Biden Administration's Student Loan Debt Plan Masterthread

[LevelUP]

Sure, the HEROES Act of 2003 confers on the Secretary of Education specific, statutory authority to “waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision applicable to the student financial assistance programs” during times of national emergency.  20 U.S.C. § 1098bb(a)(1), (2)

President Trump declared a national state of emergency related to Covid-19 on 13 November 2020. That has subsequently been extended and is still in force.

"While the HEROES Act of 2003 arguably confers somewhat less broad authority than the HEA does, since an administration may only exercise its authority on a case-by-case basis or on a class of people impacted by the emergency"

Nancy Pelosi said Biden could only delay but not cancel student loan debt. Only congress has the power to do that.

Trump's Payroll Tax Cut was a bunch of nonsense too.

So for the record FJB and FDT.

1. You referenced, without citation I would note, a Forbes article which is simply wrong. If you look at the actual law, it specifies “(3)Case-by-case basis
The Secretary is not required to exercise the waiver or modification authority under this section on a case-by-case basis.”

2. The power to cancel student loans rests with Congress.  And they delegated it to the Secretary of Education in 2003.  It will be interesting to see if there is litigation to try to stop this cancellation.  If there is, it will be up to a federal court, in all likelihood the Circuit Court for DC, to decide it Biden has this authority.  But, until an injunction to the contrary, Biden has this authority.

3. You may not be aware of this. Nancy Pelosi is not a president, dictator, or even a federal judge. While she controls the legislative agenda of the House of Representatives at this time, she doesn’t actually get to decide all the laws for the country. 

4. I do not appreciate you using profanity, even in veiled form.  I hope the moderators take note of that an respond appropriately.

I would think Nancy Pelosi knows a bit more than a bunch of keyword warriors and some random journalists trying to armchair quarterback being a lawyer and giving out legal advice as to what is constitutional or not.

I don’t disagree. But, I think the White House counsel and the Department of Education counsel, who have both asserted that the HEROES Act gives Biden this authority know more than Pelosi. Again, it really doesn’t matter. He is the President. Unless and until a court stop this, it is happening.

Biden will do whatever he is going to do. But that doesn't mean debt is automatically "forgiven."

That's the key point.

I know it's an election year, and maybe people won't know how this all plays out till sometime next year.

At best, that pic saying "forgiving debt" is misleading and at worst, it's an outright lie. (video: 29:32 - 31:30 )

[Alpha]

Executive orders, payment pauses, parallel terms clause, enforced collections proceedings.....it's all very technical, isn't it?
Is Student Loan Forgiveness By Executive Order Legal? (thecollegeinvestor.com)

[LevelUP]

1. You referenced, without citation I would note, a Forbes article which is simply wrong. If you look at the actual law, it specifies “(3)Case-by-case basis
The Secretary of Education is not required to exercise the waiver or modification authority under this section on a case-by-case basis.”

These people putting these articles up are grasping at straws by misinterpreting both the Hero's Act and the HEA.

2. The power to cancel student loans rests with Congress.  And they delegated it to the Secretary of Education in 2003.  It will be interesting to see if there is litigation to try to stop this cancellation.  If there is, it will be up to a federal court, in all likelihood the Circuit Court for DC, to decide it Biden has this authority.  But, until an injunction to the contrary, Biden has this authority.

Right, it will be up to the courts, at the very least.

3. You may not be aware of this. Nancy Pelosi is not a president, dictator, or even a federal judge. While she controls the legislative agenda of the House of Representatives at this time, she doesn’t actually get to decide all the laws for the country.

Nancy Pelosi is the speaker of the house. I don't know why you are so dismissive of her expertise.

Going back from the Trump administration to the 1st year of Biden, they have been trying to look for a way to cancel student loan debt through executive order. 

4. I do not appreciate you using profanity, even in veiled form.  I hope the moderators take note of that an respond appropriately.

Since you did this sanctimonious display, I'll "take note and respond appropriately," as maybe you don't know, but I am a moderator here on DegreeForum.

Profanity isn't banned as we are adults here. However, profanity for the sake of profanity may be deleted if it seems vulgar.

People are allowed to argue their points, though keep in mind we need to treat each other with respect and not personally attack each other.

If this benefits you....congrats! Post a few happy faces.
If this does not benefit you, feel free to complain and vote accordingly in the next election.

If you're telling people to get over themselves, then shame on you. We have an extremely diverse country with an almost infinite amount of different avenues for life experiences, cultures, and priorities. I don't know the hardships someone had thinking their only option was to go into debt for a degree. I also don't know the hardships that someone who couldn't afford a degree that decided to go straight to work and found out today that part of every dollar they make will help pay for the debt of their peers..

I for one am against paying for peoples debt. I think it sets a "everyone gets a trophy" mentality moving forward. But, we have done that with banks, cities, development speculators, homeowners, private firms,  ect in the past. Today, my individual position has leaned a little more right. That's after a ton of other social issues that the right has messed up, causing me to lean left recently. The only thing that I can do is realize that our great country elected Biden into office this time around, and I will use my vote in the upcoming elections to attempt either change that or keep the current leadership in office. Online arguments without meaningful context of discussion has zero value. Discuss with facts, or vent your frustrations or show your enthusiasm and move on....

