WASHINGTON, D.C.— The Supreme Court’s decision to block President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program is sparking support from Florida Republicans, and anger from Florida’s Democrats in Congress. 

What You Need To Know

  • The Supreme Court voted 6-3 to overturn President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness program  

  •  The Court's decision was widely celebrated by Republicans, and denounced by Democrats 
  • One student loan borrower we spoke with from Florida hopes Congress will take action to help borrowers with significant debt

A Florida woman who has been paying off her student loans for over 25 years, says she still owes more now than she did in the 1990s. Forty-eight-year-old Kathy Evans attended Augustana College in Illinois from 1993 to 1996. She says she did not graduate after fracturing three vertebrae, and a quarter century later, still owes $200,000 in federal student loans.

“I honestly don’t even know how much I started with. My parents were taking care of the financial end of things. So, I really had no knowledge of my student loans until about a year after I went to college. I never actually graduated because I had an accident. Then I started getting notices that I had to start paying my loans and I believe at that point, it was about 1999. And it was around $60,000 in loans,” she said.

Evans, now a homemaker in St. Petersburg, saw the debt grow as she missed some payments. She now says she “probably will die with student loans.”

“It’s a sad state that, you know, this education that you know, my whole generation had to have and so many of us, we’re all suffering because of this decision,” she said.

President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program would have canceled up to $20,000 in loans for Pell Grant recipients, and up to $10,000 for other borrowers. Although it would not have made a large dent in her debt, Evans says the Supreme Court’s decision Friday striking down the program is disappointing, nonetheless. 

“I was just kind of hoping it could go back to, you know, the original number without interest and deferment charges and forbearance charges. And compounded interest is really where I’ve gotten just murdered on this loan and I would be happy paying back the original amount, no problem, but it’s just all this interest and charges that it’s become this black hole of trying to get out of it,” she said.

Biden’s program had been supported by Florida Democrats, but was blasted by Florida Republicans. 

Democratic Congressman Maxwell Frost said of the 6-3 ruling, “Once again, today the conservative-leaning Supreme Court has gotten it wrong and actively chosen to discriminate against working Americans and student borrowers.”

While Republican Senator Marco Rubio tweeted, “The Biden plan was an unfair burden on America’s working families and a wealth transfer to the Democrat’s base.”

Despite the court’s decision, Evans remains hopeful that one day Congress will act to do more to help borrowers with significant debt. 

“I’m hoping a lot more people that are in this situation will vote for people who want to make this change and make this difference in people’s lives. That’s kind of my hope, so yeah, I truly think Congress can do it if all the right people are in place to do it,” she said.