The conversation surrounding accumulating student debt continues as more students apply to higher education institutions. According to EducationData.org, 48 million Americans have student loan debt, and the sum of the country’s student loan debt totals $1.75 billion dollars.

On August 24th, President Joe Biden signed a Student Loan Forgiveness executive order in hopes of alleviating the country’s current financial crisis. President Biden’s plan would remove up to $20,000 of loans from Pell-Grant recipients as well as other public assistance loans for citizens that make less than $125,000 a year ($250,000 for married Americans). 

Along with this action, the new plan would also halt payments for student loans until January 2023 and cut undergraduate loan payments in half. 

The announcement of the forgiveness plan ushered both praise as well as criticism. 

Critics claimed that the loan forgiveness plan was unfair to those who had already paid off their student loans. US Senator Richard Burr argued that the forgiveness act should enrage Americans that have already paid off their loans or chose not to go to college because of high student loan rates.

Others also argued that the forgiveness plan would result in inflation. A recent poll showed that 59% of Americans feared that canceling student debt would give borrowers more money to spend and therefore increase inflation.

However, while critics were vocal about their opinions, so were supporters of the plan.

In response to the critics’ arguments, Green Hope senior Dalton Barie said that the people who were arguing against the loan forgiveness plan were privileged enough to afford college without requesting student loans.

Senior Josahandy Avila also voiced her support for the loan forgiveness plan. She stated, “I think it is a great start to a lot of new things. It is broadening education for everyone and that should be the goal.” 

Green Hope Biology and Forensic Science teacher Mr. John D’Agostin also agreed that loan forgiveness is a smart decision. 

In an interview with the GH Falcon, Mr. D’Agostin said, “Making an investment in college grads, I mean what better investment could there be?”    

When asked to give advice to students beginning to apply to colleges and universities, Mr. D’Agostin said, “I would say, even though it might seem like an overwhelming investment early on in your life, I think that education pays dividends. The value of a college education is too great to pass up.”