Buffalo, NY (WBEN) As the Supreme Court agrees to hear arguments over the president's student loan debt forgiveness program, one college loan expert says students should keep paying down loan balances as the matter goes to the high court.
For those with $10,000 or more in student loan debt, Jeff Boron of Send Your Kids to College says keep paying it down. "I've been suggesting with the families that I work with, is make those payments as long as you are able to, because you're paying down principal at a very rapid rate, now that we're not accruing interest," says Boron. He notes the program is on pause until the Supreme Court makes a decision. For those with less than $10,000 in debt, he says sit tight. Boron notes the pause is going to be through August, which means payments will resume in September.
With the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, Boron says they've taken a very aggressive path to raising interest rates at a very short period of time to try to curb inflation. "That's going to translate translate right to student loans. So you'll see the direct student loans you would get through the government, studentaid.gov, as well as some of the private loans that are issued by the banks out there and some of the credit unions, those rates will be going up," says Boron.
Canisius College's Bob Klump says the high court will look at one factor of the program: authority. "The basic question before the court is whether the president had the authority to announce this program," explains Klump. He notes two courts have invalidated the program, as challengers believe Congress should have had the authority.
Klump says arguments will be heard in February. But when could we see a ruling? "The hardest cases tend to come down at the end of the Supreme Court's term. That is the end of June, possibly early July," notes Klump. "However, in this case, given the extreme importance of the issue, and the fact that the courts have basically put put the program on hold for the moment. It wouldn't surprise me if the court got to this rather more quickly than you would customarily."
He says the issues are complex and justices may be divided.
