TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Gracia Matelo typed on her computer, looking up information for her homework.
She’s a student at the University of Arizona and uses federal student loans to attend school there.
However, doing classwork and schoolwork, while it’s all important to Matelo, what’s more important to her is focusing on how to pay for her classes.
“I’m trying to focus more on my studies but having it in the back of my head, it is kind of stressing me out a little bit,” she said about her student loans.
Matelo said even though she’s just a Freshman she already owes about $20 thousand in federal loans and she’s already behind in paying them.
“If I can’t pay those student loans on time, I can’t add my class for the next semester,” Matelo described.
She said her parents can’t financially support her loans either and that’s why she decided to sign up for the university’s work study program, which she said would give her a $4,000 stipend.
“That’s helpful for a lot of students especially, like I said, who can’t really afford to pay off their student loans,” Matelo said.
As of June 2022, the U.S. Department of Education said about 822,000 people in Arizona owe over $28 billion in federal student loans. They report the average person in Arizona owes over $35 thousand.
President Biden announced plans to cancel up to $20 thousand in federal student loans back in August. The application for the loan relief opened up last month, but after a federal judge in Texas struck down the program earlier this week, the government was forced to shut down the application.
Matelo said it’s unfortunate the judge decided against the student debt relief program.
“It feels in a way kind of unfair because a lot of people aren’t as fortunate to kind of be able to pay off those loans,” Matelo said.
Aldo Huacuja is also a student at the University of Arizona. While he doesn’t use federal student loans, he uses financial assistance from the government to attend the university.
He said it’s unfair that Biden’s program isn’t being offered to students anymore.
“There’s a lot of low income families from where I come from, so knowing how much they struggled just to get into school, I don’t really think it’s fair, Huacuja said.
However, not everyone agrees that Biden’s student loan plan is a good option for students across the country.
Patty Sleger is a supporter of the University of Arizona and said she’s against the progam, saying, “If you borrow the money, you need to pay it back.”
She saved up money for her kids’ college experience even before they were born.
She said there are other solutions like community college and said the government should put a cap on the interest rates for student loans.
“The whole country needs to work on lowering the cost of college, making it more accessible to everybody,” Sleger said.
The Justice Department is already appealing the Texas federal judge’s decision to shut down the program.
Matelo is still holding onto hope legislators against Biden’s relief plan will reconsider.
“There’s a lot of people who, they want to go to college to better themselves and their future, but if they’re not able to pay their student loans, they can’t really move on,” she said.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
