Borrowers left waiting on student debt relief

(CNN) - The Biden Administration is encouraging people eligible for student loan debt relief to keep applying online, despite a court-ordered temporary hold.

It may take a little longer, but Cody Hounanian hopes a third of his student loan will be forgiven.

"It's a light at the end of the tunnel."

He’s referring to President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program that would cover $10,000 of his student debt.

Because while he’s been out of college for 9 years, he still owes $30,000.

"I recently married, me and my wife are gonna be thinking about purchasing a home. So it's all of a sudden kind of right in front of me again because I'm thinking about the kind of debt I have and I need to finance my future and get a home."

A move argued in and out of court

But while the administration had expected to grant loan discharges as early as Sunday, a federal appeals court put a temporary, administrative hold on the program.

A move currently argued in and out of the courtroom.

USC Economics Professor Robert Dekle says that while all his students support the program, he asked them to consider different perspectives.

"Relative to defense spending and the overall government budget, and the annual cost is not huge, but there is. It's gonna be a burden on current taxpayers."

Loan forgiveness will make inflation worse

He also says if the goal is to help low income families, the government should instead invest in early childhood education.

As an economist, Dekle says he thinks short term.

Loan forgiveness will only make inflation worse.

But as a professor, he believes long term this will make the us more competitive.

"We need people with skills and the way to get it is in higher education."

Hounanian's dream

And it’s that education that Hounanian says got him to where he is today.

He is the executive director of the Student Debt Crisis Center.

The center is a nonprofit with a goal to end the student debt crisis.

"For me, the only way to open the door was to take on student loan debt even though it's created really unnecessary challenges and you know, we've had to stress and all that, but my future is brighter nonetheless."

Now he’s not only waiting for his loan forgiveness but also fighting so that others can also get relief.

"My dream...for a better America...is one where my kids don't even have to consider student loan debt."