The Biden administration is expected to ask the Supreme Court to reinstate the original plans to cancel student debt, after it was put on pause by a lower court. The legal wrangling has provided for plenty of disappointment at the University of Minnesota.
The president's debt relief plan would've seen up to $20,000 dollars cancelled for American’s student loans.
Carter Yost, a student at the University of Minnesota and the director of legislative affairs for the college's student government says it has left many students emotional.
“I think just a deep sense of frustration and exhaustion,” Yost says about his fellow students.
Yost says it’s left many in the student body uneasy about their futures.
“But it’s also really only one piece of the affordability puzzle,” explains Yost.
With the relief plan in doubt, the University's student government has urged the Biden administration to extend the pause on student loan payments and pushed the state legislature and government to allocate more funding for scholarships.
The Biden administration does plan to ask the Supreme Court to reinstate the president’s student debt cancellation plan, according to a Thursday legal filing warning that Americans will face financial strain if the plan remains stalled in court when loan payments are scheduled to restart in January.
The White House has said it will prevail, but even some supporters of the plan worry about its chances before a conservative Supreme Court that has scaled back Biden’s authority in other ways, including in a June decision curbing the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to limit power plant emissions.
Students are also asking the University to consider tuition freezes while the courts work through the federal forgiveness plan.
“Which is a Band-Aid solution,” Yost says. “But a Band-Aid is better than an open wound.”
While the application for relief has been taken down from the Federal Student Aid website, applications that have already been filed are on hold while the appeal works its way through the courts.
“Courts have issued orders blocking our student debt relief program,” the Education Department said on its site. “As a result, at this time, we are not accepting applications. We are seeking to overturn those orders.”
A federal judge in Texas ruled that the plan overstepped the White House’s authority. Before that, a federal appeals court in St. Louis put the plan on temporary hold while it considers a challenge from six Republican-led states.
Most people with student loan debt have not been required to make payments during the coronavirus pandemic, but payments are set to resume, along with the accrual of interest, in January.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Related
Related
