Yahoo Finance What Would a Biden Win in 2024 Mean for Student Loan Debt?
President Joe Biden has been fighting for student loan debt forgiveness over the past few years of his term. In 2023, the Supreme Court rejected his initial plan to wipe student loan debt totaling $400 billion for borrowers.
Recently, President Biden has been working on another plan, which would forgive student loans for some with older loans, high amounts of interest or those experiencing financial hardship.
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Older loan forgiveness pertains to those who have been paying off the loan between 20 and 25 years, depending on the type of loan. Those with high amounts of interest would potentially be eligible for forgiveness of $10,000-$20,000 of their loan total. Hardship would include those who are most likely to default on their loans based on repayment history and current income. That plan is still in talks and has not been passed as of yet.
Even with the rejection by the Supreme Court, President Biden has still managed to significantly lower or eliminate the burden of student debt for some. While he’s been president, more than 3.7 million student loan borrowers have had more than $136 million worth of debt forgiven due to executive actions.
If President Biden wins reelection this November, will this momentum continue? GOBankingRates reached out to experts on the topic. Here’s what they had to say about the future of student loan forgiveness.
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Democrats Need To Control the House of Representatives
As it stands, the House has a Republican majority, with 219 representatives. Democrats have 212 representatives. Jacob Channel, the U.S. housing and student loan repayment expert at LendingTree, said that, no matter what action President Biden takes toward relieving student loan debt, Democrats need to retake control of the House for him to be successful.
“Given Congress’ current makeup, any bills designed to implement broad student loan forgiveness would almost certainly be dead on arrival,” Channel said. “It’s for this reason that we shouldn’t expect any direct legislation on student loans anytime soon.”
Channel added that part of President Biden’s campaign for reelection might incorporate his plans to forgive some student loans. “There’s no guarantee, but, given that he’s attempted to offer broad student loan forgiveness in the past, and because the issue remains very relevant for millions of Americans, it could make sense for Biden to more frequently and publicly reaffirm his commitment to getting student loan borrowers relief.”
Because Biden has already done work to provide relief for those with student loans, Channel thought it would make sense that he’d continue to trend in that direction and that more people will receive assistance. “As even more people take advantage of forgiveness offered through new and modified income driven repayment and public student loan forgiveness programs, the numbers will likely rise.”
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Politicians’ View of Biden Could Change How Policy Gets Made
Kathleen Boyd is a student loan advisor at Student Loan Planner. Boyd said that even if Biden wins reelection, what his colleagues think of him might play into changes in student loan policy.
“If President Biden is re-elected to a second and final term, there’s always the risk that he could be viewed as a lame duck,” Boyd said. From there, Boyd said that his actions could turn drastic in order to prove he’s not a lame duck. “We could see one of two extremes: he does nothing for student loan policy because he doesn’t have to, or his administration goes all out and pushes the most progressive student loan agenda we’ve ever seen.”
Boyd felt that Biden will ultimately split the difference between the two extremes and continue to work with the Department of Education to get more forgiveness passed.
Who Has Experienced Debt Relief?
If you’re wondering who has already had some or all of their student debt forgiven, here’s a breakdown.
Those who have qualified for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program — typically government workers and those working for nonprofits — have had $56.7 billion worth of loans forgiven.
Others who have experienced forgiveness are those paying on an income-driven repayment program. That makes up $45.7 billion in loan forgiveness.
Borrowers who took out less than $12,000 on a Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) loan and have been paying it back for at least 10 years also qualified for loan forgiveness.
Those with disabilities have also qualified for about $22.5 billion worth of loan forgiveness all together. In addition, students who went to schools with marketing defined as deceptive have also seen loan forgiveness.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: What Would a Biden Win in 2024 Mean for Student Loan Debt?
