'There is no trust now': Student loan borrowers respond to Supreme Court decision

https://www.npr.org/2023/07/01/ [login to see] /student-loan-forgiveness-supreme-court-reactions
Friday's Supreme Court decision striking down President Biden's student loan cancellation plan has left a lot of borrowers wondering: Where do we go from here?

"I would say Congress needs to pass this, but that's not going to happen," says Graeme Strickland, a 25-year-old borrower in Raleigh, N.C. "It's become a culture war around this issue. And like, this is my income. This affects the money I'm able to spend on groceries."

Strickland attended the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, as an in-state student. In order to attend, he had to take out roughly $30,000 in federal loans, which is on par with the national average for a bachelor's degree from a public institution.

He graduated in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, and has yet to consider loan payments or interest yet – both have been on pause since he was a student. Now, with Biden's student loan relief plan officially dead, and payments set to resume in the fall, Strickland has resigned himself to his new debt-laden reality.