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A college in North Carolina is giving its students a better chance at an education after it eliminated nearly $3 million of debt.
Livingstone College in Salisbury, a private HBCU north of Charlotte, announced Friday (July 9) that it was clearing $2.8 million of student debt, offering qualifying students who came to campus during the spring semester a fresh start while registering for the fall semester, WCNC reports.
"We are eliminating a barrier to student persistence. We are wiping out the balances for our students who are coming to campus, who have been to campus last semester," said Dr. Anthony J. Davis, senior vice president for Livingstone. "We're infusing $2.8 million to wipe out all student debt so students can register this fall with a zero balance. We recognized that access to college and affordability must work in tandem."
According to the news outlet, Mecklenburg County Rep. Rachel Hunt, along with several other state lawmakers, led a bipartisan effort when they proposed a student loan "bill of rights" to crack down on deceptive and abusive practices by the companies that service the loans.
Student loan forgiveness has been a focus of many election campaigns, including several lawmakers who won their elections. Since being sworn into office, CNN reports that President Joe Biden's Department of Education has canceled $1.5 billion in student loan debt for nearly 92,000 students who were victims of for-profit college fraud.