WASHINGTON — As freshmen Badgers gear up to occupy their dorms in the coming weeks, lawmakers are considering options to lessen one aspect of post-graduate stress many of them will face.

What You Need To Know

  • 43 million Americans owe about $1.7 trillion in student loan debt according to the US Department of Education

  • Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Glenbeulah) is sponsoring a bipartisan bill that allow people filing for bankruptcy to discharge their student loans after a ten year waiting period
  • President Joe Biden extended the pandemic moratorium on student loan repayments until Jan. 31 and is pushing to make the first two years of community college tuition-free

The U.S. Department of Education estimates nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites owe about $21 billion in student loans. A crisis, as some lawmakers call it, that’s only getting worse.

“We have talked about this student debt for how long? Decades,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) during a Senate committee hearing this month. “And we haven’t done a darn thing about it in a long time. We can do something now.”

This month Sen. Durbin and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) introduced the FRESH START Through Bankruptcy Act of 2021, legislation that would allow people filing for bankruptcy to discharge their student loans in addition to their other debts. Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Glenbeulah) whose pushing a House version of the bill, says this is a fix to a longstanding issue with the country’s bankruptcy system.

“I think this whole thing would have worked out differently, if originally, student loan debt had been subject to bankruptcy, because then people would not have given our loans for such high amounts, because they would have known that they couldn't be repaid,” he said.

Student advocacy group Rise, Inc. said this legislation is a good start but not a solve-all. 

"It's exciting,” said Max Lubin the CEO of Rise. “There’s been more than $3 billion in student loan debt that's already been cancelled by President [Joe] Biden. And the calls that we're seeing from members of Congress, from advocates from students and borrowers are paying off. And so now you know that this campaign is really building momentum and gaining gaining momentum, it's time for us to see more direct action from the Biden administration.”

Lubin said the nonprofit is backing demands by Progressive Democrats to cancel student loan debt, citing the $1.7 trillion tab around 43 million Americans owe today. But they want more than just more federal money pumped into grants and loans. They’re looking for comprehensive reform.

"We need to build momentum and advocate really at all levels, local, state federal, to make sure that this is a conversation that we're having year after year about what more we can do to invest in students drive down some of these costs,” said Lubin.

Biden extended the pandemic moratorium on student loan repayments until Jan. 31 and is pushing to make the first two years of community college tuition-free.