On Sunday, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona stated the Biden administration would make an announcement within the next week regarding whether or not to prolong a pause on federal student loan debt.
This comes as the current limitation period on loan payments is set to expire on August 31, so there is a race against the clock to make a decision.
The Biden administration will reveal its plans for student debt relief by the end of this month, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said Sunday.https://t.co/iO1rtZQudY
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) August 21, 2022
Cardona told Chuck Todd, the host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” that the announcement would be made soon, but he refused to share any other information with the audience.
August 31st
The secretary stated they are aware many people are hoping to hear by the 31st of August.
He continued by saying they have been discussing this topic on a regular basis; Cardona believes the people of the United States will hear about it within the next week or two.
The previous week, Cardona dropped hints that a similar statement was going to be made very soon.
It is not yet known whether the administration intends to extend a freeze on payments on student loans and interest accrual or whether the Department of Education intends to proclaim a more lasting fix.
This could include nixing some debt for each borrower.
If the administration does extend the freeze, it will be the second time it has done so since the partial shutdown began.
Some Democratic senators put pressure on the administration of President Biden to forgive up to $50,000 in debt for each individual borrower.
Although the president advocated for the forgiveness of up to $10,000 in debt, there has been no formal pronouncement about the cancellation of debt.
Already, significant progress has been made by the Department of Education toward the forgiveness of student loan debt. This is now projected to total $1.7 trillion and is held by 45 million Americans.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PLSF) initiative forgives debt for those who work in government service or other qualification process jobs.
The Biden presidency has resolved $32 billion in college loan relief for over 1.6 million borrowers.
The majority of these borrowers are students who were tricked or misled by their schools. Other debtors received this relief through the PLSF initiative.
Cardona said on Sunday that the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program waived more than $10 billion in debt since the Biden administration took office.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona just cancelled $6.8 billion in student loans under Public Service Loan forgiveness.
Are public servants really worthy of these benefits, at the expense of the rest of us?
— Susan Scranton (@SusanScranton) May 16, 2022
According to what he indicated, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program was flawed. They resolved the issue in such a way that the debt forgiveness for the instructors and nurses would take effect immediately.
In the meantime, a number of Republicans have brought up ethical issues regarding White House staff members who may be in favor of debt cancellation.
They argue White House personnel would gain, as they owe a total of $4.7 million in student loans between them.
This article appeared in NewsHouse and has been published here with permission.
