"Punch in the gut": Coloradans respond to Supreme Court ruling on student loan debt relief

The US Supreme Court has tossed out President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan. It would have wiped out nearly half a trillion dollars in debt for millions of Americans.

Biden said the fight is not over, "I believe the court's decision to strike down my student debt relief program was a mistake, was wrong, I'm not going to stop fighting to give borrowers what they need particularly those at the bottom end of the economic scale."

In Colorado, nearly 800,000 people have federal student loans - that totals nearly $30 billion in outstanding student debt.

More than a third of those Coloradans would have been approved for loan forgiveness-- according to a White House report released in January.

"Feels more like a punch in the gut," offered Metropolitan State University senior Kendall Taylor.

She's adjusting to not receiving the financial relief she was hoping for.

Taylor is preparing to graduate this fall with degrees in art history and Africana studies.

Without higher education, she says she wouldn't be able to realize her career goals, "It feels like it's a requirement for any sort of success within our society and that obligation to obtain a higher education."

But now she's accumulated $61,000 in student loan debt.

Taylor said, "I definitely have come to terms with certain realities of what homeownership and what financial stability will look like for my generation and future generations."

What's bigger, says Taylor, is that the ambitious effort to rectify wealth disparities – will not come to pass.

"This was going to be a fantastic next step to rectifying that imbalance," she said.

The court's striking down the debt relief is being cheered by others, however.

"It's about being fair to the fact that someone obligated themselves," said Greg Lopez, a former mayor of Parker and businessman who says the high court was looking out for the best interests of the nation.

Lopez said, "I think it's recognizing the fact that an individual willingly and knowingly made an obligation to pay that money back and unfortunately saying, 'yes, you have to', because the Secretary of Education does not have the authority to modify or relieve that."

President Biden said he's working to pursue another path to debt relief, via the Higher Education Act.