U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona issued a statement on August 12, 2024, addressing the recent ruling by the Eighth Circuit Court blocking the Biden-Harris Administration's Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan.
"The Administration strongly disagrees with the Eighth Circuit’s decision blocking the Biden Administration’s SAVE plan. If allowed to stand, this ruling would force millions of borrowers to pay hundreds of dollars more each month. And the decision’s reasoning could also deny loan forgiveness to individuals who were expecting it after up to 25 years of faithful repayments. The ruling rejects a practice of providing loan forgiveness that goes back 30 years."
Cardona criticized what he described as politically motivated lawsuits by Republican elected officials, which he claimed are obstructing efforts to reduce payments for millions of borrowers.
"Borrowers enrolled in the SAVE Plan will be placed in an interest-free forbearance while our Administration continues to vigorously defend the SAVE Plan in court. The Department will be providing regular updates to borrowers affected by these rulings in the coming days."
He highlighted past issues within the student loan system, noting that "it wasn’t so long ago that a million borrowers defaulted on their student loans every single year, mainly because they couldn’t afford the payments." He argued that the SAVE plan is necessary and authorized to address these systemic problems and make higher education financing more affordable.
Cardona reiterated the Biden-Harris Administration's commitment to delivering relief for borrowers, stating that $169 billion in relief has already been approved for nearly 4.8 million Americans, including teachers, veterans, public servants, students misled by their colleges, and borrowers with disabilities.
"And from larger Pell Grants to free community college," Cardona concluded, "President Biden, Vice President Harris, and I continue to believe that college affordability is a cause worth fighting for – and we’re not giving up."
