $1.5 million book advance and, unlike any other debtor, has lived rent-free, no paid utilities, free cable and internet, and so on.

            Has he paid off his student loan?

          • rick whitaker

            April 15, 2024 at 5:41 am

            IM, why do you keep taking up for a loser like desantis? that makes you look bad to support such a HUGE loser like desantis. do you honestly not see all his glaring faults? trump can’t tell the truth ever, can you?

      • rick whitaker

        April 14, 2024 at 7:50 pm

        AMERICAN TAXPAYER, desantis has already cost the state and government way more than he ever contributed. that’s call incompetence, waste, or just plain grift. what about ism will not win your lame argument. iv’e been paying taxes since my first job in 1967, how long have you been paying taxes? what grants and scholarships did you use and not pay back? i used my gi bill, do you want me to pay that back? you’re maga cult right?

  • woken up

    April 14, 2024 at 10:39 am

    Big tax cuts for the super wealthy are OK but try to help out some young folks who are trying to educate themselves and all Hell breaks loose with the GOP. God damn Ashhole Moody and Alien Rick!

Comments are closed.


#FlaPol

Florida Politics is a statewide, new media platform covering campaigns, elections, government, policy, and lobbying in Florida. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media.

Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL

Contributors & reporters: Phil Ammann, Drew Dixon, Roseanne Dunkelberger, A.G. Gancarski, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles, Cole Pepper, Jesse Scheckner, Drew Wilson, and Mike Wright.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PeterSchorschFL
Phone: (727) 642-3162
Address: 204 37th Avenue North #182
St. Petersburg, Florida 33704