Cost of canceling student debt: $400 billion over a decade, agency says

The Biden administration's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for millions of Americans will cost the U.S. about $400 billion over a decade, according to the nonpartisan agency that conducts economic analyses of government policies. 

The extension of the pause on debt repayments will cost another $20 billion, the analysis from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) noted. As part of the debt-relief plan, the Biden administration also pushed back a resumption of debt repayments from September 2022 until January 2023. 

The cost of the debt-forgiveness plan has sparked a debate among some Republicans and those without college degrees, who have argued that the plan isn't fair to people who didn't go to college but yet whose tax dollars will support the effort. After the report was issued, Republicans decried the plan's price tag, citing the CBO's forecast, with Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona writing on Twitter that it was "even more expensive than we initially thought."