ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Millions of federal student loan borrowers are facing more uncertainty after last week's election. President Biden will leave office with big parts of his student loan agenda stuck in the courts, and Donald Trump has been actively hostile to the idea of loan forgiveness. To explain what this all means for borrowers, NPR's Cory Turner is here in the studio. Hey, Cory.
CORY TURNER, BYLINE: Hey, Ari.
SHAPIRO: There have been so many lawsuits around Biden's student loan proposals. Where do things stand right now as Trump prepares to take office?
TURNER: Yeah. It can be a little confusing. We all know that Biden's biggest effort at loan forgiveness was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court, which said he had clearly exceeded his legal authority. But there are a few smaller efforts that are right now in various stages of limbo. So one would erase any interest that has accrued for borrowers who owe more now than they did when they first took out their loan. It's technically a rule, but it was paused by the courts before it could actually be finished, which means it's likely going to fall to the Trump administration to decide its fate.
There is another proposal that would provide loan forgiveness to people in extreme financial hardship, like folks caring for a loved one, for example. Now, we don't know for sure how the next administration would handle these pending efforts, but Trump has been pretty clear for many years now about how much he dislikes the idea of loan forgiveness. And polls show that so do many Republicans. So it's pretty hard to imagine at this point the Trump administration moving forward with any of these.
SHAPIRO: And what about the Biden administration's SAVE plan, which is also tied up in the courts?
TURNER: Yeah. For me, this is maybe the biggest and most interesting question mark, Ari, because SAVE is essentially a repayment plan. But it is so generous offering a fast track to loan forgiveness that it, too, was challenged in court by Republican state attorneys general. And the courts paused it. The thing is, though, millions of people enrolled in SAVE, and they're in a kind of limbo, not being asked to make payments while the courts sort out whether or not their plan is legal.
It's not clear how the Trump administration is going to handle all of these borrowers if or presumably when the SAVE plan disappears. It might need to go through a whole new rule-making process to create some kind of new, less generous repayment plan. There is one older income-based plan that has not been challenged and does still offer limited loan forgiveness. It's called IBR. And it's still around because it was created by Congress, and it will be around unless Congress decides to change it.
SHAPIRO: What about all of the people who have received loan forgiveness? Is there any chance they could be back on the hook for the loans that were forgiven once Trump takes over?
TURNER: Yeah. I mean, it's easy to forget, among all of these lawsuits, that President Biden still provided loan forgiveness to roughly 5 million Americans. I don't have any reason to believe, at this point, that that debt relief can be undone. Biden's few successes over the past few years really did come largely by expanding access to preexisting, congressionally approved programs, which gives them a kind of strength that his other their efforts don't have - for example, offering forgiveness to folks who work 10 years in public service or who struggle with a severe disability.
Can those programs be shut down? Yes, but it seems unlikely. You know, during his first term, Trump tried to eliminate public service loan forgiveness, but he didn't because that requires Congress. Now, lawmakers could vote to end PSLF, but it's not clear they have any desire to.
SHAPIRO: What are the bigger lessons here from the Biden administration's efforts at loan forgiveness?
TURNER: Yeah, that's what - I've been thinking a lot about this, Ari. One, for me, is governments have a finite amount of energy. And so when they choose to do one thing, they're also choosing not to do other things. I have a bunch of conversations with higher ed experts - not all of them conservatives - who said, look. By going all in on loan forgiveness and doing it without Congress, the Biden administration missed a real chance to meaningfully expand access to college. And they're disappointed by that.
SHAPIRO: That's NPR education correspondent Cory Turner. Thank you.
TURNER: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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