Student loan forgiveness is in a legal limbo as aspects of the Biden administration’s broader student loan forgiveness have been stifled by numerous lawsuits. While the judiciary has significant power over the future of student loan debt relief, voters will soon have influence at the ballot box: Student loan relief could be treated very differently depending on who the country elects as its next president.
There remains a great deal of uncertainty about the path forward, whether under a Republican or Democratic administration. Neither Vice President Kamala Harris nor former President Donald Trump have made clear policy plans regarding their stance on student loans. But experts say a lot can be learned from each candidate’s actions in the past eight years.
Harris has touted the Biden administration’s delivery on student loan forgiveness, promising to act on the “unreasonable burden of student loan debt” on her campaign website. Despite numerous barriers to student loan forgiveness, the Biden administration was able to provide more than $175 billion in student loan forgiveness to nearly 5 million Americans, according to a Department of Education press release issued Thursday. The Harris campaign declined to comment further on its plans.
Read more: Biden could move forward with student loan forgiveness. What happens next
Former President Trump did not include information about student loans on his campaign website, and the Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment. His comments about Biden’s plans and some of his actions during his presidency suggest that student loan forgiveness could be rolled back if he wins a second term.
Here’s what to know about what a Harris or Trump presidency might mean for student loan forgiveness.
What Kamala Harris said about student loans
Harris on Thursday issued a statement saying she was “proud” of the billions in student loan debt relief provided in the past four years, the largest relief of any administration. “I will continue our work to lower costs, make higher education more affordable, and relieve the burden of student debt. I am fully committed to doing what is necessary to build an economy that works for every American,” Harris said.
Read more: Student loan payments will resume this fall. Here’s what to do if you can’t pay
Harris also recently announced a proposal to make health care more affordable and accessible for Americans, including a plan to hire 10,000 health care workers through incentives such as student loan repayment programs. (The Harris campaign did not comment on questions about the details of this plan.)
Issa Canchola Banez, policy director at the Student Borrower Protection Center, says she believes the Harris administration will fight to keep the Savings for a Valuable Education (SAVE) program, parts of which have been paused due to a federal court injunction, in the courts. She believes Harris will continue working on the broader student loan debt relief that Biden promised. “It is very easy for people to forget that the Biden-Harris administration is still working on its Plan B student loan debt relief proposal, which is implemented under the Higher Education Act, and is currently going through all the administrative processes required under the Higher Education Act.” Canchola Banez said. “I would like to stress that the fight for debt relief continues, and the proposals are now being implemented.”
What Donald Trump said about student loans
Trump previously spoke in favor of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Biden’s broader forgiveness, which would have forgiven up to $20,000 in debt for some borrowers. “The US Supreme Court has issued massive victories for the American people – stopping Joe Biden’s unconstitutional student loan scam, restoring fairness in the college admissions process, and enforcing the strongest guarantees of First Amendment rights in a generation,” the Trump campaign said. Supreme Court decision in a July 2023 press release. “One thing is clear: these victories were only made possible by President Trump’s strong nomination of three distinguished and courageous jurists to the Supreme Court.”
At a rally in Wisconsin in June, Trump called Biden’s broader loan debt relief plan “despicable,” and all of the ongoing lawsuits trying to stop Biden’s student loan relief programs have been filed by Republican-led states.
Read more: Why higher education fears a second Trump term
Congress passed a student loan moratorium during the pandemic under the Trump administration, which has been extended at least once. But the Trump administration has placed several obstacles to student loan debt forgiveness. Then-Education Secretary Betsy DeVos rewrote the borrower’s defense to repayment, which forgives federal student loans if a school misleads a student or “engages in other misconduct in violation of certain state laws.” This amendment only allowed borrowers to forgive three cents of every dollar they spent on their higher education, despite illegal activity by their college or university. (President Joe Biden reversed this policy in 2021.)
Under the Trump administration, 99% of Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) applicants have been denied. Tens of thousands of borrowers did not receive debt cancellation even though they were actually entitled to relief. And some Massachusetts borrowers who were going to get student loan forgiveness had their tax refunds illegally seized, according to NBC News.
Trump said it had “nothing to do with the 2025 project,” but the 900-page text was pitched as a blueprint for the next Republican president, and includes policies such as closing the Department of Education, denying loans to noncitizens who are not permanent residents, and reviewing changes Biden made to… Income-driven repayment plans, which offer affordable student loan repayment programs to borrowers, and more.
“Under the Trump administration, I think borrowers are particularly vulnerable,” Canchola Banez says. “The Trump administration is unlikely to want to continue defending these programs in court, and I believe they will work to roll back the systems and programs that the Biden-Harris administration has worked so hard to improve.”
