MPR News with Angela Davis

What’s next for borrowers burdened by student loans? 

two women in a radio studio in front of microphones
MPR News host Angela Davis talks about student loans with Kim Miller, a certified financial counselor with LSS Financial Counseling.
Danelle Cloutier | MPR News

Millions of Americans are trying to figure out what’s next with their student loan debt, and that includes tens of thousands of Minnesotans. 

At the end of June, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden’s broad loan forgiveness plan that would have erased up to $10,000 in student loan debt for most borrowers and even more for students from low-income families. By one analysis, the plan would have entirely eliminated student loan debt for more than a quarter of borrowers. 

Meanwhile, the long pause on loan payments dating to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic is finally expiring. It had renewed several times and allowed most borrowers to pause repaying their college debt without a penalty.

In Minnesota over the last few years, two third of graduates with a four-year degree took out loans and owed an average of $25,000. Graduates of for profit private colleges were more likely to take out loans — almost 90 percent — and owed an average of $30,000.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with a financial counselor who advises borrowers with college debt about their options and with a public policy researcher who focuses on the impact of debt on Black borrowers.

Guests 

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS. 

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.