Supreme Court convenes to weigh Joe Biden’s student debt forgiveness plans. Biden wants to forgive up to $10,000 in student loans for those earning less than $125,000 a year. In most other rich countries, student debt is easier to cancel than in the United States. Something is loading.
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The United States Supreme Court will convene on Thursday in another crucial test of President Joe Biden’s plans to write off billions in student debt.
Biden last year announced plans to forgive up to $10,000 in debt for those earning less than $125,000 a year, and in some cases up to $20,000, but lower courts have ruled it out. blocked.
The plans could affect up to 40 million Americans, and the conservative-majority Supreme Court is expected to announce a ruling on the constitutionality of the ruling in June. Some judges have already expressed skepticism about the regime.
American students are graduating with some of the highest debt in the world, and Biden’s plans could wipe out around $400 billion in debt.
Under current policies, students can get loan forgiveness in certain limited circumstances, such as if they work in the public sector for 10 years, if they are disabled or if they have declared bankruptcy.
Here’s a look at how other rich countries are handling student debt, according to data from Lendingtree and The New York Times.
Germany and Sweden
In Germany and Sweden, university education is fully funded by the state. In these countries, students take out loans or work part-time to cover their living expenses.
In Sweden, loan costs for living expenses average about $20.00 per student, but students can pay them back over a longer period than the average in the United States.
France
Higher education is largely publicly funded in France, and students pay tuition fees of up to $600, a fraction of their cost in the United States. Many students receive non-refundable scholarships to help pay for their education and living expenses.
Japan and South Korea
In Japan and South Korea, tuition at private colleges costs up to $8,000 and around $5,000 at public institutions.
In South Korea, studies are financed by low-interest loans which, as in the United States, are repayable over a period of 10 years, although in some cases an income threshold applies.
Japan has a similar system, in which government-backed loans are repaid over a longer period (up to 20 years), but rising fees and stagnating incomes make repayments difficult for many graduates, said reported the Japan Times.
Australia and UK
Students in these countries graduate with more debt than in European countries – but the amount they repay is linked to their income after graduation, so defaults and major hardship are much less common than in the United States.
In Australia, the average annual fee is around $4,000 at a public college and around double that at a private one. The UK has some of the highest public university fees outside the US, mostly at $12,000.
In England, students typically graduate with around $40,000 owed per student, compared to $30,000 in the United States. Unlike Australia, they can also borrow to cover living expenses.
The income-linked repayment system means debt is manageable, but is often paid off over decades.
In the UK, the debt is canceled after 30 years. In Australia, there is no equivalent limit, but debts are often lower.
In the United States, income-related reimbursement must be requested through a difficult-to-negotiate system.
Canada
The Canadian system resembles that of the United Kingdom and Australia, in that debt repayment is linked to income. Tuition fees are generally lower than in the United States, at around $4,000 per year.
The average tuition in the United States is around $10,000 per year and much higher at a private institution.
If you qualify for government loan repayment assistance, the debt is forgiven after 15 years.
While students in the United States have access to some of the best universities in the world, they also face some of the highest levels of debt, the highest interest rates, and a demanding repayment system that results in an increase in loan default levels.
Even if Biden’s loan cancellations are blocked by the Supreme Court, there may be a lot to learn from other countries in reforming the US student loan system.