Will Student Debt Relief Hang In Limbo Forever?

Biden administration’s centerpiece student loan relief measure paused after Trump-appointed judge rules plan is unconstitutional.

Across the US in recent weeks student loan borrowers hoping to have their debts eased have opened their email inboxes to a message from the US secretary of education, Miguel Cardona.

It read in part: “Lawsuits are preventing the US Department of Education from implementing its one-time student loan debt relief program; we are holding your approved application.”

A man holds an CANCEL STUDENT DEBT protest sign in front of the White House on a sunny summer day.

In August of this year, Joe Biden announced he would cancel up to $20,000 of federal student debt for Pell grant recipients and up to $10,000 for other borrowers. In order to qualify for student debt cancellation, borrowers could not earn more than $125,000 annually, or $250,000 for married couples filing taxes jointly.

But Biden’s high-profile effort to relieve student debt has become mired in a flurry of Republican lawsuits threatening its merit and questioning the president’s reach and – perhaps only temporarily – derailing the hopes of millions of borrowers hoping for a little debt relief.