Today the Supreme Court of the United States made an anxiously anticipated ruling on what was known as one of the biggest presidential student debt relief programs in history.
If approved it would have forgiven up to $20,000 dollars in loan account balances for more than 28 million families of borrowers across the country. However, there was only one problem.
The much-promised plan which would have effectively erased upwards of $400 billion dollars in debt not including interest payments to financial institutions and student loan investors went against the constitution of the very country of the students who were indebted.
"We hold today that the Act allows the Secretary to "waive or modify" existing statutory or regulatory provisions applicable to financial assistance programs under the Education Act, not to rewrite that statute from the ground up."- John G. Roberts Jr, Honorable Supreme Court Justice of the United States
As referenced in a landslide vote of 6 to 3, the Supreme Court Justices slaughtered the administration's attempts to use executive powers with were deemed illegal as the plan was to use emergency powers tied to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has also ended in recent months.
"President Biden's loan scheme does not forgive debt but unfairly transfers the burden from those who willingly took out loans onto those who "already fulfilled their commitment to pay off their loans."- Senator Bill Cassidy, Louisiana
Records show that at least 4 in 10 adults who pursued a college education went into debt for a portion of those years, however at least 22% have repaid their total student loan debt. In addition, a report by the Cato Institute reveals that 76% of Americans are against debt cancellation due to factors such as increased future tuition costs, taxes, and other debt burdens.
In addition to being required to repay their federal debt obligations in full, with exceptions for those who were defrauded by higher education institutions, the possibility of paying back millions in student loan refunds has been brought to the surface.
Bringing to head an economic issue that has been in the spotlight over the past nine months, the decision puts a lid on the case just months ahead of the multi-year payment pause ending.
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