More than 2 million New Yorkers will receive student loan relief under President Joe Biden’s new program, though the government still has to hire thousands of workers to help run it, Senator (D-NY) Chuck Schumer announced. .
“They need to hire new people, train them and not make people wait three hours for a phone call,” the senator said on Sunday. “The federal government already has the dollars. We have spoken with the Department of Education (DOE). They are willing to give loan processors more money to hire more people.”
Student loan providers should be able to hire staff in the coming weeks to prepare for the spike in calls that could arrive during the fall, the senator predicted.
Biden announced on Thursday that his administration would forgive $10,000 dollars to borrowers who individually earn less than $125,000 per year or $250,000 as a family. Federal Pell Grant recipients earning less than $125,000 will be eligible for loan forgiveness up to $93,000.
Only in the state of New York, a total debt of around $16.3 billion dollars will be cancelled, according to Schumer’s office. New Yorkers currently have a combined federal debt of $93.9 billion.
It is estimated that with this relief a little more than one million borrowers in New York will see all their debts cleared, according to Schumer’s office. Critics of the program, including some Democrats, have called it “monumentally unfair” to those who have already paid off their loans, chosen less expensive colleges to avoid racking up huge bills, or opted not to pursue higher education, he said New York Post.