Dem
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GOP
49
Joe Biden wanted to cancel some student loan debt for tens of millions of students but the Supreme Court shot him down, ruling that only Congress can do that. Nevertheless, Biden is using some existing laws to cancel some student debt for some former students. Yesterday, another 153,000 people received an e-mail telling them that their debt has been canceled. The e-mail contains a note from Biden reminding them who canceled their debt.
These former students are not the only ones to have (part of) their debt canceled by Biden. So far, using a repayment plan called SAVE (SAving on a Valuable Education), he has canceled $138 billion in student debt for 3.9 million borrowers, most of whom are also voters. The people who get relief must have borrowed less than $12,000 and made payments for at least 10 years. Many of the people whose debt was canceled fall into some specific category for which the president has the explicit power to cancel their debt. These include public-service workers, people defrauded by for-profit colleges, and people who have been repaying for at least 20 years. Not all 27 million borrowers will get relief by a longshot, but 3.9 million is still a lot of voters. Biden is planning to encourage all qualifying former students to enroll in various federal programs that would allow them to get (some) relief. Many people who qualify don't know about these programs and Biden hopes that informing them will increase enrollment. (V)