Tennessee students say they’re breathing a sigh of relief, since President Biden announced student loan repayment will be paused until May 2022.
But many also say the relief doesn’t go far enough, especially in Tennessee, where a recent study found Tennessee students are among the most likely to struggle to repay their loans.
The report was conducted by Texas Public Policy Foundation, a nonpartisan research institute. It compared student loan debt and earnings of recent college graduates and concluded that Tennessee is among the top five states with the most unmanageable student loans, following South Carolina, West Virginia, Louisiana and Montana.
More than half of Tennessee graduates from the class of 2020 carry an average debt of roughly $27,000. Although that’s lower than most states, another study found that Tennessee students are likely to have a larger unpaid balance.
Jennifer Novo, who runs FUTURO, a nonprofit that has served Latino college students in Nashville, adds that the burden of student loans is disproportionately carried by minority and first-generation students.
She says she’s seen how student loan debt has hindered young adults from things like buying homes or having kids.
“We need to understand that student loan forgiveness can really benefit so much of the community and really the economy altogether by creating wealth in more families and generating more stimulus in the economy,” Novo says.
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