@UUtah economist talks about who does and doesn’t have student loan debt and about how people spend their money during the loan payment moratorium.

In the discussion around President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, one partisan point has come up repeatedly: that working class taxpayers shouldn’t pay off the debts of privileged college grads. But University of Utah economist Marshall Steinbaum says that’s not an accurate picture of who has, and doesn’t have, student debt. 

Steinbaum has also studied how people have spent their money during the pandemic-induced student loan payment moratorium, finding that when people aren’t spending their money on student loans, they’re paying down other kinds of debt and may be increasing their rate of home ownership.

Steinbaum is available for interviews and can be reached at [email protected].