'Set up for failure,' student debt forgiveness not likely to lighten debt load.

• Date: 14 June 2022

Byline: Ali Teske

"You're set up for failure," said Jaclyn Kallie as she reflected on her student loans.

An attorney with Gimbel, Reilly, Guerin & Brown, Kallie graduated from Marquette Law School in 2012. "I've been making payments for almost 10 years, but my loan amount has gone up," she said as interest rates pile onto her initial loan balance of about $140,000.

This is the case for law school graduates as they earn their degree and a staggering pile of loans. According to the American Bar Association Student Loan Debt survey, 95% of lawyers took out loans with the average debt balance $164,742, including undergraduate loans at the time of graduation.

"My personal story is that when I got out, I tried to do the standard repayment for almost two years. I had $900 in interest a month. I was throwing a minimum of $2,000 a month to try and make a dent," said Kallie. "It was pretty crazy trying to not spend money on anything lowering my grocery bill, not going out. I wasn't really living. I signed up eventually for the income-based repayment program."

In recent months, President Joe Biden's administration and the Department of Education has issued student loan forgiveness to certain borrowers. For example, $5.8 billion...