It has been a year of navigating the new normal on many fronts. Enrollment remained down at every level from community colleges to graduate schools, but much of academia showed its persistence and resilience.
With the COVID-19 pandemic subsiding, colleges and universities have tried to bring students back to campus and provide fresh inspiration. Although the Omicron variant upended plans much of the winter, by spring, things had settled down. And since then, most faculty members and students have been thriving with either a hybrid model or in-person classes.
Biden Administration
U.S. President Joe Biden, left, is flanked by Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel A. Cardona.
“Using the authority Congress granted to the Department of Education, we will forgive $10,000 in outstanding student federal loans. In addition, students who come from low-income families, which allowed them to qualify to receive a Pell Grant, will have debt reduced $20,000,” Biden said in August.
To qualify, individuals must earn less than $125,000 a year and families must earn less than $250,000 so that high-income individuals and households cannot benefit. The Biden-Harris administration anticipated that the debt forgiveness would impact 95% of student loan borrowers, or about 43 million people.
