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Minnesota joins coalition urging student debt cancellation

By Nick Longworth
Published  May 4, 2022 3:21pm CDT
Education
FOX 9

(FOX 9) - As calls continue to increase for President Joe Biden to fulfill a campaign promise and cancel federal student loan debt for student borrowers, Minnesota will be one state that joins the chorus urging forgiveness.

Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Wednesday that Minnesota has joined a multi-state coalition of eight attorneys general in urging President Biden to fully cancel federal student debt owed by every federal student loan borrower in the country. 

"My job is to help everyone afford their lives, and canceling crushing federal student debt will help the economy as a whole," Ellison said in a statement. "Working folks who are struggling with debt in a time of high inflation – when the economy is already stacked against them – will be able to get ahead. Canceling federal student debt will free folks up to spend their income on essential goods and services, which will send a surge through the economy that will benefit everyone." 

Ellison also said additional income put toward homeownership and saved for retirement would substantially close the racial wealth gap. Other states in the coalition include Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Puerto Rico and Washington.

In a letter to President Biden, the coalition stresses that borrowers struggling with the unmanageable burden of student loan debt need immediate relief and urges the president to immediately exercise his authority under the Higher Education Act to cancel all federal student loan debt for every borrower. 

Previously, Ellison joined another multi-state coalition that asked Congress to adopt a resolution calling for the cancellation of up to $50,000 in federal student debt owed by every federal student loan borrower nationwide. In 2021 his office won $42 million in relief for defrauded students of MSB/Globe University.

According to the announcement, student borrowers currently owe more than $1.7 trillion to the federal government. 

The coalition also argues that a full cancelation of student debt is necessary to address the systemically flawed repayment and forgiveness system.

$42M in relief secured for defrauded students of MSB, Globe University

More than 900 former students of the Minnesota School of Business and Globe University will receive more than $42 million in financial relief, the state attorney general says.