Advocates Applaud Effort to Deliver Student Debt Relief, Urge Administration to “Move Fast and Finish the Job”
April 8, 2024 | WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, President Biden offered his Administration’s first detailed overview of the sweeping student debt relief package that the U.S. Department of Education will unveil in the coming months. When implemented, the programs announced by the President today will make student debt relief a reality for over 30 million Americans, including 4 million additional people who will become debt free. These regulatory actions come in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Biden v. Nebraska, striking down the President’s first attempt to deliver mass student debt relief.
In response, Student Borrower Protection Center Policy Director Aissa Canchola Bañez said:
“Only hours after the Supreme Court callously struck down his original debt relief program, President Biden offered hope to the millions of workers and families crushed by the weight of student debt as he announced plans to pursue another legal path to deliver on desperately needed debt relief. Today’s announcement makes tens of millions of borrowers one step closer to realizing the life-changing impact of student debt cancellation.
“It also offers a roadmap for how this Administration should deal with a hostile Supreme Court majority captured by right-wing special interests: call the high court’s bluff by aggressively using the full power of the law and delivering for working people.
“For too long, student debt has blocked homeownership, inhibited savings, limited career opportunities and economic mobility, and choked at the promise of entire generations. Taken together, the Biden Administration’s actions are setting a path to a debt free, brighter economic future for more than 30 million Americans. Now, the President must move fast and finish the job.”
This announcement builds on the significant steps this administration has already taken to date to deliver student debt relief to specific segments of the population who owe student loans, including 900,000 public service workers, nearly 1 million people with decades-old debt, more than 1 million people defrauded by a predatory school, and hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities.
In total, through these prior actions, the administration has provided debt relief in full for nearly 4 million people. Today’s announcement builds on this foundation and pledges new debt relief for tens of millions more.
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About Student Borrower Protection Center
Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC) is a nonprofit organization focused on eliminating the burden of student debt for millions of Americans. We engage in advocacy, policymaking, and litigation strategy to rein in industry abuses, protect borrowers’ rights, and advance racial and economic justice.
Learn more at protectborrowers.org or follow SBPC on Twitter @theSBPC.