What Biden will do about US student loan debt

If you’re among the 42 million Americans with federal student loan debt, here’s a spot of good news: president Joe Biden has extended forbearance on payments through the end of September. This continues the Covid-19 relief first enacted by former secretary of education Betsy DeVos and then passed by Congress in March of last year, intended to lessen the financial burden faced by Americans during the economic crisis. Research suggests that student loan debt exacerbates the racial wealth gap (pdf): One 2019 study (pdf) found that 20 years after starting school, the median Black borrower still owed $18,500 in federal student loan debt, while the median white borrower owed just $1,000.