AccessLex
Higher Ed Policy Roundup: Vol. 6 - Issue 10
This Week in Washington
This Week in Washington
On Monday, the WSJ reported that the Biden-Harris Administration will not announce plans for student loan forgiveness until sometime in July or August. Recall that it was reported that though President Biden plans to cancel $10,000 of federal student loan debt for borrowers earning less than $150,000 (or $300,000 for married couples filing jointly), there was no word from the White House on when a final decision or announcement would be made.
On Friday, the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) announced that the servicer of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program will switch from FedLoan Servicing to MOHELA. FedLoan Servicing had announced in early 2020 that it would no longer service federal student loans when its contract expired. The contract was subsequently extended for an additional year and the current contract is set to expire in December 2022. FSA plans to begin the transition in the summer through the fall.
News You Can Use
Some lawyers are panning the Biden-Harris Administration’s potential $10,000 student debt forgiveness plan. The Reuters article features quotes from AccessLex President and CEO Christopher P. Chapman on how to achieve long-term and more equitable affordability.
The ‘riskiest’ federal student loans have been left out of the debt forgiveness debate.
Recent Legislation
The following bills have been recently introduced for consideration by the 117th Congress (2021-2022):
H.R. 7982 – Parents PLUS Loan Fairness and Responsibility Act [Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL-11)] would allow student borrowers to take over certain education debt that was incurred on their behalf.
H.R. 7964 – Student Transparency for Understanding Decisions in Education Net Terms (STUDENT) Act [Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA-4)] would provide student borrowers with an estimate of the total amount of interest they would pay on their debt during or before an applicant takes out a loan.
H.R. 7980 – [Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA-4)] would provide for deferment on the repayment of student loans for borrowers who are victims of sexual violence.