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- Biden's $1.75 trillion social-spending framework cut free community college and slashed the budget for higher ed.
- Rep. Andy Levin said the student debt crisis will be "exacerbated" with no free community college.
- He said student debt cancellation will solve the current crisis, while free education will prevent it from happening again.
The student debt crisis stands at $1.7 trillion, and President Joe Biden's $1.75 trillion social-spending framework does close to nothing to help the 45 million Americans burdened by debt.
On Thursday, Biden unveiled a framework for Democrats' reconciliation bill after months of negotiations. While early childhood education and childcare received a $400 billion investment, higher education got just $40 billion to increase Pell grant awards and provide support to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). Tuition-free community college was cut from the framework.
Biden first suggested during a CNN town hall last week that two years of tuition-free community college likely would not make the cut, thanks to opposition from centrist Democratic holdout Sen. Joe Manchin. He did, however, promise that he will get it done during his presidency – something he campaigned on.
But many students across the country cannot afford to wait. Tuition costs continue to rise, causing people to take out student loans to finance their educations, which can lead to a lifetime of student debt. Robert Pemberton, a 64-year-old with $265,000 in student debt, previously told Insider he sees himself dying with the loans.
"This is an endless cycle where the loan can never be paid off unless I have a windfall and pay it all or I die and it goes away," he said.
Michigan Rep. Andy Levin - the House original sponsor of the free community college proposal - told Insider the student debt crisis will "absolutely be exacerbated" if free community college is cut.
"It's a shame," Levin said. "We're going to fight right up to the closing whistle on getting it in this package, but if it's not in, we're going to fight to pass it later as soon as we can. Because it'll contribute a lot to relieving students from that burden," he added.
Biden's March stimulus law did not include any student debt reduction measures in it, either. His administration has taken steps to cancel student debt for targeted groups of borrowers and began reforming broken loan forgiveness programs. He also extended the pandemic pause on student-loan payments, but lawmakers and advocates say it's not enough to tackle the crisis that grows every day.
The magic duo: Free education and student debt cancellation
Implementing free community college now won't help the people who have already graduated and carry an average of $30,000 in student debt. That's why Levin thinks at least $50,000 in student debt cancellation per borrower and free higher education is necessary to help future students, current students, and those who have graduated.
"They're both fixing the current problem and trying to prevent it from being such a problem in the future," Levin said.
Biden asked the Education Department nearly seven months ago to prepare a memo on his legal authority to cancel at least $50,000 in student debt per borrower. But that memo hasn't been released. Given that borrowers will have to resume payments on their debt in February after nearly a two-year pandemic pause, a group of lawmakers led by Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, called on the department to release the results of the reviews by October 22.
The department missed that deadline, and Omar told Insider the response is long overdue.
"Millions of borrowers across the country are desperately asking for student debt relief," Omar said. "We know the President can do it with the stroke of a pen."
Biden never promised to cancel $50,000 in student debt, despite progressive pressure, but he did campaign on a $10,000 cancellation. Doing so would completely wipe out student debt for 15 million borrowers, while Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren's $50,000 cancellation proposal would help double that number of debtors.
"Cancelling $50,000 in student debt would completely wipe out student loans for 84% of borrowers, including more than 3 million borrowers who have been repaying their loans for more than 20 years," Warren previously told Insider.
But it's not looking like broad student debt cancellation, or free higher education, is coming anytime soon. The Education Department is reportedly preparing a "safety net" to ease borrowers back into repayment, and Biden never gave a timeline for when, or how, he will work to pass free community college during his term.
Levin made clear, though, that two years of free education is vital to preventing student debt in the future.
"Free community college will grow the demand for higher education generally," Levin said. "It builds the case for free higher education for everyone, which long term, I think is the direction we have to go."