Raise the debt ceiling. Require anyone with student loans to start paying again at the end of the summer. Those two things go hand-in-hand with the debt ceiling bill recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.
However, it's possible that many Americans won't have to pay back all of their student loans. Whether or not that happens depends on a major pending decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The deadline for the high court's ruling on forgiving student loan debt looms. Here are three things you need to know.
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1. What's at stake?
President Joe Biden announced his student loan forgiveness plan in August 2022. Under this plan, the U.S. Department of Education will forgive student loans of up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients and up to $10,000 for non-Pell Grant recipients. Anyone with student loans with an individual taxable income of less than $125,000 or a household income for married couples of less than $250,000 is eligible.
However, this plan was challenged in federal court. A Texas judge ruled that President Biden didn't have the authority to forgive student loans on his own. The White House asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to put that ruling on hold, but the appeals court declined to do so.
The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately opted to take on the case. It heard arguments from both sides earlier this year. The Supreme Court could decide to allow the president's student loan forgiveness plan to move forward. It could also agree with lower courts, a move that would mean borrowers must repay their full student loans.
2. Which outcome is most likely?
There's no way to know for certain in advance which way the Supreme Court will decide any given case. However, there are some potential clues based on the questions the justices ask during oral arguments before the court.
For example, Chief Justice John Roberts raised questions about a legal theory called the "Major Questions Doctrine." This doctrine insists that the U.S. Congress be specific in which powers it gives federal agencies in important economic or political matters. The states that are opposing President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan are basing part of their case on the doctrine.
When the president announced his student loan forgiveness plan, he said that it was intended "to provide more breathing room to America's working families as they continue to recover from the strains associated with the COVID-19 pandemic." Justice Brett Kavanaugh brought up previous cases where the Supreme Court ruled that federal agencies exceeded their authority during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But other justices challenged the opponents of the student forgiveness plan. Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson questioned if the state of Missouri had the legal standing to file the lawsuit on behalf of the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA), the state-created organization that services student loans in Missouri.
Even a conservative justice expressed concerns about this issue. Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked several questions related to the legal standing of Missouri to file a lawsuit on behalf of MOHELA.
Overall, though, the conservative tilt of the Supreme Court could make a decision against the Biden administration more likely. Dan Urman, Northeastern University's director of the Law and Public Policy Minor, stated that he "would be very surprised" if the nation's highest court rules in favor of allowing the president's student loan forgiveness plan to move forward.
3. When will the decision be announced?
The short answer is "soon." The Supreme Court is likely to announce decisions throughout the month of June. The ruling on President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan will be known within the next few weeks -- and perhaps even the next few days.
