On October 21, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay to President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. This does not cancel out pending applications, though, and applicants can still seek debt relief at the Student Aid Debt Relief website.  States like Missouri, Kansas, and South Carolina stated that this program would “irreparably harm” their state student loan programs. The nonpartisan CBO estimates that this program will cost more than $400 billion.

Earlier in the month, the Biden administration authorized a plan for college students to apply for up to $20,000 in debt forgiveness. 95% of Americans with college loans (40 million college students) are eligible for loan forgiveness reports Aimee Picchi of CBS News. It is of utmost importance to relieve some of the stress inflicted on poverty stricken families by the pandemic and this program has the potential to change lives – or better yet, save them. 22 million borrowers have already signed up for college loan forgiveness, and there is no shame in joining them.

Opponents of the program argue that this is an unconstitutional giveaway of taxpayer money. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) argued that this relief program will increase inflation and increase the cost of college because future lenders will borrow more money, assuming that they won’t have to pay it back.