Mark Harris for BI
Millions of federal student-loan borrowers remain in a debt-relief limbo that the election won't immediately solve.
That's because President Joe Biden's latest attempt to grant broad relief is blocked in court by a lawsuit from GOP-led states. Vice President Kamala Harris has said she supports Biden's efforts, but if she wins she won't have the option to move it forward until the court reaches a decision. Former President Donald Trump has opposed forgiveness altogether and has called for abolishing the Education Department.
Despite its inability to provide broad cancellation, Biden's Education Department has issued targeted relief that has given nearly 5 million borrowers debt cancellation to date.
Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal has been working on these efforts since 2021, trying to improve a higher education system that heavily relies on student loans.
He told Business Insider that shifting to a new administration's priorities will be "a baton race." He hopes the next president continues his work of thinking beyond just relief.
"We need to make sure that we run the student loan programs in a way that protects students from being left with unaffordable debts," he said. "But we also need to invest in making those programs affordable on the front end and then making sure that those programs reliably lead to graduation and a job."
The issue has hardly been mentioned by the presidential candidates — drowned out by concerns about the economy, immigration, and taxes. It's a big turnaround from the 2020 election when candidates made ambitious campaign promises. That's likely because polling shows it's not a top issue for voters. Just 18% of respondents said student-debt relief would impact their vote in a May Bankrate survey, and a separate May survey by the AP-NORC found just three in 10 adults approved of Biden's actions on the issue.
While over 40 million Americans still hold student loan balances of about $38,000 on average, and it's keeping them from buying homes, starting a family, or saving for retirement, any future president has limited motivations — or options — for broad relief.
Despite getting stuck on broad relief, Biden's Education Department has spent the last four years making a slew of changes to relief programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness, borrower defense to repayment for defrauded borrowers, and the gainful employment rule, which ensures a borrower's debt doesn't pile up after they graduate.
The department also implemented a new income-driven repayment plan, SAVE, intended to lower monthly payments and provide a shorter timeline for forgiveness. The plan has been blocked in court since July following challenges from GOP-led states, and 8 million enrolled borrowers won't have to make payments for at least six more months as the Education Department works to reprogram its systems and adjust repayment plans for impacted borrowers.
Some borrowers have lost hope. Constance, 65, has nearly $200,000 in student debt, an amount that's ballooned since she graduated from law school in 1994. Constance — who requested to go by her first name for privacy — went through periods during which her kids' expenses took up most of her salary. She placed her student loans on deferment, meaning she didn't make payments but interest accrued.
"It's just out of control at this point, and there's no way I'm going to be able to pay it off," Constance said.
She's disappointed because she would likely qualify for Biden's second attempt at broader student-debt relief, which has been blocked in court.
Specifically, the plan would cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for borrowers whose balances have grown because of unpaid interest and provide relief for borrowers who first entered repayment at least 20 years ago.
On October 25, the Education Department unveiled a separate proposal to provide relief to borrowers experiencing long-term financial hardship that prevents them from repaying their loans, including challenges with high childcare or healthcare costs. The department expects to finalize the plan in 2025, and it did not comment on how a future administration could impact the relief.
Sara Partridge, associate director for higher education policy at the left-leaning Center for American Progress Action Fund, told BI that it's hard to predict what relief will come for student-loan borrowers as legal challenges remain ongoing.
"We will likely need to see how the current case against the Plan B rule plays out to have a better understanding of what exactly is possible in the future," Partridge said.
Kvaal said that moving forward, he wants to focus on the way the country finances higher education. He also said that borrowers should expect more action on student-loan industry regulation, pointing to the Education Department's restructuring of servicers' contracts over the past year. Those changes have enabled the department to process debt relief applications quicker and implement more safeguards for borrowers to ensure their servicers are fulfilling their contractual obligations.
Even though both Harris and Trump provided minimal detail on how they would address student debt, Partridge said it's helpful to look back on their previous actions.
"I would expect continued improvements and limited expansions of debt relief where legally possible under a Harris-Walz administration," Partridge said.
She said the Trump administration "didn't take any major steps" to fix long-standing issues, like backlogs with Public Service Loan Forgiveness and borrower defense applications. Borrowers should not expect expanded relief or reform should Trump win the election. He also lauded the Supreme Court decision striking down Biden's debt relief.
The composition of Congress will also impact what's in store for student-loan borrowers — Republican control would mean that previously introduced legislation to prevent relief could be signed into law.
"Where is the forgiveness for the guy who didn't go to college but is working to pay off the loan on the truck he takes to work? What about the woman who paid off her student loans, but is now struggling to afford her mortgage? Is the administration providing them relief? Of course not," Sen. Bill Cassidy, the top Republican on the Senate Education Committee, said in a recent statement.
Regardless of who wins the election, legal challenges to debt relief will keep borrowers in limbo. Kvaal said the fight isn't over, and the Biden administration will work to provide relief under its authority as long as it can.
"It has gone to the full extent of its authority to offer relief to borrowers," Kvaal said. "We are fighting currently in court to offer more debt relief, but we also are taking dozens of actions that are not contested in court that have helped millions of borrowers."
