Higher Ed Policy Roundup: Vol. 6 - Issue 4

Earlier this week, President Joe Biden reportedly told members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that he is still considering whether to cancel some amount of student loan debt. After that meeting, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that the President will make a decision on student debt cancellation before the end of payment pause, which currently expires on August 31. Yesterday, President Biden clarified that he is not going to cancel $50,000 in student loan debt (which some Democratic members of Congress have called for), and that he will decide “in the next couple of weeks” whether to cancel some other amount of student debt.

The federal student loan pause is saving borrowers $1.5 billion in interest each month.

A new Harvard University poll found that young people overwhelmingly want student debt relief, but less than half want it totally canceled.

The following bills have been recently introduced for consideration by the 117th Congress (2021-2022):

H.R. 7588 – State-Based Education Loan Awareness Act [Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX-17)] would eliminate deterrents and penalties that prevent universities from informing students about student loans offered by non-profit, state agency lenders, provided they actively work to make college affordable and accessible.  A companion bill, H.R. 2984, was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) last year.

S. 4904 – Stop Reckless Student Loan Actions Act [Rep. John Thune (R-SD)] would prohibit the President and Secretary of Education from authorizing full or partial cancelation of a borrower’s federal student loan debt due to the Covid-19 pandemic or any other national emergency.