President Biden has unveiled another election-year plan to cancel significant amounts of student loan debt, forgiving the loans of those who are experiencing “hardship.”
The new proposal describes the factors for identifying hardship, such as the total amount the borrower owes, household income and high-cost burdens, history of loan repayment, those who went through a career training program that provided “insufficient earnings [or] unreasonable debt,” or those who have qualified for debt relief through other plans but have not received it.
Borrowers who are likely to default in two years on their loans will qualify for automatic relief. Borrowers will be decided if their “hardship” matches criteria through an application process.
“College is meant to lead to a better life, but too many students end up struggling due to their student debt,” said Education Under Secretary James Kvaal. “The ideas we are outlining … will allow us to help struggling borrowers who are experiencing hardships in their lives, and they are part of President Biden’s overall plan to give breathing room to as many student loan borrowers as possible.
“It’s an important part of the Biden-Harris administration’s permanent solutions to the problem of unaffordable loans,” he said.
The proposal comes after Mr. Biden’s first plan to forgive up to $400 billion in student loan debt got shot down by the Supreme Court last summer. Justices ruled that federal law does not authorize the Department of Education to cancel such a large amount of student loan debt, which would have covered up to 43 million borrowers.
“We’ll leave no stone unturned in the fight to fix a broken student loan system,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told reporters Thursday.
The proposal will be discussed during a rulemaking session on Feb. 22 and 23.
“We are trying to figure out how to be as expansive as possible within the limits of the law and the court decision,” a senior administration official told reporters.
The administration has said it could not provide an estimate on how many borrowers might be eligible under the new plan. It is still unknown if the plan will go through, and if any relief will be felt by borrowers.
Apart from this plan, the administration has been slowly addressing existing loan forgiveness programs, like public service jobs, the closed school discharge program, those with permanent disabilities, among others.
It also created the SAVE repayment plan, which the administration dubs “the most affordable repayment plan ever.” According to the administration, nearly 7 million borrowers utilize the plan, and 3.9 million of those borrowers have a $0 monthly payment. Others see savings of roughly $1,400 a year.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.