The final round of student loan forgiveness negotiations is held on Monday and Tuesday. This comes after President Joe Biden’s attempt at student debt relief was struck down in June. As a response, the administration used the Higher Education Act of 1965. This lengthy process includes several negotiation rounds and could take up to a year to complete.
“This rule-making process is about standing up for borrowers who’ve been failed by the country’s broken student loan system and creating new regulations that will reduce the burden of student debt in this country,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona previously said, according to Insider.
According to the news outlet, the Education Department highlighted five groups of borrowers it wants to target for relief. This could affect millions of borrowers.
It includes borrowers on income-driven repayment plans with balances more significant than what they originally borrowed and borrowers with balances greater than what they originally borrowed. It also includes borrowers whose loans entered repayment at least 20 years ago, borrowers who went to schools that left them with too much debt compared to their post-grad earnings — and finally — borrowers eligible for relief under income-driven repayment plans or other targeted programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness but have not applied.
After this round of negotiations concludes, the committee will decide if a consensus has been reached. According to Insider, every committee member must agree with each provision of the text. The public can then comment on the text, and changes can be made to the draft.
