By The Opinion
Nov 27, 2024, 10:43 PM EST
The elected president donald trump plans to end President Joe Biden’s initiative to cancel or ease student debtl of tens of millions of people.
Trump’s transition advisers and his outside allies have been arguing how to end the various initiatives of the Biden Administration that offered avenues for relief or forgiveness of student loans to borrowers, according to Politico, which cited two people familiar with the discussions.
Trump has nominated Linda McMahon, former head of the Small Business Administration, for secretary of education.
McMahon has co-led the presidential transition and chairs the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), an outside group that has been preparing for a second Republican presidential term.
The group has criticized Biden’s student debt relief credit policies as “illegal, counterproductive and deeply unjust.”
The main problem facing the new Trump administration is that several recent court decisions have left the federal government’s $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio in disarraywith millions of borrowers trapped waiting for the court cases that have suspended or blocked the student loan system and Biden’s programs to relieve them to be resolved.
Biden’s flagship student loan repayment program, known as the SAVE plan, will likely be more difficult to address.
The plan, which the president finalized last year, caps monthly payments at 5% of income for undergraduate borrowers, offers more generous interest subsidies and allows for loan forgiveness in as few as 10 years of repayment for some borrowers.
About 8 million borrowers were enrolled when judges froze the plan earlier this fall.
As a result of the court orders, the Department of Education has suspended monthly payments for those who benefit from the program. But reverting those borrowers to earlier, less generous repayment plans presents hurdles both legal and operational.
Keep reading:
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• Appeals court blocks Biden’s student debt relief plan
• Secretary Cardona highlights that Latinos are among the most beneficiaries of the student debt aid plan