A U.S. Supreme Court ruling against President Joe Biden's plan to forgive student debt has been met with bewilderment by former students whose payments will resume in October.
One told Newsweek the financial implications mean "a lot more stress in my life," another lamented Biden's debt relief plan plan was "set up for failure," and another warned the ruling would "erode Americans' faith" in the Supreme Court's objectivity.
On Friday, the justices sided with six Republican-led states and two individual borrowers who argued Biden's administration violated its executive authority with the program.
In a 6-3 vote, the court struck down Biden's plan to wipe away up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 or households with less than $250,000 in income per year. Pell Grant recipients, who typically demonstrate more financial need, would get an additional $10,000 debt forgiven.
Here's how some with student debt reacted to the news:
Nancy Eliodor
Eliodor, 30, works as an IT technician in Boston. She received a Pell Grant, meaning she would have up to $20,000 of her debt forgiven.
"I'm very disappointed in this decision," she said. "SCOTUS had the opportunity to help out millions of Americans that were caught up in predatory loans, that for some were told it was a way to give them a better future.
"It had been proven many times that families and individuals cannot progress in life because of the high interest rates in said loans.
"It doesn't make sense that businesses can take a risk and get relief if it fails, but those who take a risk on education to better their lives cannot catch the same break."
Zack Thomasa
Thomas, 29, studied at Henry Ford College in Dearborn, Michigan, and is now based in the metro Detroit area working for a small U.S. Customs compliance broker.
"I'm deeply saddened the Supreme Court didn't rule in favor of the forgiveness plan," he said. "Not having this hefty payment has allowed me to purchase a home and stimulate the economy by spending money out and about.
"This is for sure going to add a lot more stress to my life. I may even have to get a second job just to be able to make the monthly payment."
Kryssy Castillo
Castillo, 37, a recruitment manager in Atlanta, graduated from San Diego State University in 2009 with about $30,000 in debt.
"I am disappointed with the outcome because so many American people were looking forward to eliminating a debt they have been paying or deferring for years," she said.
"This really can help boost credit scores and ultimately reach some financial goals. I know for me, purchasing a home with my family has been delayed because of this and now I will be able to do that with confidence now that the debt is lowered."
Sabra Boyd
Boyd, 37, works as a human trafficking prevention consultant and trainer for health care organizations and and policy task forces.
She graduated from Portland State University in 2010. The balance she owes is upwards of $60,000.
"[This] will further erode Americans' faith in the objectivity of the Supreme Court, particularly among millennials and Gen Z who have experienced graduating into a recession economy with insurmountably predatory student loan debt," Boyd said.
Christina Winton
Winton, 48, a public servant in Phoenix, Arizona.
"The root cause of these student loans having so much trouble is the fact that all student loans had their constitutional rights to uniform bankruptcy and other borrower protections removed, so Biden should have done a broad loan cancellation based on the unconstitutional, and therefore illegal predatory nature of all student loans," she said.
"This may not seem relevant, but it is 100 percent the issue here with the loan forgiveness....Biden instead decided to attach a small amount [10K to 20K] and focused on it being assistance for borrowers to help with coping with the problems with the pandemic, and the loan forgiveness should have been canceled by executive order broadly.
"Limiting the amount, and adding an income gap, attaching it to the pandemic instead of finally owning up to his part is removing the last of borrower rights in 2005 when he was a senator at the time, was a big mistake. The Supreme Court [I hope] is reviewing all of this and sadly, the way Biden handled everything, it looks like it was set up for failure. Yes, it is 100 percent legal for Biden to have canceled [or forgiven] every penny by executive order on the grounds the loans were predatory, but instead attached an approach that could make his loan forgiveness plan able to be struck down on technicalities I mentioned.
"Sadly, the loan forgiveness amount only benefit younger borrowers that might still be attending college or graduated and we're lucky enough to have those amounts owed. This will not help the countless other student loan borrowers that owe far more student loan debt now, despite borrowing far less, and after years of payments, because of the nature of these predatory loans having artificial amounts and fees attached.
"Eighty [percent] to 90 percent of borrowers will not be able to resume payments or sustain keeping up with payments and a failing system will crash. Many people will suffer as a result, many being hard-working, taxpaying citizens such as myself. The system is unsustainable."
Terence
New York-born Terence, who asked Newsweek not to use his surname over privacy concerns, earned a BA in English from SUNY Buffalo, where his student debt began. The 49-year-old works as a full-time English teacher at a private high school in Germany. He said he has paid off more than what he originally borrowed, $23,000, but still owes 50 percent of the original sum.
"I think it's atrocious because the SCOTUS decision paradoxically upholds and undercuts the principles the U.S. was founded upon. In my reading of the Constitution, the right to unlimited enrichment is Numero Uno. In that sense, the SCOTUS decision retains the right for lenders to profit into perpetuity at the expense of borrowers. In terms of undercutting the country's founding principles, the Constitution enshrined bankruptcy protections.
"Yet George W. Bush and Senator Joe Biden revoked those protections from student loans in 2005. That was a direct affront to the country's founding concepts! Even more astounding is that the SCOTUS continues to uphold this deeply unconstitutional legislation today. Seriously, who do these people work for?
"If the SCOTUS can strike down Joe Biden's student loan debt cancellation plan, the least they could do is reinstate bankruptcy protections. Because as it stands now, a huge portion of the country does not enjoy these basic constitutional rights.
"I know that's nothing new, but when you stop and consider that it's people of color and the poor who don't have those rights, well, "the bare lie," to quote William S. Burroughs, "shines through." No one, especially the poor and people of color, is equal under the law in the United States."