We have a diverse group of people here on DegreeForum. Therefore, we don't discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual preference, age, physical or mental disability, or veteran status.

In addition, you can vote for whoever you want, and we're not going to discriminate based on political beliefs. 

Many people are here to protect themselves from being discriminated against in the workforce for not having a degree or the right kind of degree. Unfortunately, getting these degrees is not easy. This is why we need to encourage each other.

I like to think, at least here on DegreeForum, that we are doing our part to change the world for the better through education. That supersedes a lot of petty politics.

[ashkir]

We truly won't know until the deadlines hit. Congress did approve the PPP loan forgiveness, which, forgave over double of what the student debt forgiveness will total to.

This is a murky power where nobody is entirely sure who actually holds the authority. But, one thing everyone seems to agree on: The interest rates are predatory. If they want to bring religion in should ban credit cards charging more than 10% as most major religions ban interest rates above 10% (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, etc).

Regardless. Would this $10000, when and if, it does happen help you?

[LevelUP]

I do agree with doing a 3% interest rate for student loans which is similar to the 30yr Treasury bond rate.

[bjcheung77]

I just read about the update here, seems 20 million people or so will be forgiven (entire debt wiped out), makes me wonder, how many more students are in "worse" shoes? : https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personal...r-AA11acW1

[LevelUP]

So in order for Biden's so called "plan" to work you have to: 

Ignore Trump saying this is impossible - No explanation needed. Check
Ignore Nancy Pelosi saying this is impossible - Well, that was then logic. Check
Ignore Dept. of Ed. saying this is impossible - What do they know right? Check
Ignore the written word of law saying this is impossible - Reading is "insert your excuse." Check.

Who cares, Biden already did the executive order. So now what happens? That's what we want to know.

1. This won't be resolved until after the elections. How convenient!
2. There will be a legal challenge

So this bring us to legal precedent

The Supreme Court recently struck down CDC’s eviction moratorium and the Vaccine Mandate on large employers citing that the COVID-19 pandemic national emergency isn't enough to justify the executive branch going around the legislative branch.

Now for the 3rd time, they are trying to push through student loan forgiveness using the same COVID-19 pandemic national emergency to justify the executive branch going around the legislative branch.

Wrap up

Will the "plan" work? Odds are slim but it's possible. It's not an easy process to do these legal challenges. You have to do a lot of judge shopping. Make the wrong legal argument or get the wrong judges and the legal challenges fail.

So I hate to rain in on your parade. One way or another I don't care but it will be interesting how this all plays out. Betting on this working is kind of like investing in Elon Goat Token. (Currently down 99.38%)

[Alpha]

So in order for Biden's so called "plan" to work you have to: 

Ignore Trump saying this is impossible - No explanation needed. Check
Ignore Nancy Pelosi saying this is impossible - Well, that was then logic. Check
Ignore Dept. of Ed. saying this is impossible - What do they know right? Check
Ignore the written word of law saying this is impossible - Reading is "insert your excuse." Check.

Who cares, Biden already did the executive order. So now what happens? That's what we want to know.

1. This won't be resolved until after the elections. How convenient!
2. There will be a legal challenge

So this bring us to legal precedent

The Supreme Court recently struck down CDC’s eviction moratorium and the Vaccine Mandate on large employers citing that the COVID-19 pandemic national emergency isn't enough to justify the executive branch going around the legislative branch.

Now for the 3rd time, they are trying to push through student loan forgiveness using the same COVID-19 pandemic national emergency to justify the executive branch going around the legislative branch.

Wrap up

Will the "plan" work? Odds are slim but it's possible. It's not an easy process to do these legal challenges. You have to do a lot of judge shopping. Make the wrong legal argument or get the wrong judges and the legal challenges fail.

So I hate to rain in on your parade. One way or another I don't care but it will be interesting how this all plays out. Betting on this working is kind of like investing in Elon Goat Token. (Currently down 99.38%)

When you ask the question, "will it work?" I'm not sure what you mean.  What constitutes the plan "working" in your opinion?  What evidence will you examine to determine if it worked?

[vintage_jacket]

Thanks for creating this master thread. I do think it's in the Department of Education's power to adjust many items noted in part 3 of their plan already. e.g., reduce interest rates. What I'm not sure about if the whole forgiveness piece if the loan is not part of a defense borrower case.

Politics aside, I will be keeping tabs of their press releases because this is going to be a interesting case to follow. And I'll be more interested to see if any schools decide to help students afford their school without loans or if most schools will continue to increase their tuition.

I'm thinking about signing up for the email updates, but I really don't want to end up on a list of some kind.

https://studentaid.gov/debt-relief-announcement/

[jamshid666]

Whether the executive order is legally upheld or challenged, I can guarantee one thing: a lot of spam email and robocalls will be flooding us soon with promises to get us to the front of the line when the loans are forgiven, all while harvesting our personal information. Whether you agree or disagree with Biden's decision, at least do what you can to protect yourselves from the fraudulent activities that are going to take advantage of this. Be smart: don't click links in emails - manually type in the address to the studentaid.gov website. All of the real information will come from that site.