The Student Loan Debt Forgiveness Plan is being put on hold, and there is a possibility of it being canceled altogether. 

Since late summer, you may have heard about President Biden’s program to forgive up to $10,000 for public loans for borrowers earning less than $125,000 or households incomes of less than $250,000 annually (with an additional $10,000 for PELL Grant Recipients.) 

You or someone you know may be one of the millions of borrowers who have already applied to the program. You may have even felt energized to vote in the midterms last week because of news of this program.

Despite that Democrats did not campaign directly to young voters in these midterms, Gen Z and other young voters turned out to help the party quash Republican dreams of a red tsunami. Young voters did not turn out as much as they did in 2018, but we would not have had the final results we have seen without the youth vote.

For a few weeks this fall, the administration successfully launched their website for applicants to apply to have part of their student loan debt canceled, receiving about 26 million applications with 16 million approved for debt relief, according to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

However, in the same week voters helped Democrats keep the Senate and severely limited Republican’s control of the House to just a few seats, the U.S District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division blocked the program saying it was “unlawful.”

When one goes to the government’s official website for the Student Loan Debt Relief program now, it has been updated to reflect the block by the 8th Circuit Court ruling.

“Courts have issued orders blocking our student debt relief program. As a result, at this time, we are not accepting applications. We are seeking to overturn those orders. If you’ve already applied, we’ll hold your application. Subscribe and check back here for updates. We will post information as soon as further updates are available,” the website update says.

U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman argued that the President does not have the authority to authorize such a program but that power lies with Congress.

Given that the administration based the program on the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (or HEROS) Act of 2003 on the grounds it was a necessary emergency measure due to the pandemic to help borrowers, few have publicly warned that doping so put the program in severe jeopardy.

Some argue that a better approach would have been to base the program on the Higher Education Act of 1965 which is more flexible in allowing for such programs and are not limited in how long they can operate unlike the temporary emergency powers the HEROS Act provides.

Just as emotions were beginning to simmer from a weekend of angst, fury, and sadness expressed online, another court took a swing against the program. This time from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis. Special interest groups, like the Job Creators Network, helped Republican-led states find qualifying individuals with standing to file these lawsuits, with the ultimate goal to take the cases to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

As surprising as all of this news may be for some, anyone who knows or has looked into President Biden’s history while serving in Congress are not shocked to learn about these judicial blocks.

While serving in the Senate, Biden was a key advocate for the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, making it impossible for student debt holders to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

While campaigning in 2020, Biden promised to cancel up to $50,000 in all public student loan debt. After heavy advocacy to keep this promise, he compromised by offering up to $10,000 with means-tested and not for all borrowers.

While still having control of both the Senate and House, Biden could campaign to bypass these court rulings and have Congress pass this program meeting the bare minimum of his promise during the lame duck session before the next year.

In the background of all of this, and at the forefront of many students’ minds, is that federal student loan repayments are currently still scheduled to restart Jan. 1, 2023, having had a hiatus the past nearly three years due to the COVID19 pandemic. 

The administration is already facing fierce outcries to extend the repayment forbearance for borrowers to have more time to save to repay their loans now that they indeed have to pay back the original amounts and not the reduced amounts as promised to both on the campaign trail by Biden in 2020 and this year with this program. 

Because of all this, make sure your loan information is up to date in the event repayment does start.