When Joe Biden assumed office in Jan. 2021, one of the policies people were most excited about was his student loan forgiveness plan. As of Sept. 2024, little progress has been made. Some individuals have had student loans forgiven, but President Biden’s overall plan has been a failure.
The administration’s goal was to forgive undergraduate federal student debt from public colleges and universities for debt-holders earning up to $125,000, according to an article written by President Biden on Medium. The program was both overly ambitious and has been picked apart and blocked by courts, judges and pre-existing legislation
While Biden has been able to administer some loan forgiveness to select individuals, most were left with a bitter taste in their mouths from an unfulfilled promise.
Student loan debt has long been a major problem in the United States, and it has only gotten worse in recent years. As of June 27, 2024, 43.2 million Americans have federal loan debt totaling $1.73 trillion. The average person with student loan debt has roughly $37,853 worth of debt.
This significant amount of debt explains why it is an issue that is so popular amongst voters. According to a series of studies carried out by Brookings in 2022, two-thirds of Americans say student loan debt is a serious problem and sixty-three percent see student loan debt relief as a way to lighten financial burdens.
A group of voters that is exceptionally in favor of student loan debt forgiveness (unsurprisingly) is the youth. A 2023 Data For Progress survey found 84% of Democrats under 45 strongly or somewhat approved of the federal government providing student debt using an authority unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although not as high, 66% of Independents and 50% of Republicans in the same cohort also approved.
On Aug. 28, the United States Supreme Court temporarily blocked a policy called the SAVE plan from continuing until lower courts had resolved challenges to the policy. This policy was the primary way for people with student loan debt to apply for loan forgiveness, according to The New York Times. Over the past four years, Biden’s plan has been picked apart by courts, political opponents and existing legislature.
As of late August, the Biden administration has been able to cancel roughly $167 billion in loans for 4.75 million people. This is roughly 1in10 federal loan holders and while these are still impressive numbers, they are far from what Biden had originally promised.
But, it is not entirely the Biden administration’s fault they did not deliver on this promise. A program of this magnitude is hard to fathom and even more difficult to execute. The United States defense budget for the 2025 FY (fiscal year) is $849.8 billion or about half of the money that would be needed to forgive all of the student loans in the United States.
Coming up with that amount of money was not the only issue the Biden administration faced, as courts, politicians and bureaucrats have also made the issue much more difficult. Multiple Republican-led states have filed federal lawsuits in attempts to block certain parts of the plan.
Attempting to create, fund and administer a program of this magnitude is almost unheard of in American history. Creating a program that works to alleviate the debt of tens of millions of Americans would be a massive win for the American people. With that being said, it is probably best Kamala Harris stays away from this piece of legislation.
It is best for Harris and the Democrats to accept this defeat and move on from the issue. The initial idea for this program was a great way to attract the youth vote and help out tens of millions of Americans, but the program has been both hugely cumbersome for Democrats and methodically dismantled by lawsuits, judges and other roadblocks.
Harris’s campaign is in very good shape right now. According to the New York Times national polling average Harris is 3 points ahead of Donald Trump. Considering she only began her campaign towards the end of this past July, she is performing very well.
However, if Harris chooses to attach herself to a student loan debt forgiveness program, it could mean disastrous things for her campaign. President Biden failed when it came to his student loan debt forgiveness plan and a similar promise from Harris is likely to instill resentment in much of her voter base.
Relieving a massive financial burden tens of millions of Americans carry is a phenomenal idea and hopefully, it is a program that will one day be put into place. However, it would be a terrible idea for Kamala to renew her support for this program at the current moment.
