Kamala Harris and the Future of Student Loan Forgiveness

Student loan debt has become a significant burden for millions of Americans, impacting their financial well-being and future opportunities. As political landscapes shift, the future of student loan forgiveness programs remains uncertain. This article delves into Kamala Harris's stance on student loan forgiveness, her past proposals, and what a potential Harris administration could mean for borrowers. It also examines the actions of the Biden-Harris administration to date, the challenges they face, and compares Harris's approach with that of Donald Trump.

The Biden-Harris Administration's Efforts to Date

The Biden-Harris administration has approved upwards of $170 billion in student loan forgiveness during the last four years, according to Education Department data. Despite President Joe Biden’s initial student debt relief plan getting struck down by the Supreme Court last summer, the administration has managed to implement such unprecedented relief by improving and expanding existing loan forgiveness programs.

The relief includes:

$51 billion in student loan forgiveness for more than 1 million borrowers through the IDR Account Adjustment, a temporary program designed to rectify past issues with income-driven repayment plans.
$28.7 billion in loan forgiveness for at least 1.6 million borrowers who were misled by their schools or experienced a school closing while they were enrolled.
$14.1 billion in student loan discharges for more than half a million borrowers with medical impairments.
$5.5 billion in debt relief for 414,000 borrowers through an accelerated student loan forgiveness benefit under the SAVE plan, a new IDR program designed to reduce monthly payments.

Close to five million borrowers have benefited from these initiatives, according to the department.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program Successes

In a speech to the American Federation of Teachers, Harris focused on the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. PSLF can wipe out a borrower’s federal student loan debt after 120 so-called “qualifying” payments - which, if all eligibility criteria are met, is the equivalent of 10 years. Borrowers must commit to working in public service jobs for nonprofit or government organizations, such as public schools, during that time.

Read also: The making of Kamala Harris

The PSLF program had been riddled with problems for years, however. Due to a combination of complex eligibility rules, poor loan servicing practices, and inadequate oversight by the Education Department, it was common for borrowers to make significant payments on their student loans, only to find out later that they didn’t qualify for loan forgiveness through PSLF. In some cases, borrowers wound up owing more than they originally borrowed, despite years of payments.

Prior to 2021 when President Biden took office, PSLF had an a dismal approval rate than never hovered above one or two percent. As a result of temporary waivers that relaxed key rules and new regulations that went into effect last year, the success rate for PSLF has skyrocketed. At least 946,000 borrowers have now received student loan forgiveness under the program - up from only 7,000 through the entire program’s existence from 2007 to 2020.

What a Harris Administration Could Mean for Student Loan Forgiveness

While it's difficult to predict the future with certainty, examining Harris's past statements and policy proposals provides insight into her potential approach to student loan forgiveness.

Potential Policy Directions

Harris might push to revive and expand Biden’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt. This could mean more borrowers become eligible, or the forgiveness amount increases. The current proposal to forgive up to $20,000 in unpaid interest could be broadened under Harris. If you’ve been struggling with growing interest, this could significantly reduce your balance. If you’ve been repaying for 20+ years, you might see enhanced relief. Harris has supported measures to aid those who’ve been in repayment for extended periods. Income-driven repayment plans could become simpler and more accessible. This might mean lower monthly payments and clearer paths to eventual forgiveness for you.

Based on her past proposals, Harris might introduce forgiveness programs targeting specific groups. This could include entrepreneurs in underserved communities, graduates in public service roles, or professionals in high-need fields like healthcare or education. Harris has backed making public colleges tuition-free for families earning up to $125,000 annually. While this won’t affect your current loans, it could help prevent future debt if you’re considering additional education.

Read also: The Education of Kamala Harris

Focus on Targeted Relief and Streamlining Existing Programs

Experts suggest that a Harris administration would likely continue many of the policies of the Biden administration, with a potential focus on targeted relief and streamlining existing programs. Aissa Canchola Bañez, policy director at the Student Borrower Protection Center, believes a Harris administration would fight to keep the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) program in the courts.

Additionally, Dimino wrote that higher education accountability could be a key part of a Harris administration, specifically in terms of borrower defense and school discharges, due to her experience as an attorney general. She could use everything in the president's arsenal to continue to deliver relief for students that have been defrauded or harmed by their institutions.

Past Proposals and Legislative Support

Prior to joining the Biden administration, Harris was a candidate for the 2020 presidential election. Harris also co-sponsored Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) College for All Act and endorsed Sen. Brian Schatz's (D-Hawaii) "debt-free" college bill. Additionally, during the 2020 presidential race, Harris released several higher education-related proposals, including a plan to reduce student loan debt.

Under the plan, Pell Grant recipients with student loans who start a business that operates for three years in disadvantaged communities would have up to $20,000 of their debt forgiven. She cites statistics that show how black Americans are disproportionately burdened by student loans (roughly 40 percent of black Americans between 25 and 55 years old have student debt, as opposed to around 30 percent of whites and Latinos) and difficulties getting the loans they need to succeed as entrepreneurs. Harris wants to work with Congress to create a $12 billion capital grant and technical support program to distribute funds to help minority small business owners launch their ventures. She also wants to streamline the federal contracting process for minority-owned small businesses, particularly in communities facing persistent poverty. In addition, she intends to reinstate tools at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau designed to identify and prosecute acts of discrimination against minority entrepreneurs.

Kamala Harris co-sponsored the What You Can Do For Your Country Act, which overhauls the public service loan forgiveness program. The legislation expands public service loan forgiveness to include FFELP loans in addition to Direct Loans, and all repayment plans.

