The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, welcomes the White House’s latest extension of the moratorium on student loan repayments but reiterated its call on the administration to grant long-term student debt relief by adopting a plan submitted by the Muslim community.
In January, dozens of Muslim American organizations sent a letter to President Biden calling on the administration to use executive action to establish long-term student debt relief by:
1. Forgiving loans for borrowers whose past payments have already exceeded the principal amount of their original loan
2. Cancelling at least $50,000 in student debt for remaining borrowers
3. Waiving interest payments on current and future loans
4. Extending the freeze on student loan payments until at least January 1, 2023.
The letter was initiated by A Continuous Charity (ACC), CAIR, the Islamic Scholarship Fund (ISF), and the National Association of Muslim Lawyers (NAML). Payments on most federal student loans have been frozen since March 2020, at the outset of the coronavirus.
READ LETTER & FACT SHEET: Muslim Community Letter to Biden Admin Calling for “Principled Loans” For All
Nearly one-third of all American students go into debt to pay for their college and Americans collectively owe nearly $1.6 trillion in student loan debt. That number is projected to grow to $2 trillion by 2024 and $3 trillion by 2038.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and other congressional leaders have been pressuring the White House to broadly cancel up to $50,000 of student loan debt per borrower. President Biden however has urged Congress to pass legislation that cancels $10,000 per borrower, excluding high income borrowers.
Because of the rising costs of higher education, many students have no choice but to take out interest-based loans to attend school, trapping them in cascading debt that – in some circumstances – becomes impractical to pay back. Heavy student loan debt is causing younger graduating Americans to delay purchasing homes and starting families.
Every year, thousands of Muslims students who are interested in attending college or graduate school feel that they must choose between their faith and their education because Islam–like some other faith traditions–condemn interest-based debt as destructive and immoral.
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.