He did not elaborate, saying he would not be making an announcement ahead of time. “I have no news to announce today,” Cardona said. Here’s what you need to know.
What does Biden weigh?
The White House has previously said Biden will have something to announce before the Aug. 31 deadline. And Biden has already extended the pause four times, most recently in April, arguing it was necessary to allow federal student loan borrowers to get back on their feet. The question is whether there will be a fifth time. But that is not all. Democratic lawmakers and supporters have also called on Biden to generally cancel student loan debt of up to $50,000 per borrower, though the President has said he would not consider that number. Instead, along with the possible extension of the moratorium, the White House has suggested that Biden is considering canceling $10,000 per borrower, excluding those making more than $125,000 a year, something he campaigned on in 2020.
How bad is America’s student debt problem?
Borrowers hold $1.6 trillion in outstanding federal student loan debt, more than Americans owe on credit card or car loan debt.
About 54% of borrowers with outstanding student loan debt owed less than $20,000 as of March 2021, according to the College Board. About 45% of outstanding debt was held by the 10% of borrowers who owed $80,000 or more.
What is the downside of broad forgiveness?
While widespread student loan debt forgiveness could provide financial relief to millions of Americans, the implications of such a major policy move are complex, CNN’s Katie Lobosco writes. And by itself, the action would do nothing to lower the cost of college for future borrowers or help those who have already paid for their degrees.
How does he get on this Supreme Court?
A recent high court ruling limiting the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to fight the climate crisis could complicate Biden’s power to cancel federal student loans. That’s because the court’s ruling — along with other recent cases involving eviction moratoriums and Covid-19 vaccination mandates — signaled that judges may be inclined to limit the power of federal agencies to make major policy changes if it power not expressly declared by Congress.
How did Biden address student debt at this point?
As Lobosco mentioned, the President has largely taken a targeted approach to student debt relief. For example, earlier this month, the Department of Education said it would cancel $3.9 billion in student loan debt for 208,000 students who attended the now-defunct for-profit ITT Technical Institute. That brings the total amount of loan waivers approved under Biden to nearly $32 billion. Biden also temporarily expanded the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which forgives the debt of government and nonprofit workers after 10 years of payments, and made changes to income repayment plans, bringing millions of borrowers closer to forgiveness.
What do Americans think about student loan forgiveness?
As might be expected, attitudes about student debt relief are sharply divided along party and genealogical lines. A majority of Democrats in a May CNN poll (56%) — and an even larger majority of self-described liberals (69%) — said the government is doing too little about student loan debt, while only a third of Republicans and Self-proclaimed conservatives said the same. 70% of adults under 35 said the government is doing too little, which dropped to 50% among those in the 35-49 age bracket and 35% among those 50 and older. CNN’s Katie Lobosco contributed to this report.
