Hildreth Calls on SCOTUS to Set Aside Politics in Student Loan Cancellation Consideration
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, February 28, 2023
CONTACT: Steve Crawford, Crawford Strategies, 617-877-1816
BOSTON – The Hildreth Institute, a local nonprofit research and policy center dedicated to restoring the promise of higher education as an engine of upward mobility for all, released the following statement as the Supreme Court hears oral arguments today as they consider the legality of President Biden’s student loan debt relief plan:
"Massachusetts students are shouldering the fifth highest debt burden in the nation and the impact of the Supreme Court's decision on Massachusetts families will be enormous. Over 813,000 student borrowers in our state qualify for cancellation under the President's plan. About 400,000 of those are low-income Pell grant recipients, who would qualify for up to $20,000 in cancellation.
"The benefits for communities of color, who are disproportionately impacted by both student debt and the COVID-19 pandemic, are even more pronounced. Seventy-one percent of undergraduate black borrowers are Pell recipients and 65 percent of Latino undergraduate borrowers are Pell recipients.
"Any truly objective review of the law would conclude that the same Heroes Act that gave President Trump the ability to suspend student loan payments also grants the Biden administration the authority to cancel student loans in face of the extraordinary COVID-19 emergency.
"We hope the Supreme Court will set aside the politics that entwine the student loan system and vote to move the President's plan forward."
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The Hildreth Institute is a research and policy center dedicated to restoring the promise of higher education as an engine of upward mobility for all. We are committed to fixing the broken college financing system by promoting innovative policy solutions at the federal and state levels, in order to invest in higher education while eliminating the burden of student debt. We research, develop, and promote solutions for changes in public policies and institutional financial practices that will reduce costs to students and improve quality. Learn more at hildrethinstitute.org.