Some experts are already expecting the plan won’t survive deliberations by the court’s conservative-majority justices — and Republicans appear to see a potential opening for alternative action on student loans.
A package rolled out by Senate Republicans earlier this week featured a handful of bills to tackle how colleges give students information before they attend and enact changes to federal student loan options.
House Republicans also introduced a plan that would allow borrowers who already paid off the original principal and interest amount on their student loans to receive debt relief.
“Our federal higher education financing system contributes more to the problem than the solution. Colleges and universities using the availability of federal loans to increase their tuitions have left too many students drowning in debt without a path for success,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who’s helping lead the effort in the upper chamber.
Cassidy argued the plan would “downward pressure on tuition and empowers students to make the educational decisions that put them on track to academically and financially succeed.”
However, some advocates have been quick to disagree.
“None of this addresses the root problem,” the Student Debt Collective said in response to the legislation. “We don’t have an ‘information’ crisis. We have a student debt crisis. These bills will guarantee the crisis only gets worse for future generations. This is doubling down on debt-for-education.”
The push comes as Republicans have mobilized against a sweeping plan announced by the Biden administration last year to provide up to $20,000 in student loan forgiveness to some borrowers.
Earlier this month, Biden also vetoed a GOP-led legislative effort to overturn the plan as the administration awaits the decision from the Supreme Court.
The Hill’s Lexi Lonas has the details here.
