Arizona State students sound off on student loan forgiveness as SCOTUS decides its fate

PHOENIX - Conservative Supreme Court Justices appeared doubtful in court over President Joe Biden's controversial plan to forgive student loans held by millions of Americans.

The split on this is almost 50/50 as many are wanting their fees to be forgiven, while others feel betrayed after working and planning to pay them off.

Taking a look at the numbers, so far more than 40 million borrowers are eligible. 26 million have applied for loan forgiveness and 16 million have already been approved, but that could mean nothing if the Supreme Court denies the plan.

Students at Arizona State University are torn on the issue of student loan debt forgiveness.

Allen Haro says, "I definitely think it is just a band-aid for the issue. It is not really a long term investment for the students. It's just creating more problems within itself."

Zukeiry, however, is all for loan forgiveness, saying, "I feel like a lot of people need the money. There is a lot of friends that I have that are struggling to pay their debts and are having to take out student loans, so I 100% agree."

MORE: Supreme Court hears arguments about Biden's student loan forgiveness plan

In a national exit poll conducted for the 2022 midterm election, 50% of midterm voters, mostly Democrat, approved Biden’s plan while 47%, mostly Republicans, did not.

"I made sure that I could afford it and can not come out of it drowning in debt," said Lety Ramos. "I don’t get any financial aid from that. $20,000 could really get me started with my career but its like, I am not getting that."

Jamya Williams says loan forgiveness would be a major help to further her education.

"Ideally the goal is to have free college in the U.S. like other countries that do free college. I think $20,000 is a starting point. I came to college as a first generation, no money, and I am in $20,000 worth of debt so that would put me in a place that I could consider a masters program," Williams said.

Arguments lasted three hours in the Supreme Court on Feb. 28 as Chief Justice John Roberts led his conservative colleagues in questioning the Biden administration's authority to cancel federal student loans and whether it’s fair to all students.

So far, the plan has already been blocked by Republican-appointed judges in lower courts.

Biden first announced the plan in August with the goal to cancel up to $20,000 in student loan debt for millions of Americans and wipe away nearly half a trillion in debt.

Dennis Hoffman, economics professor at ASU, says these costs students incur are due to decisions made inside state capitols – and they have been for a long time.

"Colleges is much more expensive today than it was … A large part that is due to the fact that taxpayers have decided through the legislatures that they are not going to support higher education through public universities. As a result, education costs have to be passed onto the consumers of those costs and that’s the students," Hoffman said.

For now, the court could dismiss the lawsuits or make a ruling. A decision is expected by late June.

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