AFT’s Weingarten Says Biden Administration’s Student Loan Reforms Will Buoy Borrowers

WASHINGTON—American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten reacted after the U.S. Department of Education announced a draft proposal reforming student loan income-driven repayment plans.

“This is a big piece of the extreme makeover we need to fix the $1.7 trillion college affordability crisis that plagues America’s families. Today’s proposal means hundreds of thousands of borrowers, especially the least well-off, won’t have to choose between servicing student loans, paying rent or buying food. 

“At its center it makes the income-driven repayment plans—that most educators and other public employees enroll in to qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness—far more manageable.

“The Biden administration deserves kudos for seizing the initiative to make these reforms real. But there is still much more to be done, including curbing graduate school debt and restoring the general student debt relief that far-right special interests have used the courts to stop.

“The AFT’s lawsuit against Betsy DeVos helped change PSLF—and we won’t stop fighting until rogue loan servicers are held accountable and every borrower is freed from the shackles of the loan debt that unjustly, unfairly and inexplicably clouds their future.”