Tax millionaires, not students, says Sen. Warren

Jennifer Lawrence might be America’s BFF, but Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) is the modern college student’s best ally.

Her latest student loan proposal aims put a large dent in the nation’s current $1.2 trillion student loan debt and provide relief for struggling borrowers.

Student loan plan could save borrowers $1,000/year

As part of the plan, current student loan borrowers and people already in repayment would be able to refinance their student loans at the current student loan interest rate of 3.86%.

Sen. Warren estimates that this change will save the typical college graduate about $1,000 per year, with savings even greater for those who have older undergraduate loans, graduate loans or private loans.

And–get this–total interest paid over the life of the loan would be cut in half.

“It’s billionaires or students”

Sen. Warren’s plan would invoke the “Buffet rule” to tax people with incomes over $1 million and close tax loopholes in order to offset the costs of reducing current borrowers’ interest rates.

These measures would generate an estimated $75 billion, 100% of which Sen. Warren says should go toward helping student loan borrowers.

If the government can generate more revenue than predicted, Warren says student loan interest rates should be reduced even below 3.86%.

The Senator says it’s time for the government to stop profiting off of the students who wisely chose to invest in their education and instead help them build a life for themselves without the burden of student loan debt.

Right now, in order to finance the United States government, we take in billions of dollars of profits in student loans, but permit billionaires to have enough loopholes that they pay at tax rates that can be lower than that of their secretaries.

This is real money back in the pockets of students who invested in their education.

A consistent advocate for student loan borrowers

This proposal is just the latest initiative Sen. Warren has taken to help America’s college students and student loan borrowers.

Last May, she introduced the Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act, a bill that would have lowered the federal student loan interest rates to 0.75%.

And in June, she slammed Senate Republicans for failing to prevent student loans interest rates from doubling to 6.8% (the rates were eventually lowered, but only after the July 1 deadline to prevent the increase had passed).

Now, Sen. Warren has taken steps to provide relief for an oft-forgotten group–current and former college student borrowers still struggling to repay their loans at higher interest rates.

Relief for struggling student loan borrowers–finally

College affordability remains a large issue that must be addressed, and measures to address student loan debt are only a Band-Aid on the larger problem of astronomical college costs.

But this is the best plan we’ve seen for providing relief for student loan borrowers and giving them a more hopeful future by making student loan repayment more manageable. Last summer’s student loan bill only applied to new federal student loans, so it did nothing to help those already struggling to repay their loans.

While there are no guarantees a bill would pass, Sen. Warren’s plan would provide significant relief for current student loan borrowers.

You can refinance your mortgage or car loan at lower rates, and we believe student loans should not be any different. We hope to see Sen. Warren’s plan or a similar initiative taken to help students who have debt from their college education.