A FAFSA sign posted outside of the Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, Ore. on October 18, 2021. Many University of Oregon students use financial aid resources (Isaac Wasserman/ Daily Emerald)
In a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court ruled against the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan Friday morning.
The decision comes as a blow to tens of millions of Americans who fight to forgive costly federal student loan debts across the nation’s universities. If passed, the program would have reduced individual Americans’ student debt by up to $20,000 on average.
When asked if the university will comment on the decision, University of Oregon spokesperson Kay Jarvis said “we are not doing interviews at this time.”
During his 2020 campaign, Biden affirmed his ability to tackle student loan debt on the basis of the 1965 Higher Education Act, which allows the Secretary of Education to “cancel or reduce loans” under “certain circumstances”.
The Biden-Harris Administration perceived the “financial harms” of the COVID-19 pandemic to be a plausible cause for a one-time student debt relief program.
In the Biden v. Nebraska case document, the court cited the loan forgiveness plan to be overly ambitious under the 2003 Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act. The act authorizes the Secretary to “waive or modify” specific profits “applicable to financial assistance programs”.
The court asserted that the HEROES Act cannot extend to “canceling $430 billion of student loan principal”, roughly the amount of debt expected to be reduced.
On its financial aid website, the UO highlights that when a student leaves school “whether by graduating or by ceasing to enroll at least half time in an eligible program”, students must know that a six-month grace period before making loan payments begins.
After student loan repayments have been paused since the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans are now expected to pay student loan interest accrual in the fall.
Out of the 17,164 full-time undergraduate students at the university in 2022-2023, 42% of students borrowed from “any loan”, such as subsidized and unsubsidized loans. The average loan amount was $24,823.
A day before striking down Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, the Supreme Court ruled against affirmative action processes at U.S. colleges.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
