The wait will soon be over for millions of student-loan borrowers: The U.S. Supreme Court is set to release its decision on the Biden administration’s debt relief program Friday morning.
During oral arguments in February, the court’s conservative majority expressed skepticism about the administration’s authority to offer blanket forgiveness to an estimated 45 million people with outstanding federal loans, about 3.8 million of them in California. But the court’s liberal justices suggested that the lawsuits against the program should be tossed out because the plaintiffs had not been harmed by it.
The high court indicated Thursday that it would issue its final rulings Friday, starting at 7 a.m. (Pacific). In addition to the debt forgiveness lawsuits, the court has yet to issue its decision on a web designer’s challenge to a Colorado anti-discrimination law requiring her to design sites even if they express views violating her religious beliefs — in this case, websites that celebrate same-sex marriages.
If past practice is any guide, the student loan ruling should be issued by 8 a.m. Rather than releasing all the day’s opinions at once, the justices do them one at a time, giving the author of the ruling and any dissents the chance to read aloud a summary of what they’ve written.
As soon as the opinion is announced, it will be available on the Opinions of the Court page of the Supreme Court’s website.
According to the Education Data Initiative, almost 10% of California residents have student loan debt. All told, Californians owe $142 billion, or an average of $37,084 per borrower.
The administration’s program would erase $10,000 in federal student loan debt for every borrower who earned less than $125,000 (or, for couples filing joint tax returns, less than $250,000 per household). The program would forgive an additional $10,000 in debt for qualified borrowers who had received Pell Grants, a form of financial aid for lower-income students.
Regardless of what happens Friday, borrowers with outstanding balances will have to resume their monthly payments in October. The Education Department’s financial aid site, studentaid.gov, is telling borrowers that interest will start to accrue on their loans on Sept. 1, and payments will be due again the next month.
The Education Department says it will send borrowers a billing statement at least three weeks in advance, telling them when their payment is due and how much they owe. So if you haven’t done so already, you should confirm your contact information at the Federal Student Aid website, studentaid.gov.
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