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    • Biden, cancel student debt. Borrowers like me can’t retire
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    Biden, cancel student debt. Borrowers like me can’t retire

    Pabio Posted on

    Too often we view student debt as a problem specific to young people. But the reality is that millions of older Americans are working into their golden years to pay off their unpayable student loans.

    Renita Walker
    | Opinion contributor

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    I’ve worked two jobs my whole life. Growing up in Alabama as a teenager, I worked nights at a hamburger restaurant and weekends at a record store. As an adult, I worked as an administrative assistant and florist to support myself and my children after the untimely death of my husband. And now, at 60, I still work two jobs – as a healthcare administrator and a host at a local restaurant – in order to pay off my student debt.

    I took out student loans to find a job that could support my family and myself later, but the opposite happened. I withdrew money from my retirement account to reduce my student debt payments, which exceed my mortgage payments.

    I am far from alone. The number of adults aged 60 or over with student debt has increased sixfold over the past two decades, and their debt amount has increased nearly 20-fold, according to the National Consumer Law Center and the New America Foundation. Today, 9 million debtors aged 50 and over hold more than $400 billion in student loans, according to the Education Data Initiative.

    Unless President Joe Biden takes swift action to clear up student debt in the coming weeks, many of us will never be able to retire.

    Although each of us has a unique story of how debt buried us alive, most older debtors have one thing in common: we went to school to make our lives better and more stable. But now, decades later, an insurmountable wall of student debt blocks that humble goal.

    When I became a widow in my 30s, I knew I would need a better-paying job to support my family. I also wanted to set a good example for my two young children. Course after course, I completed my associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees. To my great pride, my children have both decided to pursue their post-secondary education. But due to lack of savings or generational wealth, I subscribed Parent PLUS Loanslike millions of people do every year, to make their dreams come true.

    Notice: Trump promises to tackle public education if elected. It is our children who would suffer.

    Older student loan borrowers deserve to retire with dignity

    After over 20 years of loans, consolidations and regular payments for the three of us, my balance has reached unpayable proportions, going from an initial loan of $80,000 to over $200,000 today, thanks to 20 years interest that accumulates at a skyrocketing rate. . Currently, I accrue $1,100 in interest every month.

    Absent executive action, I see no solution to this situation in my lifetime. That’s why I’m part of a growing movement Older student borrowers are calling on the Biden-Harris administration to cancel these loans so we can live out our senior years with dignity.

    Too often, we view student debt as a problem specific to young people. But the reality is that millions of older Americans work well into our golden years to pay off unpayable student debt. Retirement is as important in our lives as space.

    Notice: When should I retire? It might be much later in life than you think.

    Many of us have loans who are so oldthey are not eligible for the current alphabet soup of relief programs – PSLF, IDR and SAVE. Even though we have been paying for 20, 30 or 40 years, our balances have increased instead of decreased.

    Meanwhile, our income is limited and declining. Extending Social Security payments to gas bills, rent, groceries, and health care is difficult enough; now we have to add hundreds of dollars in student loan payments to the balance. When we can’t make a payment, our loans are at risk of defaulting, with disastrous consequences: tax refunds, wages, disability income, and even Social Security can be garnished.

    But here is the cruelest part: all these debts will be canceled when we diein a process known as “death discharge” in which the federal government forgives billions of dollars of student debt held by deceased borrowers.

    Between the next payment and our last breath, the federal government will charge interest, garnish wages, and offset our Social Security in the name of student loans. Because of these loans, we will be refused mortgages. We will take a second job. Our mental and physical health will suffer under the crushing weight of unpayable sums.

    However, when we die, the balance will ultimately be zero.

    The Americans’ debt will eventually be paid. They just have to die first.

    For this reason, relieving older Americans of their debts is a common-sense policy that deserves support – even from debt relief skeptics. Let’s be realistic: these old debts are unlikely to be repaid and will be forgiven one way or another. Relieving seniors of these burdens before they pass away makes much more sense than unloading them at our funeral.

    Not only would this relieve us of the burden of enjoying our twilight years, but it would also be good for our families and neighbors. Even if our loan statements don’t tell you it, we aging student debtors are doing essential work. We are teachers, social workers, therapists, nurse’s aides, and public sector attorneys. We raise our children and grandchildren and care for our own elders. Relieving us of our student debt is not a drain on public resources, as some critics claim. It supports working families and communities.

    Canceling these debts is good policy and is entirely possible. The Department of Education has the power – Biden simply needs to say the word.

    The discharge of debts based on the age of the debtor clearly falls within the regulations approved by Congress. Although right-wing plaintiffs are working multiple angles in court to stop Biden’s sweeping reversal plans, this is a different legal mechanism for providing relief. In 1966, Congress authorized the Departments of Justice and the Treasury to discharge federal debts on the basis of a “age of debtor“.

    The Ministry of Education releases loans based on the age of the debtor on a case by case basis. It’s time to use this authority on a meaningful scale.

    Prominent Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump,I want to block student loan cancellation at all levels. Indeed, some have proposed doing so try to reestablish your debts wiped out by the Biden administration (which experts say will be difficult if not impossible to do).

    Regardless, in these final weeks before he retires from the White House, I pray that President Biden will stand up for people like me. I fear this is my last chance to see relief in my life. And one day, I would also like to retire. Or at least work only one job.

    Renita Walker is a Georgia resident and member of the Debt Collective.

    Pabio
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