Tens of millions of Americans will not get up to $20,000 in student loans canceled thanks to a Supreme Court ruling that came down on Friday. The vote was 6-3. According to Reuters, 26 million borrowers applied for relief after the Biden administration announced the plan back in August of 2022. 43 million Americans were eligible for the relief plan.
Student loan payments were put on pause during the COVID-19 pandemic and are set to continue being collected after August comes to a close. Payments will be due in October, NBC News notes.
“Today’s decision is an absolute betrayal to 40 million student loan borrowers counting on an impartial court to decide their financial future based upon the established rule of law,” Persis Yu, deputy executive director at the Student Borrower Protection Center, said, per CNBC.
According to a source that spoke with Reuters, Biden is preparing to announce a new plan for student loan borrowers in light of the Supreme Court's ruling.
Later in the day, Biden released a statement responding to the news.
"This fight is not over. I will have more to announce when I address the nation this afternoon," he wrote.
You can read the rest of Biden's statement below.
"My Administration’s student debt relief plan would have been the lifeline tens of millions of hardworking Americans needed as they try to recover from a once-in-a-century pandemic. Nearly 90 percent of the relief from our plan would have gone to borrowers making less than $75,000 a year, and none of it would have gone to people making more than $125,000. It would have been life-changing for millions of Americans and their families. And it would have been good for economic growth, both in the short- and long-term.
The hypocrisy of Republican elected officials is stunning. They had no problem with billions in pandemic-related loans to businesses – including hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of dollars for their own businesses. And those loans were forgiven. But when it came to providing relief to millions of hard-working Americans, they did everything in their power to stop it.
While today’s decision is disappointing, we should not lose sight of the progress we’ve made – making historic increases to Pell Grants; forgiving loans for teachers, firefighters, and others in public service; and creating a new debt repayment plan, so no one with an undergraduate loan has to pay more than 5 percent of their discretionary income.
I believe that the Court’s decision to strike down our student debt relief plan is wrong.
But I will stop at nothing to find other ways to deliver relief to hard-working middle-class families. My Administration will continue to work to bring the promise of higher education to every American.
And later today, I will provide more detail on all that my Administration has done to help students and the next steps my Administration will take."
