Biglaw Associate Isn't Sure Biden's Student Loan Cancellation Will Make Much Of A Difference For Lawyers

This isn't going to have much of an impact for lawyers drowning in debt.

Law School loan debtWhen you have six figures in debt, $10,000 is a drop in the bucket. It’s not a bad measure, but you can’t throw your hands up and say, ‘Well, we fixed the problem, we’re out of here.’ And that’s what I’m scared will happen.

Marcella Jayne, a litigation associate at Foley & Lardner, commenting on the impact that President Joe Biden’s potential move to cancel $10,000 in federal student loan debt per borrower would have on heavily indebted attorneys. Jayne, a single mother to two children, has a student loan balance of $173,000 after graduating from Fordham University School of Law in 2018. The Biden administration is currently considering whether it will impose an income cap on its student loan forgiveness measures, which could exclude many lawyers from taking part in the program.


Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.