After three months of negotiations, a panel of higher education experts could not agree on key elements of the Biden administration’s latest student loan forgiveness plan.
The group, convened by the Education Department, has been hammering out a regulation to replace the debt relief program the Supreme Court struck down earlier this year. Student advocates and borrowers on the committee have pressed for a plan as far-reaching as Biden’s initial bid to cancel up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for about 40 million people. But the administration is opting for a more narrow approach, placing it at odds with some negotiators.
While negotiators found common ground with the department on facets of the agency’s proposal, the panel failed to reach a consensus on provisions that limit relief and eligibility. Here’s a breakdown of the process and what happens now.
WHAT DID THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION PROPOSE?
The Education Department wants to deliver student debt relief to select groups of borrowers: those who owe far more than they originally borrowed because of interest; those who have been paying for 20 or 25 years; those who attended career training programs that led to high debt loads or low earnings; and those who are eligible for existing forgiveness programs but never applied.
The department said it would add a fifth group composed of borrowers experiencing financial hardship not addressed through existing forgiveness initiatives. But the agency has so far failed to produce a plan.
After meeting with negotiators in November, the department fleshed out details of the proposed forgiveness. Chief among the updates is a proposal to cancel up to $10,000 for all borrowers whose balances have ballooned because of interest.
People enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan and who earn less than 225% of the poverty line would be entitled to up to $20,000 in one-time debt relief if their remaining balance exceeds what they originally borrowed. Those enrolled in Biden’s new income-driven plan, dubbed SAVE, would also qualify to have $20,000 of their debt canceled if their adjusted gross income is less than $125,000 for an individual or $250,000 for a married couple.
The department also said it would cancel the outstanding balance of borrowers who entered repayment on or before July 1, 2000, and only have undergraduate loans. All other borrowers would receive relief on loans that entered repayment 25 years ago, the same timeline proposed in November.
There are no estimates of how many borrowers could receive help under the proposed regime.
WHAT DID NEGOTIATORS DISAGREE ABOUT?
Negotiators, especially the borrowers and consumer attorneys on the committee, were vehemently opposed to capping forgiveness. They argued that $10,000, even $20,000, is not enough for people whose balances have doubled or tripled because of interest. Ahead of the third session of meetings this week, Democratic lawmakers, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, called on the Education Department to eliminate all debt that exceeds the original principal balance of the loan.
“The caps constrained the department’s ability to address the actual harms consumers are experiencing,” said Yael Shavit, chief of the consumer protection division at the Massachusetts attorney general’s office, during negotiations Tuesday. “Certainly, we are aware of borrowers who have higher accrued interest.”
Negotiators also took issue with the department using 225% of the federal poverty line to grant $20,000 in relief, arguing that the measure would deny relief to many struggling borrowers in high-cost areas. Tamy Abernathy, director of the policy coordination group at the Education Department, defended the limits on relief as a good threshold and declined to eliminate the caps.
One of the biggest points of contention on the final day of negotiation was the department’s lack of regulatory text for providing debt relief to borrowers facing financial hardship. While negotiators had offered recommendations on how to define such a group in previous sessions, the department did not produce any regulatory text at the final meeting. The department left open the possibility of another meeting to discuss hardship, but would not commit to a date.
WHICH PARTS OF THE PROPOSAL DID NEGOCIATORS AGREE TO?
Negotiators reached a consensus on a few sections of the department’s proposal, including a provision that grants automatic cancellation of loans that have been in repayment for more than 20 or 25 years.
They also agreed with the department’s plan to provide loan forgiveness to people who attend schools with high default rates or that consistently leave students with unaffordable debt. The panel affirmed the department’s updated plan to include instances where institutions or programs lose access to federal aid due to misconduct affecting student eligibility. It also agreed with a provision that makes it easier for commercially held Federal Family Education Loans – loans from a defunct federal program that are held by private companies – to be canceled when a borrower’s school closes.
WHAT HAPPENS NOW?
The Education Department may add another session to discuss providing debt relief to borrowers with financial hardship.
Either way, the department will begin work on drafting rules. It must move forward with the provisions that negotiators agreed upon, but the agency can come up with its own solution for the provisions that left the panel divided. The draft rules will be released for public comment in May, if not sooner, according to the department. The final rule should arrive before the end of next year and be implemented in 2025.
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