Student debt relief roadblock leaves some Long Islanders waiting for what's next
The relief plan would cancel $10,000 in federal student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 or households with less than $250,000 in income. Pell grant recipients, who typically demonstrate more financial need, would receive an additional $10,000. Above, students walk in to the 2017 Stony Brook University commencement ceremony held in LaValle Stadium. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost
Tiffany Kassem-Benchimol is a newly minted teacher with a master's degree and $119,000 in student loan debt. She also is a married mother of two and has been looking forward to a little help from President Joe Biden's plan to cancel some of her federal loan debt.
Consequently, the Port Washington resident said she was disappointed that a federal appeals court has temporarily halted that plan while it considers arguments from six Republican-led states seeking to block the forgiveness program.
"I filled out the application [for the debt reduction plan] as soon as it came out," said Kassem-Benchimol, 31, who started her career late but is already working. "Having that loan relief would bring some peace of mind. It would definitely be very helpful."
Kassem-Benchimol is among 22 million Americans who applied for the relief but are now holding their collective breath until the courts decide on the issue. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued the administrative stay Friday, throwing the program into a kind of legal suspended animation.
She has about $45,000 in federal loan debt and was hoping to see it cut by $20,000. Payments on the federal loan debt were paused during the pandemic but are expected to resume early next year.
"It's going to be difficult being a first-year teacher, figuring out all the loan deadlines and bills, not just for the loans but for everything," she said.
The relief plan would cancel $10,000 in federal student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 or households with less than $250,000 in income. Pell grant recipients, who typically demonstrate more financial need, would receive an additional $10,000.
But conservative attorneys, Republican lawmakers and business-oriented groups have asserted that Biden overstepped his authority in taking such sweeping action without the assent of Congress, and that it could add to inflation.
Andy Lockwood, owner of Lockwood College Prep in Glenwood Landing, said opponents of the plan are making "very reasonable legal challenges." He said the president has the authority to do such things during a national emergency, "but it's debatable whether we're in an emergency now."
Lockwood said that for many college graduates on Long Island, $10,000 or $20,000 is a "drop in the ocean" when many owe more than $200,000 in student loans.
Alan Singer, director of Secondary Education Social Studies at Hofstra University's education department, said he believes the relief effort is legal, and he sees the appeals court's move as politically motivated.
"The plan would allow people to get their lives in order," Singer said. "People would use the money they save and buy cars and houses. It would be good for the nation as a whole."
Hofstra law student Alyssa Pitchford, 24, of San Jose, California, said the relief wouldn't cut that much into her debt, which is about $300,000.
"I think the temporary stay of Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan is a bump in the road and not a nail in the coffin," she said.
Still, Pitchford said she believes the country will have to do something about student loan forgiveness in the future.
"If not now, then absolutely in the future, loan forgiveness will make its presence known. How do we justify spending $80 billion of taxpayer money each year on prisons and not on education?" she said.
At SUNY Old Westbury, where more than half the students receive federal Pell Grants for high-need families, President Timothy E. Sams restated his support for the relief effort.
"Helping students and families who struggled through the emotional and financial strains of the peak of the pandemic is the right thing to do," said Sams in a statement Saturday. "Perhaps there are improvements that can be made from the arguments being heard. Even so, solving this quickly, especially since so many have entered the debt relief process already, has to be the priority."
Kassem-Benchimol, for her part, said she understands that many people believe that everyone should pay their own debts.
"But why can't you be OK with some people getting a little bit of help, especially after the pandemic?" she said. "People have gotten breaks for other things."
Craig Schneider is a Long Island native and Stony Brook University alumnus. He joined Newsday as a general assignment reporter in January 2018 after 20 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
