Student Loan Boycott Will Force Cancellation: Borrowers

Many student loan borrowers believe that boycotting payments could force cancellation of their debt, according to a new poll.

The poll, conducted by Intelligent.com, found that 62 percent of loan borrowers are likely to boycott payments, which breaks down to 26 percent saying "highly likely" and 36 percent saying "somewhat likely."

Additionally, the poll found that many students believe a boycott will result in the getting either some or all of their federal student loan debt canceled. According to the poll, 17.74 percent say it's "highly likely" a boycott would lead to all federal student loan debt being canceled and 26.95 say it's "somewhat likely." More than 70 percent say that a boycott would likely to lead to "some" federal student loan debt being canceled.

The poll's findings come ahead of the scheduled resumption of student loan payments after they were paused several times since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, first by President Donald Trump and then by President Joe Biden.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Biden's student loan cancellation program that sought to cancel up to $10,000 for borrowers with an income of $125,000 or less and up to $20,000 for recipients of Pell Grants.

Since the court's decision, many have continued to urge Biden to take further action to forgive student loan debt, and he recently announced a plan to help more than 800,000 borrowers lower their monthly loan payments through income-driven repayment (IDR) plans.

On Monday, Biden received a victory on his student debt forgiveness plan as a federal district judge in Michigan ruled against a lawsuit seeking to block it.

"Today's actions come on top of all we've been able to achieve for students and student loan borrowers in the past few years – from attaining the largest increases in Pell Grants in over a decade to fixing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program," Biden wrote in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, following the judge's decision.

"I promised to fix the student loan system that's failed borrowers for years. Already, we've approved over $116 billion in debt cancellation for 3.4 million Americans, and we're not backing down – No matter the roadblocks Republican officials or special interests put in our way," Biden added.

The Intelligent.com poll also found that more than 70 percent of student loan borrowers believe a boycott could help elect politicians that believe in forgiving student loans. Among borrowers who say they want to boycott their payments, write-in responses to intelligent.com included one that said, "I simply do not have the money."

However, 83 percent of respondents said they were concerned about the potential consequences of not paying their student loans when payments resume.

Intelligent.com surveyed 1,000 respondents on August 9 and verified that all currently have federal student loans.

Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Department of Education via email for comment.