While Democratic presidential candidates are talking about sweeping student loan forgiveness programs, President Donald Trump’s budget proposes eliminating one that already exists for public workers—for the fourth year in a row.
What We Know:
- Trump’s plan titled, “A Budget for America’s Future,” suggests cutting student loan spending by $170 billion from the student loan debt initiatives by 2030. It will also cut the budget of the Department of Education by $5.6 billion or nearly eight percent.
- Trump wants to take away money that should have been spent on helping millions of students pay-off their loans and will instead use the funds to build his border wall with Mexico.
- Trump’s proposed budget will trigger the elimination of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program signed into law by George W. Bush in 2007.
- Teachers, nurses, social workers, and other public sector workers benefit from the program, which cancels their remaining federal student loans after they’ve made 10 years worth of payments.
- According to Forbes, Trump’s plan to replace the program would be an income-based repayment plan that would forgive federal student loans for undergraduate borrowers after 15 years of student loan payments.
President Trump’s budget plan doesn’t have many fans, among either his GOP allies or opposition Democrats, but it’s a measure of the president’s priorities as he seeks a second term.
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