Locals on the Central Coast react to Supreme Court blocking student loan relief plan
SALINAS, Calif. (KION) - Sophia Lopez is a student at Hartnell College.
Her goal is to one day attend a four-year college and she’s already looking for ways to knock down the high tuition pricing.
"I'm planning on applying to literally every single scholarship I possibly can and maybe some like transfer admission guarantee because I got a coming out and kind of transferring maybe even cheaper that way," said Lopez.
Jennifer Moller’s husband is still paying off his student loans 14 years after graduating from San Francisco State University.
"I was pretty upset because I was expecting it. it would have benefited my husband to have that taken away," said Moller who is from Salinas.
Meanwhile, Jenny Padilla gave up her dream to attend college because of the cost but hopes her children don't have to go through the same.
"Just to think of these little guys when they're grown, are they going to be able to continue on with school if they have the brains and the desire and want to do that? I would love to be able to afford that. I don't know if that's going to happen," said Padilla who lives in Salinas.
The supreme court on Friday threw out President Joe Biden’s plan for student loan forgiveness, ruling that a federal law does not allow the program to wipe out nearly half a trillion dollars in student debt.
Biden says the battle for student loan forgiveness is not over but for now, is trying to soften the blow.
"Student borrowers could pay no more than 10% of their disposable income to pay back their debt at any one time. my administration is going to reduce that to 5%. It's now the most generous repayment program ever," said Biden.
"It's a luxury to be able to go to school, to continue on with school when I wasn't able to take advantage of that," said Padilla.
Nearly 40 million Americans would have benefited from the program, and this student loan forgiveness plan would have given borrowers up to 20,000 dollars. Anyone making over 125,000 would not have qualified for the program.
