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There has been a quick turn of events that will impact millions of borrowers. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan was given the green light to be put into action on Oct. 2, 2024, by U.S. District Judge Randall Hall, who represents the Southern District of Georgia. NBC News reports the plan had been under a temporary restraining order that was a result of a lawsuit against Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. It was brought forward by the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Dakota, and Ohio. Hall was willing to allow the temporary restraining order to expire, and this was based on his belief that the Southern District of Georgia order “failed to show an injury that is concrete, particularized, actual, or imminent.” “Without standing, the Court finds it proper to dismiss Georgia as a party to the suit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and turns to Defendants’ arguments related to venue,” he...
Everyone wants to know what “Black jobs” are after Donald Trump suggested that they’re on the decline during the first 2024 presidential debate. As the countdown to the 2024 presidential election is underway, Trump and current President Joe Biden are ramping up their approach to gain support from Black voters. During the debate, one key issue that Biden and Trump honed in on was the current state of the economy, particularly the job market, The Hill reports. “The fact is that his big kill on the Black people is the millions of people that he’s allowed to come in through the border,” Trump said during the debate on June 27. “They’re taking Black jobs now – and it could be 18, it could be 19 and even 20 million people. They’re taking Black jobs, and they’re taking Hispanic jobs, and you haven’t seen it yet, but you’re gonna see something that’s going to be the worst in our history.” Originally, CNN anchor and debate moderator Dana Bash had asked Biden what he has done for Black...
Kenya will receive significant backing to support education. According to a news release, the United States signed a Framework for Cooperation with the Kenyan government to support innovation in STEM fields in partnership with its universities and the industry. During Kenyan President William Ruto’s U.S. visit, USAID Counselor Clinton White signed the “Enhancing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Education for Economic Development Framework for Cooperation” along with Kenyan Prime Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA. Enhancements to Kenya’s education infrastructure will soon be in effect, empowered by a $32 million commitment, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) also announced. This includes $850,000 earmarked for the Edtech Africa initiative — a program to promote collaboration between HBCUs, the Open University of Kenya, Mastercard, and Microsoft. The investment will also encompass a $6.5 million project to...
Colorado is taking a stand to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace. On May 8, 2024, the Colorado General Assembly passed Senate Bill 24-205 (SB205), Forbes reports. In the bill’s summary, it wrote that it “requires a developer of a high-risk artificial intelligence system (high-risk system) to use reasonable care to avoid algorithmic discrimination in the high-risk system.” Moreover, the bill described high-risk artificial intelligence systems as any machine-based system that plays a role in consequential decisions being made in education enrollment and education opportunities, employment and employment opportunities, financial and lending services, essential government services, healthcare services, housing, insurance, or legal services. According to Forbes, the bill marks Colorado as the first U.S. state to establish a comprehensive law that not only addresses utilizing AI in employment but also in other critical sectors. On May 17, Governor of Colorado Jared...
T he Biden administration has taken a ction against TikTok. On April 24, 2024, President Joe Biden signed a law to ban the China-based social media app under parent company ByteDance in the U.S. if it’s not sold within a year, NPR reports. The move comes after the House of Representatives introduced in March the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act , which aims to “protect the national security of the United States from the threat posed by foreign adversary controlled applications,” as previously shared by AFROTECH™. Under President Biden’s new law, if TikTok fails to be sold in 12 months, it would become illegal for web-hosting providers to host the platform. What’s more, Google and Apple would have to pull the popular app from its app stores. According to NPR, this is the first time that a law has been passed that could result in banning a social media platform in the U.S. What has led to this timeline of events is U.S. government officials have...
