What a Trump or Harris victory could mean for student loans

Student loan forgiveness is in a legal no man’s land as facets of the Biden administration’s broader student loan forgiveness have been suppressed 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 forgiveness could be handled very differently depending on who the country chooses as its next president.

There remains significant uncertainty about the path forward in a Republican or Democratic administration. Neither Vice President Kamala Harris nor former President Donald Trump have laid out clear policy plans regarding their position on student loans. But experts say a lot can be gleaned from each candidate’s actions over the past eight years.

Harris has touted the Biden administration’s pledge on student loan forgiveness on her campaign website and pledged to work to address the “undue burden of student loan debt.” Despite several roadblocks to student loan forgiveness, the Biden administration has been able to provide more than $175 billion in student loan forgiveness to nearly 5 million Americans, according to a Thursday Department of Education news release. The Harris campaign declined to comment further on its plans.

Read more: Biden can make progress on student loan forgiveness. What happens next

Former President Trump did not post student loan information on his campaign website, and Trump’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment. His comments about Biden’s plans and some of his actions during his presidency indicate that student loan forgiveness could be reversed if he wins a second term.

Here’s what you need to know about what a Harris or Trump presidency could mean for student loan forgiveness.

What Kamala Harris said about student loans

On Thursday, Harris released a statement saying she was “proud” of the billions in student loan debt relief achieved over the past four years, the largest forgiveness of any administration. “I will continue our work to lower costs, make higher education more affordable and ease the burden of student debt. I am fully committed to doing whatever it takes to build an economy that works for every American,” said Harris.

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 to Americans, including a plan to recruit 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.)

Aissa Canchola Bañez, policy director at the Student Borrower Protection Center, says she believes a Harris administration would fight over the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) program, parts of which are on pause due to a federal court order , in the courts. . And she believes Harris would continue to work on the broader student loan debt relief that Biden promised. “It is so easy for people to forget that the Biden-Harris administration is still working on their Plan B proposal for student loan debt relief, which is being done under the Higher Education Act, and is currently going through all the administrative procedures required under the law. law,” Canchola Bañez said. “I would like to emphasize that the battle for debt relief is still ongoing and proposals are currently being developed.”

What Donald Trump has said about student loans

Trump has previously spoken out in favor of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Biden’s broader relief, which would have forgiven up to $20,000 in debt for some borrowers. “The U.S. Supreme Court has awarded huge victories to the American people – stopping Joe Biden’s unconstitutional student loan gimmick, restoring fairness to the college admissions process, and applying the strongest safeguards in a generation to the right to First Amendment,” the Trump campaign said of the Supreme Court ruling in a July 2023 press release. “One thing is clear: these victories were only made possible by President Trump’s strong appointment of three distinguished and courageous jurists to the Supreme Court. ”

At a June rally in Wisconsin, Trump called Biden’s broader loan debt relief plan “despicable,” and ongoing lawsuits seeking to halt Biden’s student loan relief programs were all brought forward by Republican-led states.

Read more: Why Higher Education is afraid of a second Trump term

Congress introduced a pause on student loan payments during the pandemic under the Trump administration, which was extended at least once. But the Trump administration has put up several barriers to student loan forgiveness. Then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos rewrote the Borrower Defense to Repayment, which forgives federal student loans if a school has defrauded a student or “engaged in other misconduct in violation of certain state laws.” That revision only allowed borrowers to forgive three cents on every dollar they spent on their higher education, despite their college or university’s illegal activities. (President Joe Biden reversed that policy in 2021.)

Under the Trump administration, 99% of applicants were denied Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). Tens of thousands of borrowers have not received debt relief, even though they were already entitled to relief. And some Massachusetts borrowers seeking relief from their student loans had their tax refunds wrongfully garnished, according to NBC News.

Trump has said he has “nothing to do with Project 2025,” but the 900-page text was put forward as a blueprint for the next Republican president and includes policies such as closing the Department of Education, denying loans to citizens or those who are not permanent residents, reviewing Biden’s changes to income-driven repayment plans, which provide more affordable student loan repayment programs for borrowers, and more.

“Under the Trump administration, I think borrowers are especially at risk,” Canchola Bañez said. “It is highly unlikely that the Trump administration will even want to continue to defend these programs in court, and I think they would get to work tearing down the systems and programs that the Biden-Harris administration worked so hard to worked to improve this. ”