Biden’s 2022 solution to student debt will prove harder to get it done

Report Issue

Please complete the required fields.

Your Name

Email

Reason (required)
This post contains broken linksPost has incorrect informationPost has spamCopyright IssueOther

Description

Submit

For President Joe Biden, deciding to cancel student debt might have been the easy part. Getting it done will prove to be harder.

After a drawn-out, intraparty debate over the wisdom of forgiving student debt, Biden heads into the third year of his presidency — and a likely reelection campaign — fighting to keep his signature education policy alive.
The plan heads to the Supreme Court in February, where the conservative majority will weigh the legality of canceling up to $20,000 for more than 40 million borrowers. The Education Department approved some 16 million borrowers for the program but their relief remains in limbo as the court decides.

Progressives who spent more than a year pushing Biden to cancel debt in the first place say they’re mobilizing in the coming year to hold onto a hard-fought victory.

“It felt, at times, like pulling teeth to get him to champion that cancellation,” said Natalia Abrams, the founder and president of the Student Debt Crisis Center, an advocacy group that’s worked with the White House and Democrats on the issue.
“Now he’s gone full force on it,” Abrams said. “I think he does care about student loan borrowers and about this issue. I don’t see him walking away.”

With the window for major legislative victories closing as Republicans prepare to take control of the House, Biden has not fundamentally reformed how American higher education is financed. While his big plan de él tackles the backend of the costs, his most sweeping proposals for free college and dramatically expanding student aid are effectively dead for now.