How New Student Loan Debt Relief Could Benefit Latino Borrowers

Published By
WTTW News
Published On
August 27, 2022

President Joe Biden has announced a student loan debt relief plan this week that the White House estimates will impact more than 40 million borrowers nationwide.

It will cancel up to $10,000 in federal loans for individuals making less than $125,000 a year. For low-income students who received Pell Grants, they can receive up to $20,000 in student loan forgiveness.

According to research by Excelencia in Education, 50% of Latinos in higher education receive federal Pell Grants to help pay for college.

Deborah Santiago, CEO of Excelencia in Education, said that relative to other groups, Latinos are less likely to take out loans and more likely to go to part-time or a mixed enrollment in order to pay for college as they go. “Many of our students, having this kind of debt, doesn’t just impact an individual student, but [also] the families and communities,” Santiago said. “When you take on debt, especially when you don’t complete, that perpetuates and so paying for college and looking at debt and what it takes is really important.”

Santiago said that for Latinos who do take out loans for college, there is a significant difference when looking at 2-year versus 4-year college programs.

.

.

.