On Friday, Alessandra Biaggi, a former Democratic Party senator from New York, took to Twitter to discuss her substantial student loan debt despite recently purchasing a property worth $1.14 million.
Biaggi shared on Twitter, “In 2012, I graduated from Fordham Law School with $180,000 in student loan debt. In 11 years, I will have paid off all of my debt. I’ve even finished paying off two of them.”
During her tenure as the representative for New York’s 34th district in the New York State Senate, Biaggi’s remaining balance in 2023 stands at $206,000.
These comments from Biaggi came almost a year after news emerged that she and her husband had bought and moved into a $1,137,500 home in New York’s 17th Congressional District, a district she had aspired to represent in Congress. Biaggi had previously challenged former Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, a Democrat, in the 2022 midterm elections but was unsuccessful.
According to a 2022 article from the New York Post, Biaggi, then 36, and her husband Nathaniel Koloc purchased a three-bedroom, two-bathroom property in an affluent suburb in July of that year. This new home represented a significant upgrade from Biaggi’s previous condominium in Pelham, New York, which she had acquired for $691,006.
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling that President Biden’s plan to forgive billions of dollars in student loans was unconstitutional without explicit authorization from Congress, Biaggi expressed her dissatisfaction with the plan.
The Supreme Court’s decision poses a major setback for President Biden, as it means that more than 40 million low- and middle-income borrowers will not qualify for the $10,000 government loan forgiveness promised by the administration leading up to the 2020 election.
Numerous online commenters pointed out that Biaggi, as a student loan borrower, should have prioritized paying off her debt before purchasing the expensive Bedford, New York home.
Christopher Rufo, a senior scholar at the Manhattan Institute, tweeted a warning to Biaggi, saying, “You need Dave Ramsey, not Joe Biden.” Dave Ramsey is well-known for offering financial management advice through his radio show.
Another Twitter user replied to Biaggi, stating, “You signed the loan agreement. Haven’t you read it?”
Greg Price, the communications director of the State Freedom Caucus Network, tweeted, “She could afford to buy a $1 million home but not pay off $180,000 of debt.”
Retired Marine and radio personality Jesse Kelly shared his perspective on the matter, writing, “BREAKING: Woman spends more than she makes.”
President Biden initially proposed the idea of student loan forgiveness from the Oval Office in August of the previous year. The original proposal aimed to cancel $10,000 of federal student loan debt for students with annual incomes below $125,000.