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Oklahoma reacts to SCOTUS striking down student loan forgiveness

SCOTUS
Posted at 5:28 PM, Jun 30, 2023
and last updated 2023-06-30 19:35:15-04

TULSA, Okla. — In a 6 to 3 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court blocks President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. The ruling came early Friday morning.

The presidents plan has faced much debate.

"If you look at the amount of student loan debt we have in this country it's astounding," said Robert O'Gara who's frustrated with the ruling.

O'Gara doesn't have student loans to pay off but many of his friends do.

When SCOTUS struck down Biden's plan to give up to $20,000 in student loan relief to struggling borrowers, his group chat blew up.

"My friends chose okay we are going to be tactical here and not re-pay right away," he said. "They thought when this program was passed that they were going to get a pretty large amount of their loans paid off by the government or forgiven. Now it feels like the promise was not kept."

But not everyone feels that way.

2 News spoke to a woman off-camera who says she's happy about the ruling.

She feels people should be responsible for their own debt and Oklahoma Senator James Lankford shares that view point.

"No one can step up and just say its really hard for me to pay this. My next door neighbor should pay this instead, who didn't go to college or who paid off their own loan on it, and to be able to force your neighbor to be able to pay your loan when you're the one who signed the document and said I agree to pay this back but now I don't want to do it somebody else needs to pay instead. That's not how it works in our basic contracts in America," Lankford said.

"I think that's a fair point, but I do think when you look at it from the macroeconomic perspective, is it good for our country that we have an entire generation coming up that's struggling to buy a house, struggling to start a family? I would argue it's not in the national interest," O'Gara said.

Now many people are probably trying to figure out what they are going to do when those repayment's start.

2 News spoke with a financial adviser to see what he suggests.

"You can always call the loan company and ask for a forbearance. Which is a certain period of time you don't have to make student loan payments," said Jake Dollarhide the CEO of Longbow Asset Management. "Certainly you can go to financial counseling, there's financial counselors who will help you consolidate."


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