Kuttner on TAP
New Hope for Student Debt Relief
With the appointment of Richard Cordray as chief of federal student loan programs, we will now see the potential of executive power to bring relief and end abuses. Cordray is a close ally of Elizabeth Warren and former head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The first best policy, of course, would be outright cancellation of up to $50,000 per student, as proposed by Sens. Warren and Schumer. Cordray can’t make that call. President Biden needs to. But there are several other things he can do.
For starters, there is the appalling story of management of cancellation of debt for people who do ten years of public service. This is authorized under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. But under Trump and his education secretary, Betsy DeVos, the Education Department did everything possible to deny this relief.
To date, just 1.26 percent of applicants have received debt relief. In fact, in a lawsuit brought by the CONTINUE READING: Robert Kuttner: Biden’s Chance to Save College Students from Crushing Debt | Diane Ravitch's blog
