More than half of business economists are not in favor of forgiving most or all U.S. student loan debt, a new survey conducted by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) found.
Out of the 226 members of NABE who were surveyed, 64 percent of respondents said that forgiving students loans would adversely affect the U.S. economy. About one-fifth of members termed forgiving most or all student debt to be positive for the economy.
Findings come as a setback to the legislations introduced by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren to fully or partially forgive student loan debts.
Senator Warren introduced bicameral Student Loan Debt Relief Act to forgive loans of up to $50,000 for those whose household gross income is less than $100,000 by using already available data on household gross income and pending student loan debt. While Sanders introduced a bill that would completely eliminate student debt by imposing a tax on Wall Street and make two and four-year public and tribal colleges and universities tuition-free and debt-free.
Currently, 42.2 million Americans are repaying federal student loans for a total sum of nearly $1.5 trillion, the largest volume of debt after home loans.
A recent survey conducted by PayScale found that student loans are one of the top regrets for recent graduates with at least a bachelor’s degree. Across different generations, millennials rank highest with 28.8 percent regretting taking out their student loans, followed by 26.2 percent among members of generation X, and 13.4 percent among baby boomers.
When it comes to raising the federal minimum wage, 61 percent of the economist voted in favor of raising the federal minimum wage which currently at $7.25 an hour. Nearly a quarter respondents favored for abolishing the federal minimum wage.
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