‍What is a Student Loan?

‍Wikipedia defines a student loan as a type of loan helping students pay for post-secondary education and the fees, such as tuition, books and supplies, and living expenses. It may differ from other types of loans because the interest rate may be substantially lower, and the repayment schedule may be deferred while the student is still in school.

Due to pandemics, student loan borrowers haven’t been required to pay any federal student loan payments and haven’t been charged any new interest on their federal student loans since March 2020. This loan payment pause has been extended until September 2022, bringing various discussions and disagreements. 

To provide a comprehensive understanding of this issue, we have analyzed 40693 tweets tweeted between March and April 2022 using Pivony. 

‍What do people think about the student loan payment pause?

It is not difficult to see that the controversial arguments about student loans reflect the polarized political structure of the USA; Some Twitter users advocate forgiving required student loans, while others think students should pay off their loans. Throughout this blog post we will offer possible explanations for this distinction.

‍Campaign Promise

Some people perceive the situation as part of Biden's political campaigning program and see the suspension of loan payments as an empty promise because they know it won't happen at the end of the day. As a result, they think that sooner or later they will pay off their loans.

Additionally, some people think that the student loans paused right before the Midterms and argue that it is a political calculation.

On the other hand, a group of people hope that this will not just be a pause. Instead, their loans will be forgiven. 

‍Student loan forgiveness

Student loan forgiveness releases borrowers from their obligation to repay part or all of their federal student loan debt. 

‍1. The first criticism is from the people who have paid the loan. Some people think there is an injustice between those who pay back student loans and those who don't. 

“It was a campaign promise so yes but what about students pre-Biden who did painstakingly were able to pay off their loans?”

‍2. The second criticism about student loan forgiveness is tax payments. Some people argue that forgiving loans means putting the burden on the backs of taxpayers. For them, a taxpayer must not be responsible for those loans. 

You see the sentiment analysis of 430 people who talk about tax payments. As seen, the majority are not pleased with the idea of student loan forgiveness, who point out the issue of tax payment. 

‍Bankruptcy Protection

Bankruptcy is a legal proceeding involving a person or business that is unable to repay its outstanding debts. Nevertheless, student loans are not treated during bankruptcy proceedings like other forms of debt, such as credit card debt or auto loans. However, we see that people want bankruptcy protection in student loans. There are 64 tweets regarding this issue, and you see one of them below.  

“Needs scraped cancel student loans and add bankruptcy protection to student loans”

‍Price Gouging 

It is possible that student loans could get more expensive with higher interest rates. So, Twitter users discuss that repayment of student loans shouldn't be a profit for businesses charging price gouging interest rates. 

On the other hand, when student loans have refrained from the price gouging, it is an issue that taxpayers will subsidize the price gouging. 

“Well if we’re going to pause student loans indefinitely, as is looking increasingly likely, something has to be done. Taxpayers can’t subsidize this price gouging forever”

‍Ponzi Scheme

‍A Ponzi Scheme is an investment fraud that pays existing investors with funds collected from new investors. We see that some people similarities student loans to Ponzi Scheme. So, people who think this way argue that student loans should be forgiven.

‍It's Still a Controversial Topic: Student Loans

In this analysis, we have tried to highlight the Twitter discussions about student loans, an increasingly debated topic in American society. We see a general phenomenon that people have controversial opinions on the subject. Some argue that student loans should not be forgiven for being a burden on taxpayers and that there is an injustice between payers and non-payers. On the other hand, some people think that student loans should be forgiven because student loans are like a price-gouging burden on students. So, the state should bear the burden.