On the 22nd of December 2021, President Joe Biden announced that he would extend the existing student loan repayment freeze for 90 more days through the 1st of May 2022. The White House posted a release citing the ongoing challenges related to the pandemic that student loan borrowers face as the reason for this latest extension.
This leads to one important question: why will your student loans not be forgiven?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, borrowers of federal student loans have hoped for the government to eventually forgive some of their debts. Some Democrats in Congress also pushed for forgiveness for up to $50,000 per borrower although it was fervently opposed by most Republicans. President Biden has repeatedly stated that he is in support of the idea of forgiving $10,000 per borrower.
However, this will just be a dream.
There are actually several reasons why there is little hope when it comes to student loan forgiveness. For starters, this is because Congress itself continues to be divided on the topic of forgiving student loans and by how much if it does happen. It seems that the issue is polarizing, and it might be impossible for Congress to come together on the topic.
Another reason is the possibility of reform to the current federal loan programs such as the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and income-driven repayment plan, instead of a blanket policy forgiving a portion of all the student loans of the borrowers.
Other experts also state that there might be no student loan forgiveness for all the borrowers. This is because it is more pressing to address significant structural problems in the higher education system. Some experts also maintain the same stance they had earlier the past year, claiming that there will be a mixture of solutions to address the increasing student debts, with a certain focus on fixing and revamping several existing programs on federal loans.
A good example of this is the program on Public Service Loan Forgiveness which is going through a temporary overhaul that can possibly allow the forgiveness of loans of more borrowers. The administration also used several actions to expand, improve, and streamline current federal loan programs.
It also seems that the Biden administration is focusing more on offering student loan relief but not in the same way that most people assumed at first. Forgiveness was offered to students with disabilities, students that are veterans, and those who were wronged by their schools.
Some experts are pessimistic that wide-scale forgiveness will be possible since the Biden administration now offers targeted loan forgiveness for circumventing the more complex conversation regarding mass forgiveness.
With everything said, it is easy to see that your student loans will not be forgiven for many reasons. At this point, the widespread cancellation of student loans will remain a pipe dream. It doesn’t seem that there will be a consensus among the authorities and there are also questions on whether President Biden even has the necessary political authority for doing it by himself. The differing opinions about how much and how is too significant at this point.