Supreme Court hearings on student loan forgiveness provided several pieces of information (Photo: Nasdaq)
Since President Joe Biden announced the much-anticipated administration’s program on August 24, 2022, the road to the student loan forgiveness timeline has been long and winding. On February 28, the Supreme Court began hearing arguments concerning Biden’s student loan plan following several lawsuits and injunctions.
The first day of Supreme Court hearings on student loan forgiveness provided several pieces of information worth analyzing. It has been revealed that the Biden administration is attempting to have the cases against its plan dismissed because they lack legal standing. On the other hand, Conservative justices did not appear to be swayed by this line of reasoning.
The administration announced the plan on August 24, 2022, under which up to $10,000 in federal student debt relief may be offered to borrowers with incomes of less than $125,000 (or $250,000 for households) in 2020 or 2021. That amount increases to up to $20,000 in student loan cancellation for Pell Grant recipients. Your parents’ income determines your eligibility as a dependent student. Most federal loans are eligible.
Six Republican-led states — Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, and South Carolina — filed a lawsuit against Biden’s program on September 29, 2022, alleging that “Biden violated federal law, the constitutional principle of separation of powers, and the Administrative Procedure Act by skirting congressional authority to implement this policy.”
READ ALSO: Student Loan Forgiveness Debt Relief; Billions Will Be Erased
(Photo: Nasdaq)
On October 18, 2022, a website that showed student loan forgiveness timeline applications was launched after 8 million Americans participated in a beta test.
On October 21, 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued an injunction halting the program while it reviewed a lawsuit filed by six states.
On November 10, 2022, a federal judge in Texas ruled that the law “does not provide the executive branch with clear congressional authorization to create a $400 billion student loan forgiveness program,” according to court documents.
On November 14, 2022, a federal appeals court issued a nationwide injunction blocking President Joe Biden’s student loan debt relief program.
November 18, 2022: The administration petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn a federal appeals court’s nationwide injunction that had been imposed on President Joe Biden’s student loan debt relief program on November 14.
November 22, 2022: The administration announced on November 22 that the student loan pause, which was set to end on December 31, 2022, will be extended until the end of June 2023, as it awaits the Supreme Court’s review of its student debt relief program.
December 1, 2022: The Supreme Court announced that it would hear Biden’s student loan forgiveness program in February, a move that the administration praised; however, the program is currently paused, leaving millions of borrowers waiting for a decision.
On December 12, 2022, the Supreme Court announced that it would hear arguments in a second case involving the student debt relief program, also in February.
On December 13, 2022, letters were sent to correct erroneous student loan relief approvals.
January 5, 2023: On January 4, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an 86-page brief with the Supreme Court in response to President Joe Biden’s halted student loan forgiveness program, arguing that the Education Secretary’s “actions fall comfortably within the law” and his plan “is both reasonable and reasonably explained.”
Kris Mayes, Arizona’s new Democratic attorney general, dismissed the lawsuit on January 20, 2023.
On February 3, 2023, 128 Republicans in the House and 43 Republicans in the Senate petitioned the Supreme Court to end the student loan forgiveness program.
As of now, this is where the Student Loan Forgiveness Timeline ends.
READ ALSO: Biden Student Loan Forgiveness Plan; How Will it Slash Your Loans Into Half?
