President Biden’s SAVE plan, his audacious agenda to cancel student loans for millions of Americans, was immediately embraced by the public when it was revealed in 2022. The President’s administration recently announced it will hand out $1.2 billion to wipe out Federal education loans starting this year, specifically paying it out entirely to Jackson Lemming of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The Hard Times was fortunate enough to sit down with him and talk about being the recipient of this historic windfall.
Hard Times: Jackson, you’re the envy of the nation. How did you take the news of your loans being forgiven?
Jackson Lemming: I didn’t believe it at first. Apparently they had sent me a certified letter, but looked exactly like a bill so it immediately went into the trash. They ended up having to send some G-Men to my house to tell me the loans were forgiven like I’d won the Publishers Clearing House prize.
HT: That must’ve been quite a shock, given how improbable this must’ve been when you graduated. It’s been well documented the Fed always comes guns blazing at anyone making less than $50,000 a year.
JL: Fuck me for growing up middle class, right? But yeah, I thought I’d be raking in cash with a B.A. and an M.A. in engineering, but after I graduated the only jobs I could find paid $14 an hour. And those were the ones that required a Master’s degree. I was barely a week into working at my local Sonic before the bills started showing up.
HT: Wait, $14 an hour? And just to clarify, engineers are the people who design bridges and stuff right? So then how much did you have to borrow?
JL: Around $80,000 initially, but then there were the two unpaid internships, post-graduate school, and springing for the nicer on-campus apartments that didn’t have black mold. I think it came out to roughly $150k in change. But that my loan has been forgiven I can finally cut down to only selling my plasma to twice a month!
HT: Jesus man, what the fuck!
JL: Right? When Biden announced the SAVE plan I applied immediately, but with all the pushback and legal battles I thought it would be a bust. I had almost made peace with only having $43 in my bank account when I got the news. I just hope that at this rate it can help at least seven or eight more people. It makes the most sense economically.
HT: Well with this financial burden lifted, how are you going to spend your free money?
JL: At this point since I’ve been priced out of owning a home and likely won’t retire, I’ll probably just buy myself a little treat and then start chipping away at my SallieMae loans. I borrowed $2,000 for books and somehow I now owe them $90,000. But who knows, maybe they’ll get bailed out again and let everyone off the hook – damn, I’m sorry. Now I just sound crazy.