ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Millions of Americans are wondering if their student loan debt will be eliminated or reduced as they wait for the final decision on the Student Loan Debt Relief plan.
The plan itself is set to forgive between $10,000 and $20,000 depending on what the borrower might qualify for, and this basis is made on income.
This plan has brought up a lot of debate and legal challenges all the way to the high court.
President Biden used the Covid pandemic as a way to forgive thousands of dollars in student loan debt for millions of Americans, but some states have sued to claim he doesn’t have the authority to do that.
Leslie Silva, a partner with Tully Rinckey, reminds us that although President Biden’s name is attached to this plan, it is not up to him to decide.
“It’s really the secretary of the department of education. The secretary has certain enumerated powers within federal law to negotiate the debt of the department. the main issue here is that though these are not the main powers he’s invoking specifically, they’re using something called the heroes act and they’re trying to directly relate this cancellation of forgiveness to the pandemic and that is where we see the justices really question the department of education’s secretary’s ability to do that, ” she says.
This plan applies to any loan in existence, regardless if you have completed your degree or not. As many as 43 million Americans could see some or all of their student loans forgiven if the court allows the program to continue.
