The majority of Americans, ages 18 to 29, favor some form of federal action be taken on student loan debt. The debt has left nearly 43 million Americans in the lurch and now totals $1.7 trillion. According to reports from CNBC and The Hill, in quarter two of 2011, the total student debt was $905 billion. Compared to today, the debt has grown by 91% in the last decade.
A survey released Monday by the Institute for Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School found that roughly 85% of Americans under 30 favor the government taking some sort of action, with 38% favoring total debt cancellation.
Conversely, 13% said the government should take no action and keep its repayment policy in place.
The survey calculated the responses of more than 2,000 U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 29 from March 15-20.
While on the campaign trail, President Joe Biden said he would be willing to forgive up to $10,000 of federal student loans per borrower. But he has not proposed such a cancellation since his time in office. But this year, Biden extended a moratorium on student loan repayments for a fourth time. It was first spurred on in 2020 during the pandemic.
So far, many Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., have pressured Biden to cancel up to $50,000 of student debt per borrower.
On the day Biden extended the moratorium on student loan repayments, Schumer tweeted, "we stood together to call on President Biden to extend the pause on student loan payments. Today, he delivered that critical relief to millions of Americans. And we'll keep standing together for President Biden to use his existing legal authority to #CancelStudentDebt."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.