Elderly student loan borrowers owe $121 billion. They ask Biden for relief.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2024/12/27/elderly-student-loan-debt-forgiveness-biden/

Elderly student loan borrowers owe $121 billion. They ask Biden for relief.
Older borrowers are among the fastest-growing segments of the government’s student loan portfolio and their Social Security benefits are subject to garnishment.
December 27, 2024 at 5:00 a.m. EST
By Danielle Douglas-Gabriel

They don’t fit the typical profile of activists at a rally for student debt forgiveness. But on a dreary December afternoon, a group of senior citizens stood in the rain outside the Education Department pleading for relief from a debt that many fear will burden them for the rest of their lives.

In the waning days of the Biden administration, activists are urging the Education Department to discharge the student debt of older borrowers who they say are in no position to repay. They say the department could use a little-known federal statute that considers a person’s ability to pay within a reasonable time and the inability of the government to collect the debt in full.

There are 2.8 million federal student loan borrowers aged 62 and older with a total of $121.5 billion in debt, more than 726,300 of them over the age of 71, according to the Education Department. Older borrowers are one of the fastest-growing segments of the government’s student loan portfolio, and their Social Security benefits are subject to garnishment.

According to the think tank New America, the number of Americans approaching retirement age with student loan debt has skyrocketed over 500 percent in the last two decades. Some have loans they took out to finance their college educations, while others took out federal Parent Plus loans or co-signed private loans for their children.

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