John,
Today, the Supreme Court ruled against the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness plan.
We’re urging President Joe Biden to immediately sign another executive order and reissue his student loan cancellation plan under a different legal authority — the Higher Education Act of 1965. Will you sign our petition and demand he use all the tools in his arsenal to deliver the life-changing relief he promised borrowers?
Sign the petition »
As it stands, the Supreme Court’s decision has left 44 million people, a generation of borrowers, under the burden of crushing student loan debt that stands at a record high of $1.7 trillion.
It has also left widening gender, racial, and generational wealth gaps firmly in place. The ruling falls disproportionately on Black borrowers, especially Black women, who will still owe an average of 95% of their original student loan balance — 20 years after starting college.
This is a kick in the teeth to working people across the nation. It’s a clear signal that the court has been captured by reactionary right-wing forces who want nothing more than to keep people in misery, and to make it impossible for people to take collective action to improve their lives.
Over the last two years, this court has overturned decades of precedent to undermine abortion rights, workers' rights, and to stop the government from taking action against climate change and gun violence.
Our fight is not over, though. We can’t shrug our shoulders and give up — we need the White House to use every tool to provide working people with the student debt relief they need, including reissuing the student loan cancellation plan under a different legal authority: the Higher Education Act.
Passed by Congress in 1965, the Higher Education Act authorizes the President, via the Secretary of Education, to "enforce, pay, compromise, waive, or release" government-held federal student loans.
That means Biden could still wipe out existing federal student loans under these provisions — and likely, not face any legal barriers in the courts.
Still, however, this could take weeks, months, or maybe even a year to accomplish.
On top of that, after more than three years and eight extensions, the Department of Education has announced that the pause on federal student loan repayment is ending later this summer, under the terms of the debt-ceiling deal negotiated by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
The transition back onto repayment plans won’t be easy, John. Millions of borrowers are already struggling to stay afloat amid rising costs of living, and student loan payments will push many to the edge of a financial cliff, if not off of it.
That’s why we’re urging President Biden to meet this moment with the urgency necessary, and reissue his student loan cancellation plan under the Higher Education Act immediately. Sign our petition now.
Sign the petition »
In solidarity,
Working Families Party
