Without student loans, millions of Americans couldn’t afford the degrees that might smooth the road to prosperity. Yet, having student loans can also make it tougher to get far along that journey. People who leave school without loans can have an easier time buying a home, saving for retirement or starting a business, compared with those who have student debt. One aim of President Biden’s student-debt relief plan, currently stalled by legal challenges, is to help borrowers shed debt and progress toward those goals, though critics argue the program is unfair to those who sacrificed to pay for college or pay down their debt.

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