Biden Forgives Some Student Debt, As The Memers Rejoice And Criticize

President Biden announced a student loan debt forgiveness on Wednesday, eliminating at least $10,000 of debt for all borrowers and $20,000 for those who took out a Pell Grant to pursue their education.

hey did you hear about the student loan forgiveness? it just made me think about how i still wish you could forgive me. i will forever be in debt to you. all those scholarships but the real ship i needed was a relationship. anyway you don't have to respond, hope you're good. pic.twitter.com/q1uZB6uaS5

— claire trần (@clairevtran) August 24, 2022

The total amount of debt canceled is around $300 billion out of $1.6 trillion owed in student loan debt by Americans. The forgiveness is also accompanied by new rules governing the repayment of debt.

For those who borrow less than $12,000, all will be forgiven in 10 years (not 20, like it used to be) and monthly payments will be capped at 5 percent of income. The pause on pandemic payments is also extended to January 1st, 2023 (although the government says this will be the last pause).

I can't believe I'm going to tell a "my cabbie said" story, but I was in a cab today and talking to Max about the student loan forgiveness, and my cab driver said, "Are you talking about the student loan news? My kids just called me when they heard."

— Matthew Sitman (@MatthewSitman) August 24, 2022

The move comes after months of deliberation by the Biden administration and directly ahead of the 2022 midterms.

(shania twain voice) let’s go brandon (dun dun dunnuh nuh NUH NUH)

— am rod (@arod_twit) August 24, 2022

The response across social media has already been massive, as meme-makers online rejoiced with an influx of student loan forgiveness memes.

Joe Brandon wiping away 10k of your student loan debt pic.twitter.com/j41t83gEw2

— Marky Marx 🐵 🍪 (@MarkyMarx_) August 24, 2022

oh you don't have student loan debt because of how financially responsible you were as an 18 year old? that's cool, I was learning how to eat pussy

— dave (@danglinghemmie) August 24, 2022

The plan? Offer a $10k rebate on student loan debt that can only be claimed on the peak of Mount Chileo after answering a series of riddles pic.twitter.com/DfzoUxjtCC

— Emma Berquist (@eeberquist) August 23, 2022

Others were less enthusiastic, wishing Biden and his administration had taken more action. Other Democrats have been pressuring the President to forgive all debt, or at least a larger amount of it. Some feared that forgiving more debt would increase inflation, but by considerably less than the Federal Reserve bailouts of Wall Street and major companies during the COVID-19 pandemic did.

The student loan debt relief, explained pic.twitter.com/p0D3ghPkSx

— Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan) August 24, 2022

Reporter: ‘Is this debt relief unfair to people who paid their student loans?’

Biden: ‘Is it fair to people who … do not own multi-million-dollar businesses … to give them all these tax breaks? What do you think?’

I love seeing the little guys get a win!#BidenDeliversAGAIN pic.twitter.com/Jn4XvHtKUw

— LA Blue Dot in GA 🌊💔 (@namwella1961) August 24, 2022

For about 8 million borrowers, the forgiveness will kick in automatically. For those whom the government doesn’t have a lot of information on, the administration will launch an application in the next few weeks and you can sign up for the email notification when that happens here.

"Canceling student loan debt is a gift to the wealthy" my brother in Christ, wealthy people don't have student loan debt. They have wealth.

— Barred and Boujee (@AudreLawdAMercy) August 22, 2022