On March 17, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced a campaign to pressure President Joe Biden to use executive powers and forgive up to $50,000 of student loan debt per borrower. This announcement came over a press call with college students across New York, Schumer’s home state. “For far too many students, and to so many graduates many years out of school, federal student loans and student loans in general are becoming a forever burden,” Schumer said. “An average New York City resident holds more than $38,000 in student loan debt, in New York State it’s $34,000.”

This initiative is led by Senator Schumer along with Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey. The three senators along with Representative Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts have been outspoken on this issue before, calling on President Biden to increase the amount of student loans forgiven and use his executive power back in February. 

However Biden has pushed back against these demands, saying that he stands by his campaign proposal of $10,000 of loan forgiveness per borrower, and intends to carry it out not by executive action but through legislation. Referring to executive action in a CNN town hall on Feb. 16, Biden said “I don’t think I have the authority.”

Schumer, Warren and Menendez disagree, arguing that precedent was set by former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, both of whom used executive power to forgive student loans, and that Biden could use this precedent to justify his actions. “He [Biden] and the Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, have broad administrative powers to just cancel student loan debt,” Schumer said in his press call on March 17. “It means we don’t have to go through Congress, we don’t have to worry about 60 votes: the President and the Secretary of Education can do this on their own.” While the Biden administration has not reached a conclusion regarding the use of executive power, CNBC noted that the Biden administration is reviewing the use of executive power in this area.

Senator Schumer hopes this campaign will pressure the administration to use this executive power rather than legislative, as well as increase the amount from the proposed $10,000 to $50,000. “So what we’re trying to do is have a huge national movement that contacts President Biden,” Schumer said. “It can be by email, it can be by letter, it can be by phone call, it can be by visit, whatever.”

Students at St. Lawrence University have responded to this campaign in a number of ways. “I hope Biden will support forgiving $50k of student loans,” says Melissa Pérez ’23. “I think it could be a first step towards more affordable higher education and also allow social mobility for many working class people. I don’t think it is fair that education continues to be dominated by the upper class and perpetuates at least one of the many problems of social equality. However, there is much more to be done to improve access.”

Amber Stickney ’21 points out that while college degrees are often a requirement of jobs, the wages may not be enough to pay off loans. “From my experience on the job hunt, the job market has become much more competitive, and as a result with an undergraduate degree it’s becoming harder to find a job that has competitive pay, making it that much harder to pay your loans off,” Stickney says. “Credentialism is growing like never before which is making it more and more necessary to keep seeking more education, something that is more costly.” Stickney also addressed the difference between the amounts proposed by Biden and Schumer. “Ideally more would be better,” Stickney says, “but realistically speaking I would welcome whatever amount they could get passed!”

One student raised concerns about the size of the loan forgiveness plan, while appreciating what it would do for them. “Obviously I’d rather it be $50k, but no university or government agency has that much money,” the student says. “It seems like a great idea but unrealistic, even outside a pandemic.” Comments from Senator Schumer indicate that he does have this in mind. “In the country there’s $1.6 trillion dollars of student loan debt,” Schumer said.