Some individuals with student loans are taking a stand by refusing to make payments, aiming to exert pressure on the Biden administration to cancel all student loan debt.
According to a survey conducted by Intelligent.com, involving 1,000 federal student loan borrowers, approximately 25% reported not making any payments. Among those who had not made payments, 9% stated that their non-payment was a deliberate strategy to influence the government into canceling their debt.
The survey also revealed that around 44% of those participating in the payment boycott believed that their protest might lead to the government canceling at least some federal student loan debt. Additionally, 28% expressed the view that the boycott was “likely” to succeed in convincing the government to cancel all student loan debt. An overwhelming 86% believed that the boycott would bring attention to the student loan issue, according to the survey.
The pandemic-induced pause on student loan payments ended in October after more than three years. Consequently, nearly nine million individuals missed their first payment, with the Department of Education reporting that about 40% of the 22 million people with student loan payments due in October had not made a payment well into November.
In contrast, in October 2019, before the pandemic pause took effect in March 2020, less than 26% of borrowers missed their payment.
In June, the Supreme Court rejected President Biden’s $430 billion student debt relief plan, intended to forgive loans for 40 million people. Despite this setback, Biden has managed to forgive up to $116 billion in student loans for over 3.4 million individuals, as reported by the administration in August.
While leftist lawmakers and activists have consistently advocated for widespread student debt relief, critics argue that such forgiveness is unfair to those who diligently paid off their loans, especially since taxpayers ultimately bear the cost of government-funded debt relief.
According to the Intelligent.com survey, approximately 69% of borrowers who had not resumed payments after the pause cited financial inability. Meanwhile, 18% of those who had not restarted payments indicated their intention to wait until September, when more severe consequences for missing payments, such as delinquency, default, and mandatory collections, come into effect.
For the next few months, the Biden administration has introduced an “on-ramp” program to shield borrowers from the most severe consequences of missed payments.