President Joe Biden is unveiling plans that will provide relief to minority borrowers. A press release shares the Biden administration is looking to build on its efforts to eradicate debt for Americans. Already, it has provided financial relief to 4 million borrowers. Now, pending on approval of its latest proposal, the Biden administration is looking to scale its efforts to more than 30 million borrowers and projects it will positively impact Black borrowers, among other targeted demographics including Hispanic borrowers as well as working- and middle-class families. According to Education Data Initiative, Black graduates owe an estimated $25,000 more in student loan debt than their white counterparts. Furthermore, four years after graduation, Black students will be burdened with over 188% more debt than white students. A separate study looking into students who started college between 1995 and 1996 showed the median debt for white borrowers decreased by 94% 20 years later, with...
For the past three years, the labor market has been drastically changing. According to Crunchbase News, over 151,054 workers at tech companies in the U.S. have been laid off in 2023 so far. In the midst of the mass layoffs, AfroTech is playing its role in supporting the community. As previously reported, AfroTech’s first-ever SaaS platform, Talent Infusion, launched in April 2023. Talent Infusion features tools such as AfroTech’s Resume Book that gives direct access to a growing group of diverse talent. To learn more about Talent Infusion, click here.
After what seems like years of back and forth regarding student loan forgiveness, President Joe Biden has come to a decision to help roughly 45 million Americans affected by student loan debt. “In keeping with my campaign promise, my Administration is announcing a plan to give working and middle-class families breathing room as they prepare to resume federal student loan payments in January 2023,” said President Biden via Twitter. On Wednesday (Aug. 24), President Biden revealed that his new plan will give $10,000 in relief to borrowers whose annual income falls below $125,000. Additionally, those who qualified for federal Pell grants will receive an additional $10,000 bringing that total amount of relief to $20,000. The aforementioned agreement was issued to low-income undergraduates whose earnings fall below the income cap. According to Forbes, research shows the latest plan announced by the Biden administration slightly falls in favor of Americans with higher incomes. “Despite...
Joe wants folks to know that he’s out here doing it! According to Complex, the Joe Biden administration has managed to cancel a total of $15 billion in student loan debt since taking office in 2021. A press release from the Department of Education also confirmed that more than 675,000 borrowers have come out on the winning end of his student loan forgiveness program. The news comes on the heels of President Biden’s move to extend the pause on student loan debt payments until May of this year. “Given these considerations, today my Administration is extending the pause on federal student loan repayments for an additional 90 days – through May 1. 2022 – as we manage the ongoing pandemic and further strengthen our economic recovery, ” he wrote. “Meanwhile, the Department of Education will continue working with borrowers to ensure they have the support they need to transition smoothly back into repayment and advance economic stability for their own households and for our nation.”
Funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) could be underway through a new bill proposed by President Joe Biden. NBC News reports that HBCUs are currently awaiting the final passing of President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, which includes record funding for HBCUs. The money could finally give the institutions the push that they need to compete against top-tier universities when it comes to the fields of science and technology. “The significance here is that there’s an opportunity for an HBCU to move into the top echelon,” said Harry Williams, the head of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund in an interview with NBC News. “And it requires this type of federal investment for that to happen.” With a safety net package that would provide $3 billion for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for schools serving minorities, this level of funding will be a “game-changer.” Currently, about a dozen HBCUs are classified as second-tier research...
It’s time for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to get what they deserve. After a 2016 Duke University research paper revealed that HBCUs pay more for loans than other colleges and universities, Congress has decided to revisit the issue at hand and it looks like the change that is needed could soon come. Professor Bill Mayew — one of the researchers on the topic at hand — told AfroTech via email what all of this means for our beloved HBCUs. “Specifically, in an analysis of almost 1,000 colleges, about 10% of which were HBCUs , issuance costs for HBCUs were about 20% more than non- HBCUs because it’s harder for those underwriters to find buyers,” said Professor Mayew in regards to those exact findings. “As an example, our estimates suggest that to issue a $30 million bond, it costs an HBCU about $290,000, versus about $242,000 for a non- HBCU . This $48,000 difference is a significant financial burden. And this effect is much stronger in states that are known to...