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On July 3, 2021, US President Joe Biden boards Air Force One before departing from Cherry Capital… [+] Airport in Traverse City, Michigan. (AFP photo by MANDEL NGAN) (Photo courtesy of MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
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The Biden administration may have recently given advocates for wide student loan forgiveness reason to expect that the President will move on the issue.
Toby Merrill was hired as Deputy General Counsel by the United States Department of Education this week. Merrill previously developed and directed the Project on Predatory Student Lending, a legal aid organization that advocates for low-income borrowers who have been injured by for-profit schools’ predatory lending practices. The Borrower Defense to Repayment program, which can allow student debt forgiveness to borrowers who were misled by their colleges, has been the subject of long-running litigation at the Project.
Merrill, on the other hand, was a key contributor to a key legal analysis suggesting that the President had the ability to cancel student loan debt via executive action. “In the Higher Education Act (HEA), Congress has granted the Secretary more precise and unfettered authority to issue, cancel, or alter debt owing under federal student loan programs,” Merrill and two other attorneys said in the memo. “That provision allows the Secretary to carry out the comprehensive debt cancellation plan [presented by Senator Elizabeth Warren],” according to the bill. Warren suggested canceling student loan debt on a large scale during her 2020 presidential campaign.
The legal analysis pointed to a crucial provision in the HEA that allows the President extensive authority to “compromise, waive, or release” a borrower’s responsibility on federal student loan debt through the Secretary of Education. Other student loan borrower advocacy groups and members of Congress have used this study to argue that President Biden should use executive action to cancel student loan debt.
Naturally, not everyone agrees with the findings. Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ legal team contended that Congress never intended for the HEA’s provisions to be used for mass student loan forgiveness. “We conclude that any blanket or mass Executive Branch action, whether under [the HEA or other federal statutes], unlawfully turns carefully cabined HEA settlement jurisdiction into a general administrative dispensing power,” the attorneys said.
The hiring of a student loan legal expert who has argued for extensive student loan cancellation does not guarantee that the Biden administration will implement comprehensive student loan forgiveness. Biden himself has expressed doubts about whether he has the authority to forgive student debt. He’s also expressed fears that comprehensive student loan forgiveness could disproportionately favor wealthy Americans or graduates of prominent universities, arguments that detractors say are unfounded and unsupported by facts or data.
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Despite this, the President authorized his administration to conduct a formal legal assessment of authorities that may be used to erase student loan debt using executive authority in April. There are no indications that the legal study has been completed or that any definitive findings have been reached, so the administration’s latest recruitment could be significant.
“The #cancelstudentdebt movement is gaining support from the Joe Biden administration. This is enormous! “In a Tweet on Tuesday, Student Debt Crisis, a student loan borrower advocacy group and proponent of mass student loan forgiveness, stated.
Merrill’s appointment comes after the Department of Education made another important hiring choice. In May, Richard Cordray was named to oversee the federal student aid system. Cordray was the former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal organization tasked with safeguarding customers from financial institutions and loan servicers who engage in deceptive tactics. Cordray’s responsibilities at the Department of Education will include supervising federal student loan servicers, which have been accused of widespread mismanagement of key federal student loan programs. Observers thought that this could be a precursor to a looming crackdown on egregious student loan servicing practices.
To Biden, Elizabeth Warren says: Will Biden Cancel Student Loan Debt? Will Biden Extend the Student Loan Pause to 2022 or Later? We might find out soon.
Here’s Why Biden Might Extend The Student Loan Payment Deferment
Should You Take Steps Now To Get Student Debt Cancelled Later? Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Review: Should You Take Steps Now To Get Student Debt Cancelled Later?/nRead More

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