Student Debt Forgiveness Not Expected in Stimulus Bill – Inside Higher Ed
Senate leaders were still negotiating a massive stimulus package as of press time Tuesday night. But according to a Democratic Senate aide, the measure was not expected to lower student debt by as much as debt cancellation advocates had hoped.
The advocacy groups had embraced Democratic proposals in the House and Senate that called for the federal government to make borrowers’ monthly payments for them while borrowers dealt with the economic fallout of the coronavirus outbreak.
Both plans would have guaranteed that the balance of each federal loan would be reduced by at least $10,000. House Democrats had also proposed paying down the debt of borrowers with private student loans by up to $10,000.
But as first reported by Inside Higher Ed, Republicans objected to the idea.
“Republicans balked at the large-scale cancellation of student loans,” the Democratic aide said Tuesday afternoon. “We pushed until the end, but it’s not happening.”