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(Caitlin Villalobos)
“It’s not going to be all of it, but it's going to be the majority of it,” Villalobos said.
Villalobos was one of the millions of borrowers impacted by the student loan relief plan President Joe Biden announced this week. As a recipient of Pell Grants, which are given to students with exceptional financial need, Villalobos will have $20,000 of debt canceled. Non-Pell Grant borrowers will have $10,000 of their debt forgiven.
She graduated from St. Edward’s University in December 2020 with a degree in marketing.
But even with a job, she needed more financial aid to get through college. And going to college was a must, as she was raised by immigrant parents and saw it as the sure path to a successful career.
“The only thing that I knew was, you should go to college right after high school, pursue your four-year degree in order to get a more fulfilling life than the ones that came before you,” Villalobos said.
This reasoning has drawn people to college even as housing and tuition costs have soared for students across the country, including those in Austin.
Texas State Rep. Jon Rosenthal, who attended the University of Texas at Austin in the 80s, took to Twitter on Thursday to note today’s cost of attendance.
For a full-time undergraduate student, it ranges from $29,406 to $32,346 for the fall and spring semesters. At the same time, the federal minimum wage remains unchanged from its last increase in 2009 to $7.25 an hour, Rosenthal noted.
Enticed by the chance for upward mobility, the federal student loan debt has reached $1.6 trillion for more than 45 million borrowers. The forgiveness plan is targeted at low and middle-income borrowers, Biden says. Borrowers are eligible for relief if their income is less than $125,000 and nearly 90% of the relief dollars are expected to go to those earning less than $75,000 a year.
Of those borrowers, the forgiveness plan is poised to especially offer relief for women, who hold two-thirds of student loan debt, and women of color who have higher balances than white women.
But the move hasn’t been without controversy. Sen. John Cornyn told graduates to “keep your commitments,” mentioning the life lesson that is paying back your loan. Others cited worries of inflation.
Still, roughly 20 million people will have the remaining balance down to zero. And for Texans who won’t have their balance entirely slashed, people in the state owe less per borrower compared to other parts of the country, owing $32,920 on average.
So borrowers like Villalobos are making plans for the future. She says the debt relief could allow her to pay off the rest of her balance soon.
Currently, her work involves capturing moments with dogs, cats and other animals for the Houston SPCA.
“Now I work in the field that I studied in and it's fun, and I like it,” Villalobos said. “I mean, just today, I was taking photos and videos of puppies.”
It’s a job she ultimately got the opportunity to do because of her degree, she says.
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