- Robin O’Brien, 61, has a student debt of $ 64,000 from his master’s degree.
- She has a long COVID experience, so she works part-time and earns half her income.
- Now she is forced to choose between paying health insurance and paying off the student’s debt.
Even with an income-driven repayment plan for her $ 64,000 student debt load, Robin O’Brien can’t afford to pay.
After working in a long-term care facility for 25 years, O’Brien said the next step in his career was to become a manager, but he needed a master’s degree to get a good income and enter the field. .. When she received a federal loan to take online classes at two public universities, and after graduating in 2017, she couldn’t foresee a pandemic and the financial burden it would bring.
Currently, she is dealing with the symptoms of a long COVID forced to work part-time and has no control over her medical bills and student debt invoices.
“Now I choose five envelopes with medical bills and then pay $ 20 for each,” O’Brien said of the pile of invoices he receives each month. “And next month, I’ll take five more and pay $ 20 for each. I can’t afford to exceed $ 100.”
According to O’Brien, health insurance costs $ 525 a month, and along with other basic necessities, you can choose to get treatment or a student loan with a part-time income of about $ 2,000 a month. It has become. .. Federal loan payments have been suspended since the pandemic began, and O’Brien has not paid during this time. But she said she had a hard time with them before her suspension, and she said she could repay her debt when her suspension expired after August 31st. Do not think.
Based on the latest report, President Joe Biden is considering allowing $ 10,000 student debt to federal debtors under $ 150,000 a year, the Wall Street Journal said in a statement. Reported that it is unlikely that it will take place until the month or August. However, the White House has not confirmed the plan and it is unclear if it will include parents who have taken out loans for graduate students and children.
“I don’t know how I can afford it,” O’Brien said. “I don’t think it’s something I can afford.”
“I’m stuck paying for the rest of my life.”
The income-driven repayment plan aims to give student loan borrowers affordable monthly payments based on their income and promises loan forgiveness at least 20 years after the plan. But that was a long way off for O’Brien, and she wanted people like her to be considered for Biden’s extensive bailout proposals.
“I’m stuck paying for the rest of my life,” O’Brien said. “I worked very hard for that degree, and I’m actually using it for the purposes I got it, but I pay them for just one salary I can’t. “
The idea of excluding high-income and graduate students from relief could be an attempt to avoid criticism from Republican lawmakers and experts who claim that broad student loan forgiveness helps the wealthiest people. ..
“If his goal is to subsidize privileged college graduates and upper classes to low-income Americans, President Biden will achieve that goal if he pursues this dire policy. Probably. ” Said Virginia Foxx, Top Republican of the House Board of Education.
However, as seen in O’Brien, getting a graduate degree does not necessarily mean getting a high income, and the Democratic Party maintains student loan forgiveness, which will be most useful to low-income borrowers.
For example, last year’s left-sided Roosevelt Institute reported that 61% of students who enrolled in college in 2012 with less than $ 30,000 graduated from student debt, compared to more than $ 200,000. 30% of the students in the school are in debt.
There is ongoing debate about who will benefit from a wide range of student loan bailouts, but O’Brien hopes she won’t be left behind in the conversation.
“People in my situation deserve help,” O’Brien said. “I don’t think I can cover the student loan debt.”
Is there a story to share about student debt? Contact Ayelet Sheffey at asheffey@insider.com.
