The Biden administration is moving ahead with a new path to student loan cancellation for Americans who face steep medical bills, child care costs and other types of financial hardship that prevent them from repaying their loans.

Announced Friday, the proposed rule is President Joe Biden’s third attempt at student loan cancellation as he faces repeated legal challenges from Republican states. His first plan was rejected by the Supreme Court last year, and his second plan has been temporarily halted by a federal judge in Missouri.

The new rule would have to clear a number of hurdles before it becomes official, and it’s unclear if it could be realized before Biden leaves office in three months. Like Biden’s other loan forgiveness proposals, it could face court challenges from conservatives who say it’s unconstitutional and unfair.

If finalized, the new rule would allow the Education Department to proactively cancel loans for borrowers if the agency determines they have an 80% chance of being in default on their loans within two years. Others could apply for a review to determine if they meet the criteria for cancellation.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    In before “he’s only doing it because of the election” as if that somehow makes it a bad thing.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        I couldn’t care less if people do the right thing for the wrong reason and I have never understood why anyone does.

    • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I’m gonna be honest, I’m not trying to be a dick, I supported him doing it all along, especially in the past.

      But this close to an election sounds a bit like when Trump sent out stimulus checks and blocked them till they let him sign his name, and claimed all the money came from his pocket.

      Giving money before an election should be banned by both sides, if this passed earlier I’d be all in favor, but next republican president is going to give $2000 rebates on all gun and lifted f-150 with covered bed purchases, and knowing Trump he’ll give more if they pose for videos with said gun and truck outside minority polling stations.

      This is the problem with trash like Trump, it’s a race to the bottom and we all lose.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        As I already said to someone else, I could not care less if people do the right thing for the wrong reason.

        People are hurting. This will help some of them. Complaining that people who need help are getting helped for the wrong reason is silly.

        If I’m starving to death, I don’t care if you gave me a sandwich because you wanted to help me or you gave me a sandwich because you thought it was disgusting and wanted me to suffer by giving me a disgusting sandwich because either way, I won’t be dying.

        • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Yeah, that’s not my problem.

          My problem is it’s an escalation of giving away money just before an election for votes, and that’s not anything we want to escalate.

          I am 100% in favor of giving money for student loan forgiveness, the interest was huge, and it’s not purgable by bankruptcy, it needs to be forgiven.

          But I’m terrified of the timing, personally we need an expectation that legislation will stop roughly 90 days before an election so you don’t have dangerous things like giving money for votes, or passing laws to ban voting by key demographics.

          This is bad no matter who does it, let’s try to have a 90 day window before elections, let’s even do what other countries do, have a 2 week cool down period before voting where ads and other spending are stopped.

      • Snapz@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        You’re argument has no basis, his administration has been trying to get this done through a broken Congress and Supreme Court for a long time now. It’s not “this close to a election”. And fuck off with the, “and believe me I ain’t no trump fan either” qualifier shit - bad points are bad points, period. You don’t get headed on an average of your horseshit opening statement and try to land on something rational as a giveaway.

        Rethink your approach or sit down.

  • bazus1@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    I benefited from a federal loan cancellation due to hardship this past March. 35k in Staffords - poof. It was amazing.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      How dare you benefit from it when other people aren’t! You’re required to suffer because other people didn’t get theirs. And if they did get theirs, you’re required to suffer anyway because you weren’t good enough.

      I think that’s how it’s supposed to work anyway.

    • Tiefling IRL@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      7 months ago

      I’ll have you know I toughened up, pulled myself up by the bootstraps, and paid off a $25k loan over the span of eight or so years

      …and I’m still glad people are getting loan forgiveness because I don’t want other people to have to go through the BS I did. Congrats!

    • eluminx@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      That’s awesome! my wife didn’t qualify unfortunately (lucky it’s not a big amount of money) but I’m glad there are people who do and they are getting what they deserve. This should help so many out there that are in a tough position. This is what tax money should be used for, along with infrastructure, medieval bills, education, and any other thing that benefits us as a whole.

      • bazus1@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Graduated >10 years ago with an engineering degree, and worked in an industry that was nailed really hard by Covid. The career was… pretty close to my field, but accepted many different engineering degrees.

  • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    He needs to go further and stop the loans all together and force these mega schools to go free if they’re state run colleges. It’s bullshit that these schools are fed federal/state money and then continue to paywall education for everyone.

  • xenoclast@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Can’t wait for it to be blocked by Republicans so they can say he didn’t do anything.

    Or take credit for any potential benefits by claiming it was their idea and they did all the work.