The combination of a coronavirus-halted economy, an upcoming election and an ever-mounting student debt crisis has thrust the topic of student loan forgiveness to the forefront of the national conversation in recent weeks.
But just who — and who doesn’t — support student loan forgiveness? The answer may not be as bipartisan as previously assumed, suggests a study published by College Finance, which surveyed more than 1,100 Americans across party affiliations, ages and debt status.
When asked the general question, ‘Would you support a student loan forgiveness program?’ opinions typically fell along party lines, with 84% of Democratic respondents expressing some degree of support as opposed to 50% of Republicans reporting similar support.
However, with regard to the thornier facets of student loan forgiveness — its ethics, its feasibility and the specific policies of it — party lines became more blurred, says John Bernasconi, a project manager 
“We were pleasantly surprised to uncover the extent to which our participants’ beliefs and preferences defied strict party lines, as well as their willingness to acknowledge points that contradict or challenge the position on student loan forgiveness that we support,” wrote Bernasconi in an email to Diverse.
He said that because student debt relief is often spoken of in “all or nothing” and “good and bad” terms, the objective of the study was “to dig deeper.”
So, the authors “dug deeper” by asking questions regarding seven specific policies related to student debt forgiveness, ranging from complete forgiveness of student debt, to income-based forgiveness, to forgiveness of student loan interest. What they found was that 81% of Republican respondents supported at least one of the forgiveness plans — a significant jump from the 50% of Republicans who had said they would support student loan forgiveness.
