Here's what people would do if their student debt was canceled

When Elizabeth Warren released her radical proposal to cancel student debt last month, many borrowers have imagined how their lives would change if their loan balance shrank or disappeared.

"On the emotional side, it's the most important thing you care about," said Dominic DeFelice, 23, who owes more than $ 100,000. "To bring Elizabeth Warren and have a plan to make it really good."

On Twitter, people explained what the cancellation of student debt meant for them and included the hashtag #cancelmydebt.

Nearly 45 million Americans hold student loans. The average debt at graduation is currently around $ 30,000, up from $ 10,000 in the early 1990s. The repayment is a challenge for many: Every day, 3,000 borrowers default.

Warren is the only presidential candidate to have published a detailed plan on the cancellation of student debt. In this context, borrowers whose family income is less than $ 100,000 would be forgiven $ 50,000 of their student debt, and those whose income would be between $ 100,000 and $ 250,000 would be eligible for declining debt relief. "The half-measure time is over," writes Warren. "My vast cancellation plan is a real solution to our student debt crisis.

"It's helping millions of families and removing a weight that is holding back our economy."

Critics of this proposal, which could cost $ 1,250 billion over 10 years, claim that much of this money would go to high-income borrowers able to repay their debt. Others say the plan only throws money at the larger problem of rising tuition fees.

According to a new poll Politico / Morning Consult, more than half of Americans believe that student debt is "a major problem" for the country.

And it is not surprising that people with student debt can not help but dream of a different life (even if the candidate with the proposal hangs in the ballot box): 67% of people with a student debt report that the loan delayed the purchase of a home car or large device. Forty percent said their debt had delayed them from having a child or getting married.

CNBC spoke with borrowers about how the Massachusetts Democratic Senator's proposal would change their situation.

DOMINIC DeFELICE & # 39; S a bachelor's degree in geology left him $ 120,000 in the hole. "This amount is incomprehensible to someone like me," said DeFelice, 23. "I should have known it at 17 years old."

The entry-level jobs he's been applying for since he graduated from Juniata College in Pennsylvania last year offer annual salaries of about $ 30,000. After taxes, he would have $ 2,200 a month to live. His student loan bill is over $ 1,300. (Loans are currently paused, interest accrued.)

"I have invested in education and I do not see any return in sight," said DeFelice. He said that his brother, who is 2 years younger and never went to college, earns more money as a security guard.

DeFelice noted that many of the jobs he was hoping to do in the field of the environment require a postgraduate degree. And thanks to a grant he received, he recently enrolled at Brooklyn College to obtain his MSc in Geology. However, he decided to leave the school after only one semester, realizing that, given the high cost of living in New York, he would still have to borrow money.

"It could really increase my revenue potential, but I simply can not," he said. "I dig deeper when I'm already deep down." Ironically, student loans can be a barrier to education: a study found that debt-free graduates were 70% more likely to enroll in training. more than those who had a debt.

According to Warren's plan, DeFelice would have earned $ 50,000 of its federal loans and potentially some of its private borrowing. With less debt, he said, he could probably finish his studies and not have to go back to his parents or his girlfriend, a reality now on its horizon.

"I could really plan my life," he said.

KANU MENDOZA wants to be able to work less, but she owes more than $ 50,000 in student loans. When a disc in her back broke, the 52-year-old woman had to leave the Navy after a career of two decades. To progress in the Navy, she earned a Bachelor of Leadership degree and a Master of Public Administration degree from Bellevue University, Nebraska.

She is currently a supervisor at an aerospace manufacturing company in San Diego. "If I did not have this debt on my head, I would probably find a less demanding job," said Mendoza. "It's difficult when you have so much pain that you do not want to move, but you have to get up and go to work."

Student debt is increasing rapidly among seniors: in 2018, Americans made more than $ 260 billion in student loans, up from $ 36 billion in 2004, according to the Federal Reserve.

Mendoza said her monthly $ 400 student loan bill made it difficult for her to save for retirement. His pension costs only $ 1,500 a month.

"If I did not have this debt, I could retire in the next few years," Mendoza said. "With that, I'm going to be in the job market in 10 years, if it's not over."

MORGAN HOPKINS would like to start a family.

But she owes more than $ 75,000 in student loans, for her bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology and women's studies.

"If I could understand the implications of this debt forever, I might have made a different choice," said Hopkins, 31, about her education. Today, she works as a national field manager in a nonprofit organization in Denver.

She added that it will take years of planning for her boyfriend and she to have a child and buy a house – and even a simple financial cushion if one of them lost his job or fell sick. "If I had not paid half a rent for student debt, I would have an emergency savings plan," she said.

His monthly student loan bill rises to over $ 900, most of which only goes to interest. "I have not seen any significant reduction," Hopkins said.

According to Warren's plan, half of Hopkins' debt would be canceled and all of his boyfriend's loans would be forgiven. The result: she could see a future.

"I have a lot of financial stress now, just like a lot of our generation," Hopkins said. "How will I ever achieve my goals for life?"

MADELINE FENINGThe 27-year-old has studied communications at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and has long wanted to tell stories about autism. His sister is in the spectrum.

After graduating, she moved to Texas to do an internship at the Austin Film Festival. She wanted to continue working in the media and reporting, but her $ 50,000 student debt weighed heavily on her. "It's as if before you can do anything else, there's this huge wall that I have to shoot down," Fening said.

She was working as a bartender and thought she could develop a documentary about autism at the same time, but she was exhausted from shifts. "I'm up and using my body all the time," said Fening. And the expense of making a movie is hard to come by – last year she earned $ 28,000. "I tried to work there with limited resources," she said.

According to a study by American Student Assistance, a nonprofit education organization, more than half of student loan borrowers say their debt has influenced their career choice. Recent research has revealed that an additional student debt of $ 2,500 makes a person 5 percentage points less likely to be employed in a field related to his or her studies.

Soon, Fening returns to Ohio, where she grew up, to live with her family and finally get a cheaper apartment. According to Warren's plan, most of his debt would be canceled. In this case, Ms. Fening said that she could devote more time and resources to her work on autism.

"You should not have to choose between starting a project and paying off your student loan," said Fening.

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