Trump Budget Kills Student Loan Forgiveness Program, Complicates Subsidized Loans

Crushing student debt in the United States amounted to $1.47 trillion in 2018 and afflicts one in five U.S. adults, including a growing number of senior citizens.

Many of the people shackled by student loans look to federal student loan assistance and forgiveness programs to help them cope. These lifeline programs, however, will see huge reductions -- and later elimination -- under president Donald Trump's federal budget for 2020-21.

Trump wants to take away money that should have been spent on helping millions of students pay-off their loans and will instead use the funds to build his border wall with Mexico. His new budget will slash $170 billion from student loan debt initiatives. It will also cut the budget of the Department of Education by $5.6 billion or nearly eight percent.

Experts said ending the student loan debt initiative signals the end to subsidized student loans, in which the federal government pays for the student loan interest while a student is enrolled in college. Trump's new budget will also eliminate $3.9 billion from the Pell Grant Surplus and complicate student loan repayment plans. It will also reduce the number of repayment options for student borrowers.

Trump's proposed budget will trigger the elimination of the public loan forgiveness program signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2007. This Bush-era program allows the government to cancel the student loan debt of any person who works for a not-for-profit or the government for 10 years if they make on-time payments during that decade, said CNBC. Under Trump's harsher new budget proposal, undergraduates will only be able to apply for federal student loan forgiveness after 15 years.

In the students' favor is Democrats won't ever approve the deeps cuts to student loan assistance programs demanded by Trump's cruel budget. A recent poll by The Pew Charitable Trusts found 80 percent of Americans agree the government should make it easier for people with student debt to repay their loans. Another poll found that nearly 60 percent of registered voters said they'd support a plan to cancel all existing student loan debt.

Leading Democratic presidential candidates on the campaign trail all vow to cancel the majority or all of the country’s outstanding student loan debt.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, proposes eliminating the country’s $1.6 trillion outstanding student loan debt. He finds an ally in Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, who will cancel $50,000 in student debt for borrowers with household incomes of less than $100,000. People that earn between $100,000 and $250,000 will be eligible for forgiveness on a sliding scale.

Former vice president Joe Biden promises to increase access to Pell grants for community college classes for high schoolers. He also wants to revamp the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program to support public school teachers, government employees and those who work for certain not-for-profit organizations.

Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who endures $130,000 of student loan debt with husband Chasten, also advocates for Pell grants and government partnerships to lower tuition costs.