Hey, Maine: Still Paying Those Student Loans? How About A $10k Forgiveness?

A proposal being floated around in the first days of his presidency is President Biden's proposal about giving student loan borrowers a $10k forgiveness on their federal student loans.

Eliminating some student debt could be very impactful here in the State of Maine.  Maine's graduates carry some of the highest college debt in the nation.  The average Maine college credit will graduate with nearly $35,000 in debt before they even start in on their career.

In a recent article from Maine Public, it is stated that if President Biden's proposal goes through, $10,000 of debt forgiveness would not only lift a great financial burden off of a generation of Mainer's but could also clear the student loan debt of one-third of Maine student loan borrowers.

Meanwhile, if this proposal goes through, a fifth of student loan borrowers in the Nation would see their student loan amounts cut in half, according to the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Student loans being cleared for a third of student loan borrowers here in the State of Maine is a similar rate to the rest of the Nation.

A 2018 study found that well over half of Maine student loan borrowers were having a hard time making payments with a third of those being unable to pay for basic needs.

You can only assume that this hasn't gone better since the pandemic.  With Maine being in the top ten of highest burden of student loan borrowing, it can be assumed that lifting some of the debt burden would be a good thing for many Mainers.