The plan comes nearly a year after the Supreme Court ended his administration’s first attempt to relieve debt for millions who attended college.Biden speaks at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, April 3, 2024. 12:29 PM CDT April 5, 2024
Much of the specifics that Biden will discuss Monday have long been telegraphed through a negotiated rulemaking process at the , which has worked for months to hash out the new categories of borrowers. The president announced immediately after the Supreme Court decision that Education Secretary Miguel Cardona would undertake the process because he would have the power, under the Higher Education Act, to waive or compromise student loan debt in specific cases.
The plan that Biden will detail would expand federal student loan relief to new yet-targeted categories of borrowers through the Higher Education Act, which administration officials believe puts it on a stronger legal footing than the sweeping proposal that was killed by a 6-3 court majority last year. The planned announcement from Biden was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Biden's latest attempt at cancellation is expected to be smaller and more targeted than his original plan, which would have canceled up to $20,000 in loans for more than 40 million borrowers. Details of the new plan have come into focus in recent months as the Education Department brought its ideas to a panel of outside negotiators with an interest in higher education, ranging from students to loan servicers.
Borrowers who have been paying down their student loans for decades would get all remaining debt erased under the department's plan. Loans used for a borrower's undergraduate education would be canceled if they have been in repayment for at least 20 years. For other types of federal loans, it's 25 years.