The U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan on Friday. The plan was an attempt to cancel $430 billion in student loan debt, which would have benefitted up to 43 million Americans, per Reuters.
In a 6-3 decision, the conservative leaning Justices objected the policy. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the ruling with the court's five other conservative members. The court's three liberals dissented.
“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,” Biden said in a statement.
“This fight is not over,” President Joe Biden said after the student loan forgiveness ruling on Friday.
Twenty-six million U.S. loan borrowers applied for relief between when Biden announced the plan in August 2022. Then, last November, lower courts blocked the plan.
“The secretary's plan has ‘modified' the cited provisions only in the same sense that the French Revolution ‘modified' the status of the French nobility – it has abolished them and supplanted them with a new regime entirely,” Supreme Court Justice Roberts wrote. “From a few narrowly delineated situations specified by Congress, the secretary has expanded forgiveness to nearly every borrower in the country.”
For borrowers, CNN explained possible next steps. New rules set for July broaden eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The program introduced a new income-driven repayment plan proposal, which will lower eligible borrowers’ monthly payments and reduce the amount they pay back over time.
The Department of Education also made it easier for borrowers misled by their for-profit college to apply for student loan forgiveness under a program known as borrower defense to repayment, as well as for those who are permanently disabled.
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