Kamala Harris supports free tuition at community colleges. The College for All Act eliminates tuition and required fees at community colleges for all students and at public 4-year colleges for Federal Pell Grant recipients and students with family income under $125,000. The America’s College Promise Act waives tuition and fees at community colleges and for the first 60 credits for low-income students at HBCUs and MSIs that enroll at least 35% low-income students.

Kamala Harris has also introduced her own college affordability legislation. Interest rates on new undergraduate student loans would be pegged to the 91-day T-bill plus 1.09% and capped at 5%. When she was California Attorney General, Kamala Harris signed a letter along with 20 other state attorneys general calling on Congress to modify the 90/10 rule to count military student aid alongside Title IV federal student aid.

Kamala Harris supports the College for All Act, which would triple Federal Work-Study (FWS) program funding and change the allocation formula. Kamala Harris has been a strong supporter of increased funding for HBCUs. She has proposed $60 billion in STEM funding for HBCUs, including $50 billion to fund scholarships, fellowships and research grants.

Challenges and Opposition

Harris warned that Public Service Loan Forgiveness and other federal student debt relief initiatives are in danger due to Republican opposition. And a Trump presidency could roll back or even repeal these programs. Republican-led lawsuits are already threatening student loan forgiveness and repayment plans.

Last week, in response to one of several legal challenges recently brought by Republican-led states and supported by conservative-leaning groups, a federal appeals court issued a temporary order blocking President Biden’s new SAVE plan. SAVE lowers payments and provides pathways to eventual student loan forgiveness. At least eight million borrowers have enrolled. The states, led by Kansas and Missouri, have argued that President Biden exceeded Congressional authority by enacting such generous repayment terms for borrowers. The administration counters that Congress created broad authority for IDR plans over 30 years ago, and left it to the Education Department to set rules for these programs within the limits set by statute.

As a result of the recent court order, the Education Department has placed millions of borrowers into an administrative forbearance. The forbearance will suspend payments and interest, but will not count toward student loan forgiveness for IDR or PSLF. Student loan forgiveness is in legal limbo as facets of the Biden Administration’s broader student loan forgiveness has been stifled by numerous lawsuits. While the judiciary wields 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 elects as its next President.

Comparing Approaches: Harris vs. Trump

Neither Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump have laid out clear policy plans regarding their stance on student loans. However, examining their past statements and actions provides some insight.

Kamala Harris

On Thursday, Harris released a statement saying she was “proud” of the billions of student loan debt relief delivered in the last four years, the greatest forgiveness 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.

Donald Trump

Trump has previously spoken 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. In a June rally in Wisconsin, Trump called Biden’s broader loan debt relief plan “vile,” and ongoing lawsuits trying to stop Biden’s student loan relief programs were all brought forward by Republican-led states.

The Trump Administration delivered several barriers to student loan debt forgiveness. Then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos rewrote the Borrower Defense to Repayment, which discharges federal student loans if a school misled a student or “engaged in other misconduct in violation of certain state laws.” That revision only allowed borrowers to have three cents of every dollar they spent on their higher education forgiven, despite their college or university’s illegal activity. (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 did not receive debt cancellation even though they were already entitled to relief. And some Massachusetts borrowers who were in the process of seeking student loan relief had their tax refunds wrongfully seized, according to NBC News.

Trump has said that he has “nothing to do with Project 2025,” but the 900-page text was put forth as a blueprint for the next Republican president, and includes policies like shutting down the Department of Education, denying loan access to noncitizens or those that are not permanent residents, reviewing Biden’s changes to income-driven repayment plans, which deliver more affordable student loan repayment programs for borrowers, and more.

The Broader Political Context

Student loan cancellation was once viewed as a reliable way to energize young voters, but it is now seen as a political liability as Biden’s attempts at widespread cancellation have faced repeated legal challenges from Republican opponents. The Biden administration moved ahead with a third attempt at broad student loan cancellation last week, focused on helping Americans who face medical bills, child care costs and other types of financial hardship that prevent them from repaying their loans.

PSLF And Other Student Loan Forgiveness Programs Could Be At RiskHarris warned that conservative plans to repeal student loan forgiveness programs, including PSLF, could get implemented if former President Trump returns to office. She pointed to Project 2025, a vast conservative policy proposal to revamp the federal government. Project 2025 calls for undoing several loan forgiveness plans, including popular initiatives like PSLF that were enacted on a bipartisan basis long before President Biden took office.

“The new Administration must end the prior Administration’s abuse of the agency’s payment pause and HEA loan forgiveness programs, including borrower defense to repayment, closed school discharge, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness,” reads the proposal. It also calls for an end to “interest rate subsidies or loan forgiveness” for IDR plans, which it says “ essentially converts these student loans into delayed grant programs.”

“Congress should set policy-not Presidents through pen-and-phone executive orders, and not agencies through regulations and guidance,” said the proposal. “Bolstered by an ever-growing cabal of special interests that thrive on federal largesse, the infrastructure that supports America’s costly federal intervention in education from early childhood through graduate school has entrenched itself. But, unlike the public sector bureaucracies, public employee unions, and the higher education lobby, families and students do not need a Department of Education to learn, grow, and improve their lives. It is critical that the next Administration tackle this entrenched infrastructure.”

The Trump campaign has tried to distance itself from the initiative. But Trump himself has railed against the Biden-Harris student loan forgiveness initiatives at recent rallies, calling them “vile.”

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