Graduates worry about student loan payments after Supreme Court ruling
FORT WORTH (CBSNewsTexas) - Nikki Hall of Fort Worth went back to school during the pandemic to start a career as a nurse.
"I said, 'This is a good time to go to school and knock it out of the ballpark,'" said Hall.
She just graduated from Texas Tech in May and says she considered President Biden's student loan forgiveness program when deciding where to attend.
"Because of the student loan forgiveness I was like, 'I could do loans and go to the school I really want to go to; I wont be hit as hard,' you know," said Hall.
So when she found out that the Supreme Court struck down the student loan forgiveness plan, she felt defeated.
"My student loan debt is about $26,000, a little bit over, and then my husband's about $6,000-$7,000, so we're looking at roughly about $32,000 dollars," said Hall. "We just got married and we're looking to buy a house together and expanding our family and it just puts a little dent in the plans we have."
But critics of student loan forgiveness applaud the Supreme Court's decision.
"We think it was a victory for all Americans," said Elaine Parker the president of the Job Creators Network Foundation (JCNF). "It was a victory for our constitution today."
JCNF filed a lawsuit in Texas last year challenging the student debt forgiveness program. A judge in Fort Worth ruled that the program was unconstitutional. Their case was one of several like it that made it all the way to the Supreme Court.
"We have separation of powers—and the power of the purse lies with Congress and the executive branch does not have the authority to spend taxpayer money like this," said Parker.
Hall and and her husband are figuring out how to afford more than $500 in student loan payments every month.
"I was really trying to get a new car—that's on hold. I guess smart spending, smart budgeting... it's like, we're gonna be paying a lot of money," said Hall.
